Are you guys really using AC that often? Here is Eastern Europe for example during summer I use it to cool down the apartment to 24 degrees C (75 75,2 degrees fahrenheit) and during winter 22 degrees (71,6 degrees fahrenheit).
I still rely on fresh air but I open the windows during the summer during the night and during winter during the day.
So you use different temperatures/ use it all day long?
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It’s on as we speak
Yes, it’s well above 75.2 degrees for months at a time.
Totally depends which state you live in. Florida, Northern California, and Michigan have vastly different climates.
I keep my house at 68f or 20c year round.
Yeah I use the AC to cool down to 68F lol. I’ll turn it on if it’s 75F out.
75F all day, every day. I basically installed rooftop solar panels so I can run AC as much as I can (sorta).
I live in NE Ohio. I used my a/c about 2 weeks this year. We live among a lot of trees and like open windows. My neighbor used his a/c nearly all summer. Believe it or not, but we don’t all act the same here in the US.
I only turn it on when it gets to 80
Mine runs pretty much 24/7 in Texas. My house always has someone at home. Also, it’s not only about the temperature. American homes usually have central AC that dehumidifies & filters the air and greatly improves comfort.
Where I live, in the summer it’s generally above 85f and over 80% humidity. We use the AC all summer long otherwise even using blackout curtains during the day and fans in the windows at night it’s too much. It’s more the humidity than the actual temperature itself that makes it so miserable.
In the desert states we use A/C for 8 or 9 months a year. I turn mine on in early March and usually still have it going in November. In the autum months it’s not on full time as I like the cool evening breeze from time to time. If my neighbor is outside smoking though, I have to close my windows and go back to a/c. I keep the temp set to 68°-71° year round.
Yes. But I live in the southeast where summers are very hot and humid. Now that it’s fall it’s not running as much and I’m able to open my windows some days, when it’s comfortable outside.
Yes, we cool our house to about 70-72 degrees F. Im in Texas and it just now started getting below that at night. During the day, its still 90+ degrees and its “fall”.
Summer it could be 100+ degrees.
So, our AC stays on basically.
Every day from April to November. I never turn it off.
Most of August was 90°F+ so we definitely run it all of the time, night and day. My utility bill was around 300 dollars for that month which includes electric water sewage and garbage pickup
Ive never had an air conditioner in northern CA, nor have I needed it.
I run the AC from March to November. It is on right now.
Living in central Florida… yes, it’s hot and very humid here at least 6 mos. of the year. It would be hot and sticky inside if we didn’t use it. In July/August we keep the temp around 77 F. It’s expensive to drop it much lower.
I recently installed heat pumps in my house supported by solar. I was told by the installer to just leave the temperature at some comfortable setting and leave the heat pumps on all the time. They are very efficient and with solar, it’s basically free to run them.
I do open the windows if it’s nice outside, but that’s mostly to get fresh air. I really don’t worry about using outside air to cool the house down any more because the heat pumps are essentially free to me.
So, yes, it’s common for Americans to run the AC all summer, especially if you have a heat pump and solar.
Mine is set to 77 during the summer, it runs all summer long 24/7. Where I am it isn’t uncommon at all to have temps in the high 90s or heat index well above 100. Even during the night it might only get down to the 80s.
One problem is that American homes are larger than many other places. Once it gets hot inside it can take hours to cool back down. It is harder on air conditioners to try and get the inside temperature down to a comfortable level than it is to maintain a temperature. So if our houses get scorching hot every day before turning on the AC the AC has to work harder.
Yes. If it’s hot, AC is running. I refuse to sweat or be uncomfortable in my own home.
Here in Tennessee we can turn a/c off from mid-march to late April and again mid-September to late October. Otherwise we are heating or cooling. Of course we don’t use it 24/7 in the fringe months but by may the temps get close to 90f and stay that high until mid September.
When it is hot, I put the AC on for my dogs. Living alone and petless, I rarely bothered with it.
Arizona so it’s set 24/7 for about 8 months of the year.
It doesn’t kick on all the time but I’m the height of summer might run 16 hours.
At night we have a window box run so the whole house isn’t needlessly cooled.
It’s set to 80f/32c so not like we’re going crazy.
I just opened my weather app and the forecast is 90°F with an average of 80% humidity, 90% for a lot of the day… And it’s October not the middle of Summer
Yeah, we use them because most buildings would be uninhabitable without them
If I didn’t run the air conditioner, it would be 48°Celsius in my home in the summer. I’ve only run my heater a handful of times in the last 25 years. Do you run your heater very often?
