Every year, it occurs. As the outside temperature rises and your central air conditioner comes on, you must decide what temperature to set it at during the summer.
So, what is the best temperature for air conditioner?
The best temperature for air conditioners to operate when people are at home and need cooling is 78° Fahrenheit. But in reality, this is a question that doesn’t have a “one size fits all” answer.
For more information, continue reading.
Table of Contents
In The Summer, What Temperature Should I Set My Air Conditioner To?
The temptation is to turn on the air conditioning and breathe in that nice, cool, dry air when the heat and humidity have you perspiring heavily. Then, when you receive your utility bill, it sinks in… there’s a price to pay for all of that extra comfort. Setting your thermostat a few degrees higher in an effort to save money results in the cycle repeating itself. If this rings a bell, there are a few things you can do to strike a balance between comfort and savings.
To begin, raise the temperature when you are home and set it to 78 degrees when you are away. The Department of Energy advises using that temperature when you need cooling but want to conserve energy. If you discover that your house is too warm to be comfortable, try lowering the thermostat by one or two degrees to see if you feel any cooler. Once everyone is consistently comfortable, reduce the temperature by another degree or two. Use some of the energy-saving and comfort-improving advice in the following as you experiment to find the setting that suits you.
What Air Conditioning Temperature Is Best For Sleeping?
Although 780 F is a good temperature for comfort and energy savings when you are at home and awake, it is not the best for sleeping. In actuality, a restless night may be caused by an uncomfortable bedroom temperature. A general recommendation is that the optimal temperature for sleeping is between 60⁰ and 67⁰ F, regardless of the season outside.
- Before you go to bed, you might want to adjust the thermostat to help ensure a better night’s sleep, giving your bedroom time to adjust.
- If you have a programmable thermostat, you might want to set it to automatically lower the temperature when you are typically asleep.
- Try opening a few windows to see if it works for you and your climate. This method, which relies on milder, cooler outdoor temperatures, provides a less precise but more energy-efficient way to reach the desired temperature range of 600 to 670 F. To lock in the cooler air in the morning, make sure to close the windows.
Cons Of Sleeping With Air Conditioner
If a person keeps their AC unit clean and makes sure it receives regular maintenance, it is safe to sleep with the AC on. Two times a year is usually enough to clean these units, including their filters and ducts. This aids in preventing the buildup and spread of airborne contaminants like dust mites, volatile organic compounds, and pet dander. Mold, pollen, and bacteria may also cause irritation.
Pros Of Sleeping With Air Conditioner
Sleeping in an air-conditioned room helps avoid heat-related illnesses like dehydration, heatstroke, and heat exhaustion.
Normal AC filters can keep dust and other particles from getting into the unit, but they won’t clean the air. By eliminating irritants like pollen, bacteria, and microbes, specialized filters can aid in the air’s purification.
In addition to promoting cleaner air, using an AC system enables a person to close the windows while sleeping and use an air purifier. People who have asthma, allergies, or respiratory problems will particularly benefit from this. See more about Do Air Conditioners Filter Pollen
If The Weather Is Too Hot Or Cold, Why Can’t People Sleep?
People may find it difficult to fall asleep or stay asleep in a room that is too hot or cold, which can result in common problems like agitation, trouble falling asleep, and nighttime awakenings. Even more than a room that is too cold, a room that is too hot can disrupt sleep.
Furthermore, being uncomfortable, restless, and perspiring in a hot environment can result in dehydration.
It was suggested that sleeping in a hot room may also increase wakefulness, making it difficult to fall asleep, and decrease sleep efficiency, resulting in fatigue. In addition to increasing heart and respiratory rates and decreasing appetite, high temperatures.
Before going to bed, a person’s core body temperature drops as the extremities receive more heat and blood from the core, resulting in warmer hands and feet. The amount of restorative slow-wave sleep and the quality of sleep a person gets may be decreased by a core body temperature that is too warm and not sending heat to the extremities. Additionally, a high core body temperature can make it difficult to fall asleep and wake up frequently.
On the other hand, it might be more difficult to fall asleep and get a good night’s sleep in a room that is too cold. Temperatures of 59°F (15°C) and 64.4°F (18°C) have been linked to reduced delta wave activity, which is a sign of deep sleep, and poor sleep quality when compared to a control temperature of 73.4°F (23°C). Blood pressure and heart rate both rose as a result of the colder temperatures.
How To Lower My Electricity Costs While Maintaining A Cool Home?
Set your thermostat to a variety of temperatures throughout the day to minimize your energy usage while maintaining a comfortable indoor climate. When choosing what settings to use for your air conditioner in the summer, take into account these factors.
What Is The Weather Outside?
Take the typical outdoor temperature into account when choosing your thermostat setting. Your heating and cooling system’s (HVAC) energy usage will be inversely correlated to the amount of temperature difference between the indoor and outdoor environments. Your energy bill will be lower the less energy your HVAC system uses.
What Is The Ideal Temperature To Maintain Humidity Control In Your Home?
In homes with excessive moisture from humid climates, mold and mildew growth is a possibility for both you and the property. Not to mention other humidity-related issues like rotting wood, peeling paint, and other things that the majority of us would rather not deal with. The good news is that using an air conditioner can help reduce humidity. A relative humidity of 30 to 50 percent is ideal indoors.
