Calling all smart people

[F34R]

I bitch when its 80 OUTSIDE

I bitch in direct sunlight of 70, I love me some fall time and low 60s :D

[z31maniac]

Geeze, I couldn't sleep at that temp.

My tstat is programmable, and the heat is set at 69 when occupied, and drops to 64 when unoccupied or overnight. AC set at 74 occupied and overnight, 78 unoccupied.

You are in Canada. You don't know what it's like for it to be 95°F outside by 9am in the summer.

The rent house I'm in with my buddy, for the last month we've been turning it down to 64 at night, so that by the time we get off around 4-5 it's only risen to 74-75 with the AC running all day.

[markseven]

I have gone back and forth on this issue many times....

I ended up concluding that I'd rather walk into an already cool house from the dank outdoors, than walk into a dank house from the dank outdoors then have to wait for the house to cool down.

OFC my house has no central air....so there's that.

Yeah, with an in-the-wall box unit you have to keep it running all the time. I lived in a place that had one of those in the living room. The cool air would NEVER make it to down the hallway to the bedrooms. Ceiling fans FTW at that location.

Better to turn it off.

its a myth that a constant temperature is more efficient.

turning the system off and letting the temp go up (in the summer) and down (in the winter) while you are out is more efficient.

i've been living in apartments in Wisconsin winters, and you can easily cut a heating bill in half by setting a schedule and patching up leaky windows. same applies for summer and AC.

Running your AC at peak hours is costly. my 1br duplex has dual zone. so we don't even ac the bathroom and bedroom during the day. But we always shut off the AC if we are going to be gone more than an hour. My house on a hot day will raise 2.5°/hr w/o the AC on. But it's also not ball sweat humid here. But as a general rule I turn it off if you are gone for more than an hour.

Killing the HVAC when the house is not occupied has been our MO for as long as I can remember.

I was hoping that someone could present a math formula that shows how much energy is expended to cool a house from 85 to 80 vs maintaining 80 over a 4 hour period.

What does the house look like?
Lots of glass?
Full coverage blinds you close?
What is the outside temp?
What temp do you want the house at?
Is your ac maxed out?

Good questions. Answers:

• Lots of glass?
  Lots of glass facing the afternoon and setting sun.
• Full coverage blinds you close?
  Full coverage blinds that are closed during the afternoon and evenings. We have sun blinds instead of standard window screens.
• What is the outside temp?
  We relocated to DFW where the temps have been around 100 for most of the early afternoon to late evening, not dropping below 85 in a 24 hour period.
• What temp do you want the house at?
  We have learned to live with 78 during the summer and 72 in the winter.
• Is your ac maxed out?
  AC is not maxed.

My Thermostat let's me program different temps for different times.

My wife stays home, so I don't use it. But, it can be set to start cooling say an hour before you get home, or automatically raise a degree or two at night, ect. Ect.

Pretty damn cool gadget that I don't have a need for. But if I were single I'd use the hell out of it.

Yeah, most energy companies recommend a programmable thermostat; however, they do not specify a range of degrees to stay within nor do they say to program the unit to turn off the HVAC completely during certain hours. In essence there is not direction on how to actually realize the benefits of a programmable.

Ummm, besides north of 4K rpm...where do you live? 80 F when you left the house? that's rough.

We used to live in Orange County, CA. Two weeks ago we moved to Dallas. The heat is crazy. We knew what we were getting into though.

It would probably be most cost effective and comfortable to upgrade to a programmable thermostat if you're gonna be gone at predictable times throughout the day.

Edit: Not probably. Definitely.

See above.

Save money by turning it off forever and dealing with your climate.

Dallas. Not possible. Lol.

Shit ours stays at 77-78. You get used to it.

Biggest question is why is it 80 inside your house with the a/c ON..... this is the point of climate control, to keep it comfortable not barley tolerable..... I bitch when its 80 OUTSIDE

In DFW after spending an hour in 100° weather, coming home to 85° is almost sanctuary-like. 80° is a good balance of comfort and cost-saving. 78° is living it up!

72 degrees all day and night A/C wise. I sweat all day at work and don't want to at home (unless me and the wife are having nuptials).
67 when its heating season when we are home. 63 at night/during the day when we aren't.

Dang. Lot of baller status folks on R3V!!!

[AndrewBird]

My roommates liked to keep the ac at 65° all the time, even when it is 75 outside. I'm constantly freezing and setting it back to 71.

[markseven]

65 is way too low. That's crazy!

[george graves]

Some good replies here, but the long answer is it depends on how well your apartment/house is insulated. and how much stuff you have in it.

No simple answer other then, if you have awesome insulation, turn it down 10 degrees. If you don't, well you're screwed either way.

Also, when living in a hot-box like Texas, coming home to a cool house can mean a lot. I use to keep my apartment in the central-valley in California AC running 24/7 set at 70 degrees. Even though I would only be there for 8-9 hours to shower, sleep, shave, and head back to work for another round, it was totally worth it to excape the heat.

[Coupelx]

I set the AC at 74 or so during the day when im at work. when I get home though 67-69 is the preferred. hell ive been known to turn it down to 65 to try and get to sleep after being outside all day. those in the southern states probably know what i mean, even after a cool shower you still feel like its too hot to sleep and lay there burning up.

[Julien]

I'd get a programable stat and let the house rise a few degrees when you are gone. The trick is to let the house cool back down before you get home. Some smarter thermostats will do a quick 1 degree delta test during the day to see how long it will take to get the house back to temp. It uses that info to know how long before you come home it needs to turn on to reach set point.

Btw I work for carrier

[Jorgen]

My roommates liked to keep the ac at 65° all the time, even when it is 75 outside. I'm constantly freezing and setting it back to 71.

Do they wipe their asses with $100 bills too?

I run my house to like 74 when home and 78 when gone (if its like 90 out so I only have to cool it a bit when I get home for the few days a summer I need to run AC and I hate the bills already.

[lambo]

My roommates liked to keep the ac at 65° all the time, even when it is 75 outside. I'm constantly freezing and setting it back to 71.

I do that in hotels because, between my e30 and shitty apartment, that's pretty much the only time I can take full advantage of A/C.