Everyone Is Going Crazy Over the Best Air Conditioner Temperature. How Cool Do You Keep Your House?

dtucker300 Loc: Vista, CA

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/green-tech/a28751830/best-air-conditioner-temperature-debate/?source=nl&utm_source=nl_pop&utm_medium=email&date=082119&src=nl&utm_campaign=17829676

82 degrees when you sleep! Are they out of their freaking minds? I need it to be at least 65 degrees or less to sleep well. A good night's sleep is far more important to my health and productivity each day than is saving a little bit on my energy bill. Only an eco-f*****t could dream this nonsense up (probably because they are suffering from heat-stroke due to their thermostat being set too warm when they sleep).

Everyone Is Going Crazy Over the Best Air Conditioner Temperature. How Cool Do You Keep Your House?
One report says you should set your thermostat to 82 degrees when you sleep. Is that insane?

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By Andrew Daniels
Aug 19, 2019
Vintage digital thermostat - ColdMICHAKL**TWIJKGETTY IMAGES
We’re arguing about air conditioners today, because what else do you yell about with strangers when you’re all stuck in the oppressively sweaty doldrums of August? Here’s the tweet that’s riling everyone up:

Jennifer Titus
✔
@jenntitus10
How cool do you keep your house?

New report our shows these as the recommended temps for energy efficiency:

• 78° F when you’re home
• 85° F when you’re at work or away
• 82° F when you’re sleeping

View image on Twitter
5,266
11:26 AM - Aug 19, 2019

Jennifer Titus, an investigative reporter for WTSP 10 in the Tampa area of Florida, is just the messenger here. Still, she’s getting ratioed because she pulled out the most eye-popping stats from a Consumer Reports article that recommends the best temperatures for your air conditioner, via Energy Star, a joint program from the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

According to the report, you should set your thermostat to 78 degrees Fahrenheit when you’re home, 85 degrees when you’re at work or away, and 82 degrees when you’re sleeping. It’s that last temperature that has particularly irked the Twitterati, who aren’t super into the idea of going to bed every night in Tampa-like conditions, especially in the dead of August.

KEEP COOL AND ARGUE ON

It makes sense to not go overboard with your A/C during the summer. Cooling your house sucks up a lot of energy, and the DOE says you can slash about 3 percent off your energy bill for every degree you raise your central air’s temperature.

Economically and environmentally, an 82-degree bedroom checks out. From a comfort standpoint? Not so much. The National Sleep Foundation, for its part, says your bedroom should be somewhere between 60 to 67 degrees for optimal snoozing, as that range helps your body cool down and fall asleep faster.

So while we get to work interviewing energy experts about the best, science-backed thermostat setting, we want to hear from you. Here’s the million-dollar question: How cool do you keep your house

When I surveyed my Popular Mechanics colleagues—an opinionated bunch keen to argue about everything, especially v***l math problems—many were in agreement that 82 degrees is indeed an insane sleeping temperature. There were a few dissenters, including one editor who said his ideal bedtime temp was “wh**ever it is outside … if it’s free, it’s for me.”

In the meantime, no matter where you fall, you still want to keep your home cool. If you’re trying to keep your energy costs down, here’s the best way to cool down a room without blasting A/C. But if you’re in the market for a new unit, we have you covered:

Boo_Boo Loc: Jellystone

dtucker300 wrote:

At night in summer, my bedroom is set to 52...winter, I do not use heat in my bedroom....so the temp can drop into the 40s. The rest of the house is a constant 79, year round. Only for comfort of everyone else, if left to me I would just open windows. But, keep in mind summers where I live does not get much higher than 85 or lower than 33.

ImLogicallyRight

I waited all winter to get warm. Why air condition if it isn't needed and never over air condition. I haven't owned one in 45 years and I live where it gets warm in the summer. If you don't live in it all day, you body adapts to warmer weather. I can be very or reasonably comfortable in the mid eighties. I open the window at night and cools the whole place down.

I travel a lot in public t***sit and I see older people constantly wearing long sleeves and even sweaters o light jackets when it get into the 80s' and 90s. Because the buses are cold, and there always are drafts. That holds for bars and restaurants. All over done. And so many of these are run by the same people that want a green new deal, and b***h about g****l w*****g. Air conditioners actually warms the temperature due to the energy they use. They just move the heat out of one room and into somewhere else while generating more heat.

Gatsby

dtucker300 wrote:

It would be interesting to see what the temperature is in the headquarters of the DOE & EPA?

dtucker300 Loc: Vista, CA

ImLogicallyRight wrote:

I waited all winter to get warm. Why air condition... (show quote)

Well, yeah...! The laws of thermodynamics. Why have a/c if it isn't needed, indeed! But some people have a lower internal thermostat or higher metabolism. I just love the fights in offices over setting the thermostat to a comfortable temperature. If you're cold, put on another layer, a sweater (women). If you're hot, it is tough to strip down after you take your coat off. But it isn't just about the heat. High humidity can also make it uncomfortable and feel warmer than it really is, just as wind chill can make it feel colder than it really is. A good system will de-humidify the air, something a ceiling fan can't do. Also, in the right circumstances, an evaporative cooler (swamp-cooler) will cool the air rather efficiently. Finding the right system will depend a lot on where you live.

