We get this question a lot from customers who worry that leaving the AC on all day will wear out the system and waste energy.
While it’s true that running the AC on full blast 24/7 will wear out the equipment faster and lead to high monthly energy costs, it’s usually better for your home and your overall comfort to leave the AC on during the day instead of turning it off completely.
In this blog, we’ll explain:
Let’s start by looking at why you should leave your AC running instead of shutting it off during the day.
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We suggest leaving your AC on instead of shutting it off completely for two main reasons:
Florida is hot, especially in the summer. If you are at home during a hot day, you obviously want to keep the AC running or else you’ll be miserable.
But even if your house is totally empty during the day, it’s usually a better idea to leave the AC running instead of turning it off.
You see if you shut off your AC during the hottest part of the day, your house will be scorching hot by the time you arrive home from work. Then, you’d have to wait a couple of hours for the air conditioner to cool your home to a comfortable temperature again. Not only is this highly uncomfortable, but it also puts extra stress on your AC system.
Florida has a naturally humid climate, which means maintaining proper indoor humidity levels is always an uphill battle. Luckily, your AC helps to reduce indoor humidity by removing moisture from the warm air inside your home.
That said, if you shut off your AC during the day, humidity inside your home increases. High indoor humidity can lead to problems such as:
To avoid these problems, we recommend leaving your AC on during the day to help keep your indoor humidity levels balanced.
Fortunately, there’s a way to keep your AC running during the day and still save money.
Here’s the secret: Turn the temperature on the thermostat up 7–10° F during the day when you’re away from home. Doing so will keep your AC running to remove humidity while also ensuring your house doesn’t get crazy hot during the warmest part of the day. And since your AC doesn’t have to work as hard to cool your home, you’ll reduce your monthly energy costs.
When you get home from work, you can simply set the thermostat back to the temperature you usually enjoy when you’re at home.
Work from home? Or is someone in your household at home during the day? If so, you can try raising the temperature on the thermostat by 3–5° F to save a little money. You can also use a ceiling fan or affordable tower fans to help stay cool.
With a programmable thermostat, you can set up a cooling schedule that matches your specific weekly work schedule. That way, you don’t have to set the thermostat manually before work every day.
You can also program the thermostat to start cooling your home 30 minutes before you normally arrive home, which means you’ll always come home to a comfortable temperature.
Some advanced programmable thermostats, called smart thermostats, can be controlled remotely via WiFi if you want to make temperature adjustments on the go. Smart thermostats can even learn your cooling preferences automatically, which means you don’t have to worry about setting up the weekly cooling schedule yourself.
Our highly-trained technicians can help you find a smart or programmable thermostat that’s compatible with your HVAC system and has the features you want. Call or contact us online today for more information about the thermostats we offer.