[chiluvr1228]

My house has new "hurricane" windows and a new a/c unit. Yesterday I had my a/c set at 78. It was more humid out than it has been for a few days. The a/c kicked it about once an hour for 15 minutes or so. During the day in the summer I keep the thermostat around 77 degrees and I lower it at night to 75. Studies have shown that we sleep better in a cooler bedroom. I have a lightweight sheet & comforter on my bed.

I do not like humidity. When it's 80 degrees outside with low humidity and a breeze I have all my windows open. It's not the heat as much as the humidity PLUS the sun is very strong in this part of the country.

[beach43ofus]

Originally Posted by bbronston

I don’t know how often it will go on but I’d be concerned about potential mold growth at that setting.

I read mold can grow at temps of 80 degrees plus given our high humidity here. You might be able to increase the temp to 82 if you circulated the air a lot and used dehumidifiers to remove some moiture from the air that could encourage mold growth.

[Charlie Allnut]

We keep ours at 79-80 in the summer for many years and never had any issues with mold.
Often we keep the a/c fan running without the a/c kicking in just to provide air flow.
Plus have always enjoyed ceiling fans on low.
90% time comfortable, those once in while 10% times we get wild and kick it down to 76.
But we spend so much time outside (and in the pool/gulf) maybe we are just use to it.
Funny when the grown children visit and complain about being to hot

[markjames68]

The general rule for snowbirds in SW Florida is to keep their home/condo AC set to 78 when not in residence. That seems to be sufficient to keep humidity and mold at bay.

[Corrie22]

Originally Posted by MrJester

BUT that's not the question. The question is, SUPPOSE you WERE comfortable with setting your thermostat in your Florida home at 82F all summer long. And yes, you used your portable fans. HOW OFTEN would your A/C kick on?

probably about half as much as it does now.....sunlight is still going to heat it up in the afternoon

...if the house is in shade...probably...half again

[City Guy997S]

82 is miserable....... So is your experiment to save money or sweat off weight or both?

[PamelaIamela]

Originally Posted by MrJester

I fully acknowledge that most people find 82F indoors during the summer far too warm.

BUT what if? What if you simply had an extremely high tolerance for heat and was perfectly fine with an 82F indoor temp? What if you got a well-insulated Florida home, set the thermostat to 82F all summer long, and used your portable fans?

How often would the A/C kick on?

I keep my temp set to 78F in winter and up to 80F in summer as I find the differential to be the determining factor in my comfort level.
That said, the AC will be on regularly in summer, as outside temps get much hotter than that.

[bbronston]

If you think “ This question could well be answered by any Floridian with a well-insulated home who has a very high tolerance for heat“ then you need to reword your question. If I had $100K I could afford to lose, I’d bet you a $100K that there isn’t one Floridian in the state that knows the number of times his/her A/C compressor kicks on in a day at their temperature setting, much less a setting they don’t use.

[Fredesch]

A lot of folks out west, talk about dry heat not being as hot. Folks claim dry heat does not feel as hot because YOU cool yourself when your sweat evaporates. This is theoretically true but requires you to sweat. If you are not sweating, then you feel the same temperature. If you are willing to sweat this mostly works outdoors. If you are inside in a humidified space or use a swap box cooler, you no longer in a low humidity situation and it is similar to be outside in Florida at the same temperature.

I live beachside in Volusia County and would have no trouble setting my thermostat to 82. I like it warm. I would set my thermometer to 78 if my wife wouldn't divorce me over it. Everyone has a different comfort level and you go with your comfort level.

Our house is built with concrete brick and has high thermal mass. Our heat rarely comes on in winter and it is cooler inside in the summer than outside. We have hurricane window which are double pane. A few houses in our neighborhood still have jalousie windows. A lot of the single story bungalows are oriented at an angle to the street - theoretically to align them with the breeze but I think the developer was able to put more houses on our narrow peninsula that way.

Beachside is nice since we are about 800' from the Atlantic Ocean on the east and have the Halifax river which is quite wide where we are (zip 32176) on the west. So we have lots of cooling breezes. I couldn't live on the mainland as I love being outdoors year round and the mainland gets muggy in the summer. I can sit on my back porch for hours reading, watching birds and lizards or fiddling with potted plants all year round. On the mainland, I can barely deal with going to Lowes and back home in August.

[LKJ1988]

Originally Posted by bbronston

If you think “ This question could well be answered by any Floridian with a well-insulated home who has a very high tolerance for heat“ then you need to reword your question. If I had $100K I could afford to lose, I’d bet you a $100K that there isn’t one Floridian in the state that knows the number of times his/her A/C compressor kicks on in a day at their temperature setting, much less a setting they don’t use.

I know my A/C makes 15 gals a water a day when we are in a reverse west windflow. I call that a 3 bucket day. On much less humid days like in March it makes maybe half a gal. With a rapid warming planet it will just get worse.