What Should You Do With Your A/C When You Are Away From Home?
As we enter another string of triple-digit days across the Treasure Valley, keeping our homes cool becomes even more important. What do you do when you're not home?
It seems that answer depends on who you ask and what they've "always done." For some, it's adjust the thermostat to allow warmer temps inside the house. For some it's turning the air conditioning off completely. Or there is also the contingent that believes you do better, ultimately, by leaving the temperature the same throughout the day.
Each argument seems, on the surface, to have valid points, but there is a pretty clear answer if you ask heating and cooling experts.
The best compromise for saving money and not taking a long time to get the house back to a comfortable temperature is to adjust your maximum temperature up 7-10 degrees while you're not in the house. The warmer temperatures allow you to save money while the home is unattended, and the recovery time to get back to a livable temperature is far less than if you had turned off the system altogether.
Turning off the system completely does make sense if you will be gone from the house for multiple days, but the time it takes to get the house back to your preferred temperature can make that unappealing.
What is the ideal temperature to keep our homes in these warm days? There's not one set rule, but most experts agree between 72-75 degrees is most comfortable for all people.
KTVB Newschannel 7 investigated this entire phenomenon further.