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I don't leave the AC on when I am not home. That includes when I am at work, and even when we are gone for an hour or two. I am too afraid of lightening strikes and electrical problems.
Neither do I, but I'm talking about vacation, being away for several weeks in hot summer.
Living in Greenville, SC we are climate zone 3A (warm, humid). I always leave it on (by "on" I obviously mean in auto with a higher temp) and just turn it up, usually to 80F just like when we are away at work. At 80F our unit is not running that often at all but enough to help minimize the build-up of humidity. Turning it completely off wouldn't hardly save much more really - our total electric bills are always <$100/month even in the peak of summer so I'm not worried about a few extra bucks to maintain humidity while we are away
I don't even have AC in my house, other than a window unit that I rarely use. Keeping the AC off will not hurt anything but be sure to turn off the faucets to your washing machine.
Get a programable thermostat. It'll also save you some bucks. I agree with the other posters - run it! There's also a security issue. If it's hot at night and your a/c isn't running, a crook knows to check your house more carefully, So it's worth running it from 11:00 - 6:00 (am) or so.
Also consider having someone come in every couple of days to open and close the blinds, check on things, etc. In this day and age, it's really not a good idea to leave your house for more than 3 - 4 days without someone checking on it.
Leaving it off for extended periods, especially in humid areas, CAN cause problems with mildew indoors. It also makes the system work MUCH harder to cool down the rooms after it has been off for a while, which shortens the life of the system.
The whole reason for the thermostat is so you can leave the HVAC on and set a temperature at which it keeps your house. Turn it up when you leave, but not off ... especially not for a short period like a work day.
I turned mine off while I was gone this week on vacation. Came back home, it was 91 degrees in the house.
Looked at my energy monitor.. Had used $6 in power the 4 days I was gone. Been back a day and a half.. Used $9 in power.
I also turned off the hot water heater while I was gone. Wish I had remembered to turn it back on before I started my shower last night... But..
I turn my AC off when I go to work.. Working 10am to 7pm, by the time I get home, it's cooling down, so.. I'm not paying to cool the house during the time i'm not here. It's usually 90 to 91 degrees inside when I get back.. Set it to 85, cools down in about an hour.. Then step it down to 82 after sun has gone down, and then to 78 when I go to bed.
you'd be much better off (and only spend pennies more with your living habits) if you used a programmable that started cooling down 1 hour before you get home so that it is already at your set point by the time you get in the house and you aren't still waiting for it to cool down.
We use a 7 day programmable and keep it at 78 when we are at home and 80 when we are away and it's pretty cheap. Even for 2500ft2 house we are <$100 summer peak and prob average $50/month including ALL electricity in the house. Sure I could let it get into the 90s and only spend $30/month instead of $50 but what's the point then?
I turned mine off while I was gone this week on vacation. Came back home, it was 91 degrees in the house.
Looked at my energy monitor.. Had used $6 in power the 4 days I was gone. Been back a day and a half.. Used $9 in power.
I also turned off the hot water heater while I was gone. Wish I had remembered to turn it back on before I started my shower last night... But..
I turn my AC off when I go to work.. Working 10am to 7pm, by the time I get home, it's cooling down, so.. I'm not paying to cool the house during the time i'm not here. It's usually 90 to 91 degrees inside when I get back.. Set it to 85, cools down in about an hour.. Then step it down to 82 after sun has gone down, and then to 78 when I go to bed.
Why even have A/C if you let it get up to 91 INDOORS???
If you have attic fan , they can be sufficient in protecting the roof from getting to hot , so unless you have house plants or goldfish you should not have a problem
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