Run the A/C or Not Run the A/C that is the Question!!

Sounds like the place that I left, Arizona! I hated that horrible heat. But we could keep nice and cool with an evaporative cooler because the humidity was so low. Do you have those where you are? It costs way less to operate than a/c and it's healthier for you. If you're in a dry climate, you should consider one of these!

You are getting a jump on the hot weather there. Here in Pa it is still cool enough to have the windows and doors open. I am not looking forward to this summer much like you and paying the cooling bills. It is hard enough to pay the heating bills in the winter. We don't get much of a break between the two. Both winter and Summer I try to cut the bills as much as possible. If we are not going to be home the air conditioner is on at 75 and when I get home I bring it down to about 68. My husband still likes it cooler but I try to control it a little more. In Winter the heat goes down to 65 and then up to 68-70 when I get home. The electric co. has sent us a message with our bill to keep the conditioner running most of the time, it does take more power to cool off a warm or hot house. Hope it helps. Enjoy the Summer.

I will be avoiding using mine at all costs this year to save money. I have ceiling fans in every room so that will really help me out alot with keeping it cool in my house. So far we havent gotten to hot yet but summers just starting here.

I live in a hot area so I do know how you feel with this. We fought turning our a/c on but it's on now. We have it set at 80 during the day and at night we turn it down to 78. It still feels hot in the house but not as bad as outside. We have added darker curtains to help keep out the heat. Last year our bills were in the 300's or more but since then we've added the curtains and we had the a/c unit worked on (it had a few pieces go bad) so we are hoping they won't be as bad as last year. Something also to try to do is to use other things to cook besides the oven. Turning on the oven really heats up the house. If you do have to use it try to do it when it's cooler in the house. That way it won't make the a/c unit kick on more.

if you have a fan use it. if its hot now what about summer? we are getting a lot of rain now so its cool now but when it comes to the begining of summer the rain is goin to cease then comes the heat.

Hi! Wow! I have to wonder where you're at! Do you live in the city or the country? I don't know how useful this advice is going to be, because it really depends on how much control you have over where you live, but if you're able to, you really want to try to keep your home from getting hot in the first place. If you can block the sun in the first place, then your AC won't have to work so hard - so shading the house. Planting a tree that will block the sun and shade the house is a great long term solution, but that obviously won't help in the short term. Planting some quick growing vines on a trellis on the side of the house that gets the most sun will help shade the house and that will mean that your AC will have to work less hard to cool it in the first place. Again, of course, this all depends on where you live, etc. Do you have any kind of window awnings or shutters that can block the sun from getting in thru the windows, since windows are a primary place where you have heat loss? Sorry if my advice doesn't pertain to your situation. I live in south florida so believe me I know all about hot hot hot summers.

It looks like you already got your answer. We just have window units to cool down our house, but our summer is really pretty short. I'm probably not as concerned about the amount of electricity we will use this summer as I should be. We have extremely high propane bills in the winter ($300 some months for a 1500 sq. ft. house!), so our electric bill will seem fairly small in comparison, or at least it did last summer.

Do you really need AC at 102.7? Just curious... I think it is better to switch it off when not in use, then switch on later.

I don't use an air conditioner at all. I had one once and got rid of it. Not only does it spike up the electric bill but it just makes adjusting to the heat all that more difficult. We have had days where I've been tempted to invest in one but they pass quickly and we just deal with it. Last summer, during a heat wave, I visited my friend for coffee. She had air conditioning. It felt so good. when I left tho, my apartment seemed more unbearable that it did before.

Hi mamacathie... who ever told you to leave it on all day told you correctly because when the heat gets so high it's that much more the A/C has to cool down the temp so turning it on and leaving it on all day keeps the temp the same. Another thing to do is to change the thermostate to a simple digital kind. Not with all those fancy buttons and such. You don't need that plus they break down much easier than a simple one does and it keeps your temp at a steady degree. Say you set your temp to 80 and it gets warmer to 81, your A/C will kick on and cool it back down before it gets any hotter. The analog type waits till it's about 83 or 84 or higher before turning on and cooling which is like throwing your hard earned money out the window. I'm sure you don't want to do that, right? lol Not especially now with the prices of everything going up and up. Hope this helps!! Good luck!

