When the summer heat rolls into Oswego, Yorkville, Naperville, Aurora and Plainfield (IL) for a few months, a lot of us will hear and feel the AC running through much of the day. That’s especially true when we have extended heat waves such as this summer’s.
It’s common for many of us to choose a setting we like (e.g. 72°F) and then let the system to do its work on autopilot. Our main concern is obviously staying comfortable, particularly when the summer heat is high in humidity too.
One thing we might not always consider is whether we’re running the AC efficiently so we can stay cool with less cost and energy draw. For example, if it’s a thick and blazing 98°F in early August, we might be eager to set the therm to 70°F to ward off the heavier heat. However, that can also strain the system while bumping up the bill.
Beyond being your resource for indoor air comfort and quality in Oswego, Yorkville, Naperville, Aurora and Plainfield, we are here to help you get more from your energy usage and dollars. With that in mind, let’s talk about the best settings for your therm at home in the summer.
Summer AC Settings: Understanding How AC Works
Knowing the optimal thermostat settings can start with discussing how your AC works to keep your home cool.
Let’s take our baking August day at 98°F. The outdoor heat is wrapping our house and warming it. It can also slip in through cracks, eaves and loose seals.
To keep the heat out of our home, the air conditioner’s evaporator coil absorbs the heat and then exchanges it. It achieves this by moving the heat to the outdoor unit where it is compressed and then returned to the condenser coil, which sends it back outside.
Beyond cooling the house, this process also removes humidity from our indoor air. That is because as the hot air moves through the cold evaporator coil, condensation forms on the coil, similarly to how it beads on a cold glass of water on a hot day.
Summer AC Settings: What’s the Best Setting & Range?
With the principle of heat transfer through air conditioning freshly in mind, understanding good settings in summer should make additional sense.
The U.S. Department of Energy has an established setting that it recommends for efficient AC use. However, homeowners will always have different comfort preferences, so there will be multiple variables that determine the setting that’s right for each home.
The Department of Energy specifies 78°F in the Cool mode as the ideal setting for maintaining an efficient, cost-saving system in summer. This may sound high to some of us, but this is where our review of heat transfer comes into play.
Because of how our AC moves heat from inside the home to outside of it, the cooling system will use less energy when the indoor and outdoor temperatures are closer to each other. Removing 98° heat to maintain an indoor temp of 78° will obviously call for less system labor.
At the same time, 78° can start to feel uncomfortable for some of us, so a more typical setting might be from 72° to 75°. If the outdoor humidity is high, we’ll probably be more comfortable on the low end of that range. This is because our sweat can’t evaporate well in high humidity, making us feel ever hotter. A good range for indoor humidity is 30% to 50%, so the lower setting and cooler air help to better control building moisture.
Note these guidelines apply to us when we’re at home for much of the day. To aim for greater efficiency and energy savings during these hours, you can consider setting the therm at 78° and then measuring comfort levels. If 78° is too warm, you can reduce the setting by increments of 1° until everyone agrees there’s sufficient comfort. In some cases, you might be surprised by how you feel at a setting higher than you’d expected.
These adjustments really can reflect in lower costs. According to the Department of Energy, you can save about 3% on your utility bill for each degree you raise the set temperature above 72°.
Summer AC Settings: Adapting to Variables
Factors such as the time of day, the number of people at home, their movements and physical activity, the humidity, the number of windows and the amount of direct sunlight can all play a role in our indoor temperature.
If you and other home occupants will be out for an entire day and return home in the evening, after the sun is down, you might set the therm in the high 70s or even low 80s. This will keep the system from activating all day to cool an empty house.
What you’ll typically want to avoid is turning the system off when you’re out. This is because the AC will then require extra energy to bring your indoor temp back up when you return.
Setting the therm even lower (e.g. 65°) to cool the home faster after being out all day also will not cool the home more rapidly. Rather, it will cool at the same rate for a longer time to reach the lower temperature, resulting in unnecessary extra cost.
Plus, because you’re back home at night, the thicker part of the day’s heat will have started to lift, reducing the gap between the inner and outer temperatures. This will favor cooling the home back down to your desired temperature with less time and energy.
The following are more settings you can consider during the summer.
Bedtime. Cooler temperatures are good for sleep because our bodies lower their temperature in order to sleep. Here too, at night the gap between indoor and outdoor temperatures will typically be smaller than during the day. The National Sleep Foundation recommends settings between 60°F and 67°F for sleeping. If that is too cool, you might aim for temps in the high 60s or low 70s.
Keep in mind these suggestions are for the typical adult in Oswego, Yorkville, Naperville, Aurora and Plainfield. Infants and small children should be in rooms with a slightly higher temperature to ensure better, more restful sleep. If you would like more insight into how to achieve zoned temperatures, just call Air Dynamics!
Work. If you’re working outside of the home, ENERGY STAR suggests kicking the temperature setting up by at least 7°F.
Vacation. If you’ll be out for a weekend getaway or a longer vacation, you can consider leaving the system set on Auto mode in the high 70s up to 80°F. This is also often a safe, comfortable range for any pets that might be home while you’re gone.
Summer AC Settings: Keeping-Cool Helpers
No matter what type of AC you have, you can further support your system’s performance with other ways of helping to reduce indoor heat. Consider each of the following for keeping comfortable while potentially saving more.
Thermostat location. Make sure the unit isn’t in the path of direct sunlight or near other sources of warmth, such as heat-generating appliances.
Zoning. Homes with more than one story in Oswego, Yorkville, Naperville, Aurora and Plainfield may have temperature differences from floor to floor. Zoned AC divides the home into particular temperature regions controlled by their own thermostats. That means you can turn up the AC on the second floor (which gets warmer than the first floor) without cold-blasting the first floor.
Smart thermostats. Versatile, convenient and “smart,” these thermostats can specify a full day’s settings without your having to change them whenever you leave the house, go to sleep or return home after an extended absence.
Smart thermostats come with apps that connect to your smartphone and let you remotely adjust the temperature without being in the room (or even at home). Some smart thermostats will even use your geographic location to turn your AC on when they sense you’re getting close to home.
Ceiling fans. Any air circulation can help in cooling your home. The Department of Energy points out that when we’re using ceiling fans, we can set the thermostat to four degrees higher and still feel comfortable (while also using less energy). This is because, as long as the indoor humidity is in the right range, ceiling fans create a wind-chill effect that makes us feel cooler even if the room temp is higher.
Be sure to set the ceiling fan to spin counterclockwise in summer – this will push the air down instead of drawing it up.
Additional efficiency-enhancing ideas can include:
opening windows and using window fans when the temperature moves below blazing, especially in the evening
closing curtains and shades when the sun is out, beginning first thing in the morning (you can also look into special heat-blocking curtains)
making sure your home is well insulated and windows and doors are properly sealed
not using the stove during a heat wave
Summer AC Settings: System Maintenance
Beyond all that we’ve discussed, you can contribute to superb system performance all summer long simply by making sure it receives scheduled maintenance. Seasonal maintenance can help provide you with more comfort for less expense while potentially adding years to the system’s lifespan.
The ideal time for an AC inspection, cleaning and tune-up is spring, but it you haven’t yet arranged for your AC maintenance, now is still always better than never. Simply schedule your appointment with Air Dynamics right here!
Reinforcing Smart Summer AC: Contact Us Today
At Air Dynamics, we enjoy informing you about air comfort and quality as much as we do providing the services that help you maintain it at home in Oswego, Yorkville, Naperville, Aurora or Plainfield (IL). If you ever have questions about your thermostat settings in summer, just give us a call at (630) 731-1550!
