A/C Thermostat setting when no one at home

[EcoDeb]

Do you have zoning?

[Backintheville2]

Originally Posted by Pghfamily

Uh oh - we live in Pittsburgh and keep our house at 68 in the summer and 70 while not home! We have a 2 story so we need to keep the upstairs cool to sleep too. WE are considering a move to Dallas and no one on here keeps their air that low - why? My husband likes it cold - I don't but like it at that temp when I sleep.

No one here in TX keeps it that low because we know how expensive the electric bill would be each month. We're already in the lower to mid 90's this week and it's only mid-May. And the heat lasts until well into October, depending on the year.

And, like others have mentioned, we use fans and during most of the day keep it set around 75 or 76. Using fans, that is plenty cool on a 105 degree day.

[Soccernerd]

We don’t turn our AC on until there are two consecutive days of 90 which is typically sometime in early to mid June in St. Louis. We also always have ours set to 78 or 80.

In St. Louis last summer, there was a day where it got up to 108. Typically when it gets that hot it’s not very humid. What you can do is avoid using the stove or oven and cook on the grill instead. Otherwise your AC will just run continuously

[aggie972]

In a 2 story home with two AC units, does it make sense to leave the upstairs temperature a little hotter than the downstairs unit (like 4 degrees hotter) when you're home and only hanging out downstairs?

[numbersguy100]

Originally Posted by Backintheville2

No one here in TX keeps it that low because we know how expensive the electric bill would be each month. We're already in the lower to mid 90's this week and it's only mid-May. And the heat lasts until well into October, depending on the year.

And, like others have mentioned, we use fans and during most of the day keep it set around 75 or 76. Using fans, that is plenty cool on a 105 degree day.

A lot of the people in this thread are crazy, or are just a lot more tolerant of heat than I am. We live in a 3400 sq ft house that is 100 years old. We upgraded just about every energy efficiency aspect of the home when we gutted it prior to moving in, but it's still not the most efficient thing in the world. And we keep our upstairs in the 68-70 range overnight when we're in bed, and our Nest lets it rise to 72-75 at most when no one is home. Our Nest lets the downstairs heat up to about 76-78 overnight as we are seldom downstairs after about 7pm. I can't imagine sleeping in 78 degrees, and yes, we have an overhead fan in every room that we use and still keep the temperature low.

[TheOverdog]

Our thermostat has a generic Energy Star recommended standards which are 85F during the day if the house is unoccupied.

[Backintheville2]

Originally Posted by numbersguy100

A lot of the people in this thread are crazy, or are just a lot more tolerant of heat than I am. We live in a 3400 sq ft house that is 100 years old. We upgraded just about every energy efficiency aspect of the home when we gutted it prior to moving in, but it's still not the most efficient thing in the world. And we keep our upstairs in the 68-70 range overnight when we're in bed, and our Nest lets it rise to 72-75 at most when no one is home. Our Nest lets the downstairs heat up to about 76-78 overnight as we are seldom downstairs after about 7pm. I can't imagine sleeping in 78 degrees, and yes, we have an overhead fan in every room that we use and still keep the temperature low.

I forgot to mention that our electric company offers a plan we are on where between 8:00 pm and 5:00 am, our electricity is free. After 8:00 pm, we turn the thermostat down to 72, and during that time also run the washer, dryer or dishwasher as needed. Then turn thermostat up to 75 or so in the morning, while running fans during the day.

Our A/C unit (heat pump) is a newer model (replaced in 2016) and the technician told us to never set it below 70 degrees.

[OttoR]

Originally Posted by dallastx10

What will be the ideal AC thermostat setting when no one is at home? So that the home does n't get stuffy.

Keep mine on 72 when no one is there (except the dogs). I put it on 70 when I get home and 65 when I go to bed.