air conditioning?

[Mallory]

We are moving into a house with central air. I don't believe I have ever lived in a house with central air. Maybe when I was in the 4th and 5th grade, but not any others.

We usually just cool the bedroom (I know most people turn thier heaters colder at night and thier airconditioners warmer at night, but we are just the opposite- I can live being a little hot or cold, but not co-sleep very well if I am also waking up because of temperature.)

So would it still be cheaper to get a widow air conditioner and just cool the bedroom, or just run the central air.

Any thoughts?

[4evermom]

I think it would be best to get a window unit in the bedroom for sleeping. We have central air and a big house, so it is very expensive to cool the whole thing. Fortunately, it's stone and it takes a few days of hot weather to really heat the house up. We only use the AC if the night time temperature isn't predicted to drop below 80 for a few nights running. We also have a whole house fan in the attic that we turn on at night to pull in the cool night air. Then, we close the house up tight (close windows and pull shades) during the day to keep the house cool during the day. If we are home, we'll keep an eye on the temperature and shut the house up when the inside and outside temperatures are the same.