Whats more efficient. leave the A/C on for 4 days straight, or fire it up at 4pm every afternoon and off at 10

Question

Wife turns the A/C opn at 3pm, and turns it off at 10pm. Its running the whole time. i say leave it on during a hot spell (4days), and let the thermosat regulate it. Whisch one is more energy effecient

Answer 1

I turn mine on and NEVER shut it off again until fall when AC is no longer needed. If you turn in on and off all the time it has to work harder to catch up. I set my temp to 75 and leave it, also set my furnace fan from auto to on so it runs all the time. doing so keep the house cooler and the air moving and the AC runs less, it costs less to run the fan the the AC. I have a 2600 sq ft older house with 10 ft ceiling. doing this saves me a lot on AC bill when compare AC bill now with older bills before I started doing this the bill now is less.

It does taking some getting use to hear the fan run you think you are wasting money and energy but you are not it cost least to run the fan and use less energy in the long run.

Answer 2

Leaving it on is one of the great urban myths of all time

Use a timer, because

if the outside temp. is 120 degrees and you want it 65 degrees inside, you will have to maintain that 55 degree differential 24/7, not for 10/7.

If you cycle it and the indoor temperature rises to 90 degrees during that off period, you will be maintaining only a 30 degree differential during that period. Do the math. The on/off costs are negligible.

While the "leave it on" method has a certain facile charm, it has no merit whatsoever.

You hear the same nonsense with heating situations, and that myth has pretty much been debunked.

Don't look to the electric company for answers. They want to sell you as much electricity as possible, notwithstanding their posturing about conservation.

Still not convinced, try it each way for week or two when the outside temperatures are about the same. You can take meter readings at the begining and the end.

Answer 3

boy o boy chauk one up for the males....you are right
let the T-stat regulate the temp..its easier, and more cost effective to leave it running say leave it @ 77 while your out working and then setting the temp to 71 or so when you come home rather than having it work harder trying to bring the temp down from the mid 80's or higher and into the low 70's.

it will cost you less to run it, eventho its on all the time.it reaches temp and then the fan runs to move the air, so the compressor isnt actually running all the time.

Answer 4

When everybody leaves for work, leaving the air conditioning on makes no sense. If you want to return to a cool house, he said, simply set the thermostat to come on before you arrive. If it's really hot, the air conditioner is going to stay on from 4pm to 10pm anyway, so what's the point of leaving it on all day, too?

To qteepie999: I think you're thinking about your car. Sorry.

Answer 5

Turning an AC on and off surges your electric therefore raising your Bill. Leaving on a temperature around 72 degrees and not turning it on and off is more cost effective. Call the electric company they will tellyou.

Answer 6

The more it runs, the more energy. It's more comfortable to leave it on.

I have researched this subject and all sources, except one, say to shut it off if you are leaving for more than 4 hours to save electricity.

Answer 7

It uses more power to have to try to cool down after a room gets real hot than it does to leave it on at a moderate temp. My sis works for a power co. and she told me that.

Answer 8

i would say leave it on a comfortable temperature as it takes more to cool a house after being hot all day and then turning it off.

Answer 9

if ur thermostat is advanced enough, you can set the a/c to go on energy saver when ur not home during the day. leaving it running constantly will burn out ur motor. it needs a period of rest (i.e. when your house reaches the temp u desire it to be at)

Answer 10

uses less energy to leave it running at a regular temp...takes house longer to cool when it's too hot. leave at like 71-73