Yes, because temps here in the American SE can hit sustained 90s(°F) for weeks at a time in the summer, even overnights, sometimes triple digits – and that’s before you factor in 75%+ humidity.
EDIT:typo
If we want our houses to be 75 in summer we need ac (in most places). If I opened my windows during the day in the winter it would be 20 and snowy
I keep it at 76 in the summer and 68 in the winter.
The low temperature is normally higher than 75 for months.
Get back to me when it’s been over 95 for weeks and so humid the money in your wallet is damp if you’re outside for more than a few minutes. Even going to the mailbox means your shirt is drenched in sweat.
I’m in the Midwest and use it as little as possible. I prefer open windows and fresh air. When it reaches the mid to upper 80’s I’ll turn it on, but not too cold. I don’t want to be cold inside, I just want it to be comfortable where I can still run around in shorts and short sleeves. For me a perfect comfortable day is 78F so that’s about what I’ll set my AC to. I don’t want to have to wear warm clothes inside in summer. I have friends and family that keep their homes so cold and I freeze when I go to visit. This summer we had a few stretches of temps in the 90s with high humidity so I did have to run it more than I normally would, but it was still set to about 78F.
Yes, it’s on almost all the time from about May through September here in Michigan. Typical daily highs are in the 80s so it’s pretty necessary.
This has been a very warm early fall and ours is still on. The predicted high today is 86°F / 30°C.
Most Americans have very strong opinions about temperature in their homes. Many have an HVAC that will keep the home a specific temperature, whether through heating or cooling. Some will try to avoid using electricity/gas for the money or environment. Some run hot and keep their place cool all the time (me – I spent time with my grandma as a kid then my mom as a teen as each were going through menopause keeping the house at 68F). Some run cool and keep their place warm all the time. I can’t stand being in a hot house. This year I finally managed to get used to 73 (I set it to 71 but it was actually 73). I’m pretty proud of that. Absolutely no desire to be in a home that’s 74 or higher. Craziness.
Not just heat but the humidity too.
To experience this, wait til a very hot day where you live. Turn your shower on to the highest temperature you can stand. Get in, get out. Put on clothes (don’t dry off), then walk around in the warmth.
I have seasonal allergies that get really bad— and where I live, it’s practically allergy season all year long (except when it’s cold). If I opened my windows, which I would LOVE to do, I’d claw my eyes out. And my ears. And my itchy throat. 😩
Is this where you find out that different countries have different weather?
OP, I think you are from Romania? If yes, the average summer temperature across the country is 22-24°C. I’m not from a “hot” part of the US and my hometown’s average summer temperature is 27-28°C, with occasional heatwaves of 35° or more.
There are parts of the US that deal with 35-43°C for *months*.
America is very very big with varying different climates so it’s gonna depend. south west? Yes. North East? You’re gonna have it on for probably 4ish months during the summer
Vast swaths of the US are much, much hotter and much, much more humid than Eastern Europe. There’s really no part of Europe that compares to the Southeast or Midwest US.
I lived in NC for years, one summer we had 100 days over 90 (32) degrees and most of those days were 95+ (35+). Couple that with very high dewpoint and humidity. Cool nights simply don’t exist for many places, it gets more humid at night.
It’s a big country with lots of different climates. North Carolina is the size of Croatia. Nebraska is the size of Serbia.
Um, yes. Even though it’s a bit out of the ordinary for October, we have been pushing 90F the last couple days even in the northern tier of states.
In the summer it stays warm and muggy through the night, making it miserable if you don’t have AC, for the vast majority of the country.
Yes. Even in the northern part of the country, summers are hot.
Dude, in Oklahoma, the summer averages 98-105° F, approximately 38° C, so yeah, we use the AC. I’m trying to keep my house at 74°.
It’s been a mild summer but very often here in Oklahoma we have multiple days in a row with triple digit temperatures. So, yes, our A/C stays on during the summer. Even at night, when it “cools down” on the hot days, it won’t go below 80 F. As of right now, it’s 70 F but will likely get well above 80 in a few hours. The A/C can’t cool it down if we shut it off, so it just stays on until it’s consistently cool enough outdoors.
My house hit 115 F (46 C) in October a couple years ago. That’s not summer. It was 50 F (10 C) a week or two later. Santa Ana winds are like a hair dryer aimed at your face.
This summer, it was regularly in the 80s F (26C). And this was a mild summer. Still, I probably had the AC on every day for 2 months.
I’m “inland.” I’m 10 miles from the beach. Anything 2 miles or closer to the beach drops the probability of even having an AC down below 50%. Their temperature range is much more moderate.