What is your Air Conditioning set at?

[quinterbourne]

Just seeing what the norm is. It appears that most a/c manufacturers suggest 78 F.

[ai698]

Two evaporative coolers (swamp boxes for us down in the desert). They have 4 settings- Low Vent, High Vent, Low Cool, and High Cool. If it's hot it's on high cool, if it's mild, it off or on low vent. If there's high humidity, forget about it. It doesn't work well. Just makes everything stuffy like I'm back in Arkansas. Ironically, one of our coolers is made in Little Rock.

[Steve Inman]

Glad to find out I'm as "normal" as 3 other people are .... My problem is that my older system takes a while to recognize the temperature is now below 76 -- several degrees below!

Joe gets the award for the most frugal use of climate control so far ....

Cheers,

[LoyalTubist]

Air conditioners in Southeast Asia can go all the way down to the equivalent of 48 degrees Fahrenheit. In my school, only the halls are air conditioned. (Yeah, I know this is about cars, but I don't own a car right now!) So, when we go outside the classrooms, the difference is amazing.

[Rick F]

Most of the time we have our A/C set for 77°. But since the humidity is so high here in S. Florida, we lower it to 76° when we go to bed. I'm subject to getting sinus headaches, so the lower humidity helps me sleep.

Later in the summer when the A/C seems to run too often (or the electric bill gets too high) we'll raise it to 78°.

[Chuck Jackson]

We have in excess of 100K worth of violins and bows in the house. Two of my wifes fiddles are at least 200 years old and need a steady temp to keep them fit. Her "outside" instrument (one that she plays from May to Sept here) is newer at 80 years old and tough as nails. But the upside is this: we bought one of the new Carrier energy efficient ground units last year and our power bills in peak times (July-August, 112 during the day) are @ 150/month so the trade off works. The only problem is that it is so dry here that we have to run 2 humidifiers in my wifes studio. Is it cool to me? Yes. We have a huge covered back porch that we live on, tv, grill, all the plants, so we spend 12-16 hours a day outside anyway. You hear the jokes about a dry heat, but it doesn't get unbearable until it hits 110.

Chuck

[Chuck Jackson]

Growing up poor in Upstate NY we never had A/C. My mom's solution for those days when it was really warm was to put a bowl full of ice in front of a fan. Not that the kids ever got the benefit, it was for the adults. We were admonished to go outside and run around because the wind would cool us down. We did. Took me a number of years before I realized they were pulling our chain, like until I was 40. Some things never change.

Chuck

[windshieldbug]

That is back in the days of Door-to-door dairy products from the milkman

Hey- my dad grew up in Pottsville, Pa: home of the Yuengling brewery. My grandparents not only had a milkman, they also had a beerman (no $&#*!) who had the same function; picked up the empty bottles and left new ones!

[Chuck Jackson]

We have in excess of 100K worth of violins and bows in the house... ...Chuck

Would you, please, post a mapquest link to your home address?

Sure, but you have to get by the alarm system and the converted gun safe that the things are kept in at night and when we are away. The alarm system is louder than an air raid siren, trust me, I've set it off. When we leave town they go into storage at a reputable violin shop. I know, kinda stoopid to but a value out there. I'm a slow learner.

Chuck'who is glad his wife doesn't snoop around this sight because she would lock me in the gun safe for mouthing off about her investments"Jackson

[iiipopes]

Humidity is as important as temperature for the health and wellbeing of not only the people living in the house, but the framing, furniture and valuables as well. Moreover, at the recommended 55% relative humidity, the temperature will feel neither cooler nor warmer than it is, so it lessens the temptation to change the thermostat during the day.

Unless you live in an area that is so humid you actually need a de-humidifier more often, I recommend everyone install a seasonally-adjustable humidifier with their heating/cooling system. Ever since we did, my incidence of sinus infections (broken nose @ 15 makes me susceptible) has gone from routine to rare, and even though I don't have $100G of stuff, I do have about a dozen instruments, from cheap electric guitars to a few that are rather collectible, to my grandmother's piano, and some inherited furniture, that I like keeping as they are without finish warpage or cracking.

[RyanSchultz]

Other--it's on top of my file cabinet.

[Mark]

Other--it's on top of my file cabinet.

When it gets really hot this summer, invite yourself over for dinner and see what your missing (a/c wise). Since I'm originally from Houston, I would think anyone from Houston would think all the folks around here were nuts for not having air conditioning.

[SRanney]

None - I have a big oak tree that keeps me well shaded. Open up the windows in an area of the state that has, on average, 10 mph winds and I'm fairly comfortable. I will admit, though, that the humidity recently has been nearly comparable to Atlanta levels, and that no amount of wind or shade can keep you cool in that!

There are a few window units downstairs in my rental house, but I don't plan on plugging those in this summer. It's not worth the electric bill.

SR

[iiipopes]

Trees are underestimated. Right after my son was born, I had a change in my day job that required a move. My wife and I found a really nice house in a new subdivision. But, of course, being new, there were no trees. So the first thing we did was plot out where the sun would be at @ 2:00 in the afternoon on the statistically hottest day of the year and plant a tree that will eventually grow to shade the house during the hottest parts of days.

In addition, on all our south facing windows, including a rather sizeable bay in the kitchen/dining area, we installed the shaded film. No joke -- we have a wall thermometer in the kitchen we looked at as we installed the film. In the middle of the day, as we installed the film, which didn't really take that long, the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees just from the film from before we installed it to right after we were done.

Another item, which I haven't figured out a good way to install yet on our particular house, is an old-fashinioned awning over each window. You extend them out so that the high summer sun is shaded from the window to keep things relatively cooler, but short enough that the low winter sun will shine in and help warm the house. And paint them white or another light color to reflect the heat.

Finally, add even more insulation. It not only keeps the heat in the winter, but it also keeps the cool in the summer; and a strategic ceiling fan run properly, changing direction with the season, on a high ceiling as is popular in modern "great" rooms, including ours, keeps the air moving slightly, eliminating stagnation or stratification, and helps take part of the load off your heating/cooling system.

[dmmorris]

One of the few "smart" things I did when we bought the new house was have an HVAC guy install a mess of computerized dampers and thermostats to create multiple zones. We have four Zones in the house (downstairs, 2nd floor, master suite, finished attic). The main two floors we keep at 80ºF through the summer, but if the kids are away or we're out of town, we can shut-down the appropriate parts of the house completely. The finished attic room zone is set for 85ºF...we don't use it that much and it has a manual over-ride when we need to use it for rehersals, HomeTheater, or parties.

.....also have two of those thermostatically controlled attic vent fans to cool-out the unfinished attic spaces.

[Mark]

Trees are underestimated.

Even in the Pacific Northwest, trees are underestimated. If you have a cedar 160 feet from your house and you underestimate its height to be less than 160 feet, then you will be underestimating how much it will cost to repair your roof.

[RyanSchultz]

Trees are underestimated.

Even in the Pacific Northwest, trees are underestimated. If you have a cedar 160 feet from your house and you underestimate its height to be less than 160 feet, then you will be underestimating how much it will cost to repair your roof.

'sounds like the November storm. Ack!

[Albertibass]

id like it to be cooler, but whenever it gets below 77 in the summer, my mom has a miniature panic attack over the how much it will cost us.

[LoyalTubist]

I don't know what it is here at work, but it sure is cold! Two weeks ago, when the rain started getting bad here (and the humidity made the heat feel even worse!), they lowered the thermostats in the lounge and in the classrooms. I am thinking about bringing my insulated leather bomber jacket along!