Should I keep turning my air conditioner on and off?

Question

Hi, I'm a teacher in Bangkok and our classroom has a few large air conditioning units. As we are coming and going from the room all day we constantly turn the AC power on and off. Will this cause any problems to the unit? Will it shorten the life of any parts, or cause condensation issues or anything like that?

THX
G
BKK

Answer 1

TO SAVE ENERGY AND MONEY, TURN THE STAT UP 15 DEGREES F AT THE END OF THE DAY OR IF YOU ARE LEAVING FOR THE WEEKEND. IF YOU ARE LEAVING FOR 1 OR 2 HRS MAYBE UP 5 DEGREES OR SO. THIS WILL SAVE YOU AN AMOUNT OF ENERGY AND MONEY DEPENDING ON YOUR CLIMATE AND THE TIME OF THE YEAR. AN AC NORMALLY CYCLES ON AND OFF AND RUNS FOR VARIOUS LENGTHS OF TIME IF YOU LEAVE THE STAT SET ON THE SAME POSITION, OF COURSE. IT DOES NOT HURT A UNIT IN THE LEAST TO CYCLE ON AND OFF AS LONG AS IT DOESN'T DO IT TOO OFTEN AS IT MAY WITH A PROBLEM SUCH AS LOW REFRIGERANT. THE COMMERCIAL CONDENSING UNITS USUALLY HAVE SAFETY FEATURES SUCH AS TIME DELAY RELAYS TO PREVENT DAMAGE TO THE UNIT. THE LESS IT RUNS THE MORE YOU WILL SAVE. IF YOU KEEP THE STAT TURNED DOWN WHILE YOU ARE NOT THERE-THE LONGER YOU ARE GONE THE MORE ENERGY IS WASTED. WHEN YOU TURN THE TEMPERATURE BACK DOWN AFTER A LONG WEEKEND AND READ YOUR METER, YOU WILL SEE A SIGNIFICANT SAVINGS IN COMPARISON TO NOT RAISING THE TEMPERATURE UPON LEAVING. THE LONGER YOU ARE GOING TO BE GONE, THE LESS GOOD RUNNING THE UNIT WILL DO. THE ONE EXCEPTION IS DUE TO HUMIDITY IN CERTAIN CLIMATES. IN A HUMID CLIMATE, AN AC IS SOMETIMES USED TO REDUCE HUMIDITY AND PREVENT THE MOLD OR ALGAE PROBLEMS THAT COME WITH THE INCREASED MOISTURE. FOR THAT REASON YOU MAY WANT TO ADJUST THE TEMPERATURE HIGHER TO SAVE MORE ENERGY OR LOWER TO REDUCE THE RELATIVE HUMIDITY. IF THE RELATIVE HUMIDITY IS LOW, I WOULD SHUT THE UNIT OFF FOR THE WEEKEND AND START IT PERHAPS 1 HOUR PRIOR TO THE START OF CLASS.

Answer 2

Ok, they main way AC works is by removing heat from the air, and more importantly, by removing latent heat from all of the objects in the room. Once the latent heat is removed the a/c has a much easier job of keeping the room at the set temperature. A better solution would be to turn the thermostat up than to turn the unit off completely.
This will help keep the unit from having to run longer when it starts the intial cool down. It will also help keep the moisture down, which allows for more evaporation of sweat from our skin thus making us feel cooler.
Is it possiable to prematurly wear out units by turning them on and off? What would be the differance of you telling it when to cool verses the thermostat? It will still start and run so other than wear and tear on the switch that would be ok, just not as efficent as leaving it running at a higher tempature.

Answer 3

A/C systems have compressors that can be easily damaged if you start them while under uneven pressures. If you turn the system off, ALWAYS wait at least 5 minutes before restarting the unit, this allows the pressures (liquid line/suction line) to equalize. You should consider installing a programmable thermostat to adjust the room temperature one hour before you arrive. Someone posted before me that you should not shut the system completely off because it will take more energy to cool the building if you do that; that person was correct, which gives you another reason to purchase a programmable thermost.

Answer 4

If there is a temp to set it at just leave it there and let it come on and off by itself. If not, I would suggest that you just leave in on and when you leave for the day turn it off. At least you will not be Turing it off and on all the time and the unit will get used to running most of the time instead of just being used periodically

Answer 5

no, just bring the temperature little up so it won't cool much when you are not there, because the time it takes to cool the room when turned on will use the same energy if you just leave it on but bring the temperature little up when you are gone and set it the way you want when you are there. But turn it off when you leave for the day (for the night).

Answer 6

Yes, it could cause any on these problems. It is best to just turn it down and leave it at the same temp; all day and night unless you have to change the tempt.