If the temperature is less than 82 the a/c will never come on. But some of us live where it gets up to 90s or 100s during the day and the house never cools down until about 5 or 6 am. Even then the temperature is still in the high 70s early in the morning. Although I have a central a/c, I use a room a/c only in the bedroom so I can sleep. If you have to sleep during the day because of shift-work, that can really suck.

For me, if it is hot, and I am sweating, there is no such thing as restful sleep (and it also causes heat rash). I've already put up with enough desert heat and jungle humidity in my life. I'm setting my a/c to 70-72 degrees because I have solar energy. The rest be damned.

dtucker300 Loc: Vista, CA

Gatsby wrote:

It would be interesting to see what the temperature is in the headquarters of the DOE & EPA?

I'll bet the congressional offices are warm in winter and cool in summer.

Ferrous Loc: Pacific North Coast, CA

73 deg F. is the Magical Number for air-conditioning.

A person in an office feels cooling at 72 Deg F and warming at 74 Deg F. The idea of turning heating and cooling off at night has been proven to cost more warming the building up in the morning or cooling a warm building that has warmed up at night. Outside air intakes are adjusted to take in less cold air in the Winter and less hot air in the Summer (always a 20% outside air is mandated.) During mild days, the air intakes can open to almost 100%... taking in all the Naturally conditioned air running it through filter banks and delivering Nice Fresh Air.

If you're complaining about the room temp, your HVAC is not working correctly or your Little Lady might be having "Heat Flashes."

Ferrous Loc: Pacific North Coast, CA

dtucker300 wrote:

I'll bet the congressional offices are warm in winter and cool in summer.

Yes, in most all office buildings (both Government and Commercial) we try and keep the Temperature between 72 -74 Deg F.

dtucker300 Loc: Vista, CA

Ferrous wrote:

73 deg F. is the Magical Number for air-conditioni... (show quote)

Heat Flashes! People have heat flashes, men, and women. It is because of all the estrogen-mimicking chemicals in the environment that we ingest that is turning men into wusses, LOL. (yeah yeah, I know, this is not PC.)

archie bunker Loc: Texas

dtucker300 wrote:

We finally agreed on 74 at our house. I work in the heat all day, so it's cold to me when I come home, but the wife should be comfortable since she helps pay the bills, so we c*********d. It'll prolly stay the same come wintertime since I'll be working in the cold too.

I come home, and sit outside in the shade till the skeeters come out, then go shower, get cold, and go to bed. It works for us so far.

dtucker300 Loc: Vista, CA

archie bunker wrote:

We finally agreed on 74 at our house. I work in the heat all day, so it's cold to me when I come home, but the wife should be comfortable since she helps pay the bills, so we c*********d. It'll prolly stay the same come wintertime since I'll be working in the cold too.

I come home, and sit outside in the shade till the skeeters come out, then go shower, get cold, and go to bed. It works for us so far.

I used to work in refrigerator and freezer warehouses occasionally checking inventory. Even in winter. I would be hot after I came out from being in there for an hour or two.

woodguru

I put in a solar system so that I can stay comfortable in the summer, funny thing, the winter costs us more to stay warm, and we make more power than we use in the summer so it evens out. It was costing us over a thousand a month in the summer, now we make more power than we use during the summer

That said I can hang with 80 degrees by a thermometer, not the thermostat, I can turn the thermostat to 77 to get a true 80. We put in super efficient mini splits throughout the house.

woodguru

dtucker300 wrote:

Heat Flashes! People have heat flashes, men, and women. It is because of all the estrogen-mimicking chemicals in the environment that we ingest that is turning men into wusses, LOL. (yeah yeah, I know, this is not PC.)

I go through an hour at 6:30am that I am roasting and need some cold moving air. I have to have a fan on, dead air k**ls me even if it is cool

dtucker300 Loc: Vista, CA

woodguru wrote:

I put in a solar system so that I can stay comfortable in the summer, funny thing, the winter costs us more to stay warm, and we make more power than we use in the summer so it evens out. It was costing us over a thousand a month in the summer, now we make more power than we use during the summer

That said I can hang with 80 degrees by a thermometer, not the thermostat, I can turn the thermostat to 77 to get a true 80. We put in super efficient mini splits throughout the house.

Not familiar with mini splits?

woodguru

dtucker300 wrote:

Not familiar with mini splits?

They have a compressor heat pump on the outside, and wall units either on the wall or ceilings of each room. They can be tailored as single units or double or compressors that can handle as many as four individual rooms with separate fan thermostatic controlled units. They cut our usage from 4000 KWHs to about a thousand, then we put in a 10.5K solar system. We also put a separate meter on the apartment which made a huge difference because we aren't paying for a tenant's power anymore.

The Mitsubishi and Fujitsu mini splits are incredibly efficient compared to other heating and air