When do you turn on the AC?

[lullaby80]

It's about 80 degrees here today, not too hot but the sun is really warming up the middle floor of our house. Thanks for ceiling fans and a cool recreation room, we don't have to turn on the AC yet. So my question to you is, when do you turn yours on? I'd like to wait as long as possible with it.

[Sahmamma]

we keep ours at 78. I can have it higher, but the kids and dh can't. they get cranky.

we are in southwest florida so we have had the ac on for weeks now.

[monkeywrangler71]

I turn it on when the inside of the house is 30ºC (I think that's around 85?).

[halloweenfreak]

bah, i turned ours on today. it was so stuffy the ceiling fans weren't doing any good. there goes my 59 dollar electric bill. argh.

[Darlene]

We don't have one so we never turn it on.

[cebsme]

We have swamp cooler not AC. Its already been up in the 90's here but we've yet to turn it on, we don't want it turned on here because we have to overlap electric bills for a little while. We just use lots of fans and at night we open up the windows to let the cool air in and shut them all the way during the day to keep the hot air out. Will probably service the cooler at the new place and turn it on right away though once we start moving in to make it a bit more bearable.

[annymoll]

Heat does not bother us the way cold does, it's often mid to late June before we turn it on. Thank goodness, maybe we will see a lower electric bill.

[TheRootedNomad]

EEKKKK!!!! I can be cold but I'm RRREEEAAALLLLLLLLLYYYYY cranky if i get hot. We've had ours on a few times already.

[tbs727]

We had to turn it on last night so that we can sleep. It was way too stuff in the house. This morning it went back off and it feels fine.

[JustJoy]

We rarely turn on ours unless the humidity get to be too much... And then it's set at 80.

[YankeeMom]

We don't have one so we never turn it on.

Ditto

Actually, we had a window unit last year that we plan on putting in this summer. It probably won't go in until Late June/Early July and will only be turned on on the hottest of days. Thankfully up here those kinds of days aren't too often

[Laurie in Bradenton]

We don't do ours til August then only at bed time and only to 80.
Since we work outside we get used to the heat as the day goes on and don't notice it that much. Now cold is another story we can't take it below 50 at that point we've got to have the heat on. But the cold isn't a big problem here in S. Fla. Up to over 80 today ceiling fans are on and all the windows are open as are all the doors. We've got screen doors so we can open everything up even the garagedoors which really helps pull the air throught the house.

Laurie in Bradenton

[Neeley]

Ours never turns off. I set the temp at 69 and leave it alone. The ceiling fans stay on 24/7 as well. The heater is what we do not use. Our central heat system has not been on in over two years. I had the gas disconnected at the end of February of 2005 and have not bothered to cut it back on. It just does not get cold enough for me to use it.

[Marie78]

We only use the AC in the living room on really hot/humid days when we are home. I use the bedroom window AC almost every night during the summer though, starting in late June usually through mid-late September. I can't sleep when it's too hot (not used to the hot/humid nights).

[warramra]

Not until the humidity sets in, usually after Memorial Day here. Until then we have the windows & doors open, lots of large shade trees, ceiling fans in every room, a local oscillating fan to use during high heat periods and the attic/whole house fan that we turn on after sunset. It keeps us very comfortable.

Last year we didn't have ac until the end of June because when we went to turn it on found out we had had a close lightening strike that took out the control panel and it took us that long to get the part and repair. Once it comes on it usually stays on until end of August/early Spetember when the humidity begins to recede.