How do you use your AC?

[forHISglory]

Summer heat is ON!! And so is our AC. We had to learn how this new house works as far as heating and cooling, and then begin to use our AC as needed.

I think the house must be well insulated. We turn the AC on at night, and I have it set for 70 (I know, I know, but I'm at that stage of life where I need it cool at night...). Anyway, we start the AC about 10:30 pm and run it until about 4 am. Then we have it off for the rest of the day. I'm really pleased that the house doesn't heat up more than 5-7 degrees during the day. And believe me we have been having some scorchers in the high 80s and 90s.

Talked to a local family recently, and they keep their AC on 77 day and night and never change it.

How do you handle your AC? Do you have it programmed? What hours do you use it? What settings do you use? Is it working to keep you comfortable at those settings?

[Mom2-3]

We have our set for 78º. I open the house as much as possible, use fans and close blinds that are facing the sun. When the ac kicks on, I shut the house up. Some days we make it to 10am. Some (lucky) days we make it to 2pm before the air comes on.

I may be frugal, but this is one of those areas I lean toward comfort

[forHISglory]

I think the fact that we have shade on the west makes a huge difference for us. I honestly didn't think we could go all day without having the AC on. But it's been quite comfy. We have ceiling fans that we use a little in the evening before bed. And our utility bill haven't been bad this summer. Our gas for last month was $19!!! And electric was $78. The house is about 2000 sq ft, so it's not too bad for as low as we have the thermostat set at night.

[onencgirl]

My a/c is set at 77 until the weather cools... probably about Oct or so.

[frugalwarrior2]

Sadly our is broken now for 5 years. We got it to run last year but are afraid to use it. I approached DH this last time he was home and told him this is the last summer w/o it. More cleaning would get done,the pets and i are getting sick while he is out of town. He seems on board. In the meantime-fans on the ceilings,fans on the floors. More and more fans.

[2ndGenGranola]

Ours is programmed and varies between 77 and 80. I have blackout curtains I shut when the sun is on that side and ceiling fans in the rooms. I also have vent fans in our bedroom which help quite a bit. ( A vent fan is a fan that replaces the floor vent cover. It plugs into the wall outlet and runs 2 mini fans to boost the output from the vent)

[Saule]

I only have a window unit in the bedroom. If nights cool down, fans cool off the whole house well, and plaster walls keep it fairly reasonable. But the bedroom is on west exposure and heats up badly. So need the AC here.

[BeachBaby]

We have central a/c here in florida. We have it set at 82 all the time in the summer. We have ceiling fans going in the rooms we are in, otherwise they are off. We also have black out drapes, so it helps keep it cool.

[Grayce]

We only run our AC when the forecast is for really hot and humid for a few days in a row. As long as it cools at night we don't put the AC on. We make do with opening the windows and fans. When we do use the AC we put it on in the morning, when the house is cool as possible. I don't want it to have to work to cool an already hot house down. Then we leave it on until cooler weather comes. We set one temp and leave it. Usually about 24C. As soon as the heat wave passes we turn it off and open the windows.

[ladykemma2]

i live in houston, texas -land of heat. B.F. (before frugality) this house would have a 400 a month summer electricity bill.

i get up around 4:30 in the morning. i crank that sucker down to 68 and cool the house while i get dressed for the day. (i also do a load of laundry and run the dishwasher at 4:30 am)

the rest of the day, i put it to 76-78. ceiling fans to feel cool. my june bill (avg 95 degrees) was 167. before the divorce it was 400 - 500 but i was married to mr. powertool.

dealing with phantom load is tremendous as well.

[happymomof4]

We are in our 7th heat wave here in PA this summer so far. So we have central a/c and we have it set at 74 and leave it there. Usually if it cools off into the 80's and the humidity isn't to bad I will turn off the a/c and open windows. But we have had the a/c on sense July 4th and don't think we are turning it off anytime soon.

[lisaflex]

programmed as follows:
7am 70
9am 74
2pm 70
6pm 68
10pm 71

it has been very hot and super humid ....the a/c has been running nonstop since july4th!

[Neeley]

We are in the deep south where the heat and humidity get pretty high. Today, for example will be round 100* with a heat index of 108*.

Our central AC is set at 68*-69*, cuts on in March and stays going pretty much 24/7 until October. On a rare occasion it may cut off for a couple of hours at night here or there. But, not often.

[joyofsix]

Well, IN can be horribly humid and hot or sometimes not for a couple days. If it's reasonable outside we open up the house. If it's hot out we use window airs in the kitchen and living room. We use fans and ceiling fans to push the air around. I let the kids who sleep upstairs bunk on the floor where it isn't 95. It's usually between 78-80 in here.

[greekislandgirl]

It gets pretty hot here (90s-100s) so we keep the windows shuttered (we have wooden shutters on all the exterior windows) and closed all day and night (this actually really helps). We use the AC in the bedroom only. I usually turn it on for like 20 minutes until it gets cold and then shut it off. I turn it on again if it gets warm but it usually doesn't need it. Keeping the lights off also seems to help. My husband can't sleep with the AC on so it's never on at night.