I'm not sure about what is the most money saving but i try to use my ceiling fans until it get's to be about 80 and I cant stand it any more than I run the Ac until it cools back down. I cant sleep if the temp is more than 74 or 75 in the house.

I'm not too sure about the best way to run the AC. But, what probably happens is that the hotter it gets the more work the AC has to do, thus burning more energy. I don't know if running it all day would help. Sometimes it is so hot outside that running the AC, depending on what type you have, still doesn't make you comfortable. Maybe you could find alternatives that will help keep your house cooler than it is outside. Darken your living area so that the sun isn't beaming in, keep your use of your lights in your house low, maybe a good fan would do the trick and use less energy, maybe when it's hot outside you guys could close off certain rooms so you don't have to worry about cooling them down, spend more time doing outside activities or activities outside of the house... I'm just brainstorming, some of these ideas might not work so well for you. I'm sure all types of suggestions can be found on the internet. Good Luck ... I can't stand the heat!

It's cheaper to only use it when you need it, unless you are turning it on and off constantly, then it's better to leave it on, low, and use the room air and not outside air (use the circulate button). We don't use air and I never plan to. I just turn on fans. What works better is an attic fan. It pulls all the hot air out of the house. It's great!!

We keep ours set on a timer, even when we are not home it still comes on. We are all hot natured people and if it gets over 75-76 degrees in the house, we are all miserable.

I have turned the thermostat UP here and have the ceiling fans all running on HIGH. I leave the AC on during the day. I have a daughter who is back home now so just trying to leave it up higher than normal. So far my bill hasn't gone up but this next bill may be a while new story. Stay cool!

We have a programmable thermostat that changes the setting on whatever time schedule we determine. Thankfully, it rarely gets over 100 degrees F here. I keep the windows covered on the side of the house where the sun hits and I use the attic fan to pull cool air up from the basement. I open the windows at the top rather than at the bottom. For some reason that helps. We have ceiling fans in most of our rooms. I know what you mean when you say you dread having to turn it on. Utilities are taking a bigger bite; gasoline is taking a bigger bite; groceries are taking a bigger bite. There aren't many crumbs left! I usually manage to only use the AC two months a year. This year we may have to use it more if they start the road construction in front of our house as they have been promising. There will be too much dirt and noise to leave the windows open.

We have a similar situation in our area too. The summers are so very hot here. I try not to run my oven or anything that would overheat the house, especially between noon and six pm. That will keep the house from overheating. If you can leave a back window open and get some cross current going, you might be able to turn off the air conditioner in the morning or early evening.

I'm the same way. I can't afford to run the AC. In So Ca, it gets triple digits often. Here's what I do. If by myself (no kids as I have the same situation you do with hot-natured little grand daughters!) but I will open all windows early in the morning. I turn table fans on to circulate the cool air. Depending on the direction of the sun, meaning which way it rises and sets on our house, come about 11am it would start warming up and I'd close the windows on the east side of the house, pull curtains and blinds. I even put in an extra set of thermal curtains behind the blinds and other "decorative" curtains to keep some heat out. Then as it warmed up on the west side of the house, I would close those windows, pull curtains etc, all the while keeping the fans going. Then as is starts to cool down on the east side of the house, I would start opening windows again. Night fall, I'd open the ones on the west side of the house. and then leave most of the windows open all night - to a point with "breaking and entering" in consideration. LIke only open half way with a stick in the window cutter so it can't be open any more than that. Sounds like a lot of work, but really it isn't. Just watch your times and feel the heat. Thing is, once it is hot inside you have not hope! SO the secret is to not let it get so hot inside in the first place. No it is not cool and comfy, but it is liveable and manageable and I sure breath easier when the electric bill comes in! When I have the girls, I do turn it on for them, but do the same thing and close up at 11am and keep the AC set at 75* and the fans going. This week so far, it has been triple digits for 3 days now and in this case, I do have to run the AC, however, I keep it at 78*- 80* and the fans going and organize myself to do work in parts of the house that are coolest throughout the day. It does work.