Is it better to keep your air conditioner set at say 78 degrees and let it run almost all day, or manually turn it on when it gets around 80 when the temperature inside shows that it's 80 degrees? I know that it will have to play catch up to cool the place down, but is it better overall?

I'm trying to save on electricity?

I set at 78 it turns on around 11:00 am.

If I manually turn it on it I usually do around 1:00 pm.

Any help would be appreciated.

Ask 5 people and you`ll get 5 different answers
I`ve found it to be better to set my tstat at one temp. and leave it alone, if the tstat is somewhere close to right it will cut off the a/c when satisfied,, and your unit doesn`t have to run extra doing the catch-up thingie

This is opinion number 1

Set it at 1 temp and leave it will give you your best value

I forgot to mention that my air conditioner can't get below a certain tempurature when it's hot outside. I live in S. California and sometimes the air conditioner will run from 11:00 am till 8:00 pm. I have had it checked and it works fine, it's just I think the blower is small or something.

Could be the wrong size unit. Or duct work not right could be causing a lot of it. In this case it may be better just to turn it on when you get home. If it really does not do much anyway. What temp will it cool to?

When it's really hot outside 95+ it will only get to around 83 degrees.

Wow

So regardless of when you turn it on it is going to be hot. I would say that if you leave it on all day then you will be wasting lots of money

I stick with opinion number one. Set it were you are comfy, and let it do its job. If you turn it off, and let it get really hot, it may not be able to catch up for hours and hours. I would especially say this if unit is undersized, because if it is, it will never catch up, it will just run and run and run with no breaks. It is not uncommon for an ac unit to run all day long when its over 90 degrees outside, all depends on insulation of house and many other factors. However, I do believe that if your house is insulated even poorly, you should be able to get it down to 72-74 degrees if you let it run constantly. If you can't achieve these temps, I would start looking further into your system.

I can't tell you how many calls I get about the ac not keeping the house at 66 degrees on a 100+ day. I tell them as nicely as possible, that ac units are not a magical machine. Especially when you turn it off when you go to work, then come home , turn it on(when its 80-90 in the house) and expect it to get the temp down instantly. They just don't work this way. It is easier to heat a house than it is to cool a house.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by primster7

When it's really hot outside 95+ it will only get to around 83 degrees.

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You have a problem with your cooling system. I would call in a different contractor and have them take a look at your setup.

Unless you have a very old home, with no inso in attic or walls, you should be able to get it cooler than that. Or, like Josh said, your unit may be undersized(extremely). Do you have a lot of windows. If so, do you have shades that you can close during the day on all of the windows.

Get a good thermometer, and check to see what the temp coming out of the registers is. You should be getting roughly a 20 degree difference between in house temp, and temp at registers. Please let us know what you find.

How long has your ac been installed?

The AC is about 10 years old.