A humidistat that is built into your humidifier may be used to track the humidity level in your house. If not, hygrometers cost about $20 and are available on Amazon or at most hardware stores. The general rule for humidity is to set your thermostat as high as your comfort level allows, provided that it’s cool enough to guarantee a healthy humidity level.
What’s The Most Comfortable Indoor Temperature For You?
Some people might find it a little too warm to keep their homes at 78 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, especially if they need some much-needed relief from the intense heat.
Set your thermostat to the suggested 78 degrees Fahrenheit (or 68 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter) to find your personal comfort zone. If you discover that you are either too hot or too cold, gradually increase the temperature in one degree increments until you reach the ideal level of comfort.
Energy-saving Advice For Air Conditioner
We have a ton of energy-saving suggestions that can help you reduce your utility costs. The best energy-saving advice includes everything from small fixes and straightforward lifestyle changes to significant investments. But there is one thing they all have in common: they all help you save energy and money on your energy bills.
Here are the top four energy-saving tips to reduce your electric bill while using your air conditioning:
- Your home’s living areas should have ceiling fans.
- Install a programmable thermostat, preferably one that is intelligent.
- In an effort to quickly adjust the temperature in your home, avoid setting your AC’s temperature lower than usual.
- Buy an air conditioner that has earned the Energy Star label.
Let’s explore the specific factors that make these suggestions so successful.
Install Ceiling Fans
Nearly 50% of the energy used in the US is for heating and cooling. Installing ceiling fans in your home’s living areas is a quick and very efficient way to practice energy conservation.
Compared to air conditioners, ceiling fans consume significantly less energy, and the airflow they produce makes air conditioners operate more effectively. Lower electricity use and subsequent utility costs result from improved energy efficiency.
Furthermore, by using ceiling fans, you can raise your thermostat’s temperature settings by four degrees Fahrenheit during the hot summer months without feeling less comfortable. Your energy bill may decrease by up to 1% per degree, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, which over time can add up.
Install A Programmable Thermostat
Continually adjusting your thermostat to higher or lower temperatures depending on the time of day and your schedule might seem too complicated. However, setting up a pre-set schedule is simple when you install a programmable thermostat. Once you decide on a plan that works for you, you can “set and forget” your programmable thermostat, taking all that hassle away. Without affecting the rest of your program, you can also manually override those temperature settings.
Installing a programmable thermostat has the added benefit of allowing you to program it to warm or cool your house before you arrive home after a trip. This eliminates any potential discomfort you might feel, such as having to wait for a warm house to cool down after entering it.
A new level of convenience is provided by smart thermostats, which are programmable thermostats. You can manage the internal temperature of your house using a smart thermostat from anywhere in the world. You can program them, like other programmable thermostats, to make adjustments automatically at specific times each day. Smart thermostats also have a lot of additional benefits, though.
You can change the temperature of your home based on the relative humidity in it by pressing a button. Furthermore, smart thermostats perform more functions than just mimicking your previously set preferences. They can get a sense of your preferences and schedule. By automatically adjusting the temperature based on the weather, the number of occupants in your home, and a number of other factors, this aids in energy conservation.
Your smart thermostat will automatically maintain the ideal temperature in your home once it gets to know you. Some models can even diagnose issues with your air conditioner, notify you when it’s time to replace the air filter, and monitor your energy usage in real-time. You can even check with some models to see if you remembered to turn off the lights.
The installation of a smart thermostat is essentially guaranteed to save you money and energy because heating costs can fluctuate by about 5% for every degree that you change your thermostat, and cooling costs can fluctuate by 3% per degree.
Don’t Adjust Your Air Conditioner Settings For Quick Relief
In an effort to quickly adjust the temperature in your home, avoid turning the AC temperature colder than usual. While in theory this might work, it is not actually effective and will not speed up the process of cooling your home. But it might result in overcooling, which would cost money.
Invest In An Energy Star Air Conditioning Unit
The United States runs a program called Energy Star. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was established to assist US consumers in making energy-efficient purchases. The U.S. Department of Energy backs this program, which has two main goals:
- Reduce pollution caused by inefficient energy use as well as greenhouse gas emissions.
- Make it simpler for Americans to buy energy-saving products that reduce their energy and utility costs without compromising comfort, performance, or other features.
You can cut your air conditioning energy use by up to 50% by installing a high-efficiency air conditioner. Instead of consuming the water needed to run the AC unit as traditional units do, these energy-efficient systems recycle it.
In addition, the majority of the top-rated units function reliably in very hot environments (up to 131 degrees Fahrenheit). Several models can also run on a generator in the event of a natural disaster.
Conclusion
You’ll need to experiment with various settings to find the best answer for you. You must also decide whether you are more concerned with lowering your electricity costs, increasing your level of comfort, or striking a balance between the two. The number of occupants, level of physical activity, and exterior elements like humidity, amount of direct sunlight, number of windows, and more can also influence the ideal temperature for AC in your home. The most ideal temperature for your home’s air conditioning is the one that makes you and your family comfortable while using resources you can afford.
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