Comments on: What Temperature Do You Set Your Air Conditioner To?

By: The Beast

The Beast — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:30:28 +0000

Are some people actually being serious in saying that 25 degrees Celsius is too hot???

By: m greenbury

m greenbury — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 05:07:40 +0000

i got alot of tips from people regarding what temp to run my air co thanks

By: brett

brett — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 07:46:37 +0000

If you live in the tropics or 60% + humidity with temps around 25 to 30 degrees use a whole house dehumidifier which is much much better than using an A/C.
Aircons are not very good at removing moister from the air.
Dehumidifiers are cheaper to run and give you better air quality and much more comfortable house.
And if you use your Aircon with your dehumidifier it will have to do a lot less work

By: E Cart

E Cart — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:10:46 +0000

I live in Aurora, Ontario. My front room window
is on the west side. My room temp. reads 8I what should I set my air coditioner at?

By: Az

Az — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 04:10:24 +0000

This is an interesting thread, which prompts me to contribute my two cents. However, to save time, I will be directly lifting some material from other sources, especially wikipedia.

Human metabolism always produces heat but at the same time the body needs to maintain a constant temperature of 98.6 degree F. Therefore, to dissipate the extra heat, the surrounding temperature needs to be lower but how much lower depends upon the metabolic rate of each individual because every person has a different metabolic rate, and these rates can fluctuate when a person is performing certain activities, or under certain environmental conditions. Therefore, even people who are in the same room can feel significant temperature differences due to their own metabolic rates, which makes it very hard to find an optimal temperature for everyone in a given location. Food and drink habits, body shape, height, weight, etc will affect the thermal comfort. Generally this temperature is in the range of 20-26 degree C.

Humidity is another factor which determines how the perspiration from the body evaporates and causes a cooling effect. If the surrounding environment is very humid the evaporative cooling effect will be less and hence one feels hotter. Remember how the evaporation of water from body makes it feel cooler when one comes out of the swimming pool. This also reminds me of the favorite school question as to why the water in earthen pots (porous) is found to be cooler than in metal containers (non-porous). The human body has sensors that are fairly efficient in sensing heat and cold, but they are not very effective in detecting relative humidity. Relative humidity creates the perception of an extremely dry or extremely damp indoor environment. This can then play a part in the perceived temperature and their thermal comfort. The recommended level of indoor humidity is in the range of 30-60%.

Many other factors including air velocity, clothing insulation, gender differences, thermal sensitivity and adjustment mechanisms of individuals, etc also play a part in thermal comfort.

Thus you must set air-con to the temperature you feel most comfortable with. The temperature value itself is not that important because the temperature sensor of the air-con might be far away from you or you may be closer to a source of heat/cold (window/door/kitchen/etc). In an office environment (or a public place) you do not have much control though. If you feel cold then just wear warm clothing and if you feel hot then just strip. The latter will increase the body temperature of others and they will themselves rush to set the air-con to a lower temperature to dissipate their heat at a faster rate in order to maintain their body temperature at 98.6 degree F.

Personally I prefer to set the air-con to a degree or two more than thermal comfort during summer and a degree or two less during winter (just opposite of what others do to make up for inadequate thermal shielding of the building) in order to achieve reduced thermal shock while leaving the building and reduced mental shock while receiving the electricity bill.

By: Naomi

Naomi — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 07:39:34 +0000

I agree with you on that one Rachel! And its aweful to walk out of the building and be hit with the heat wave. When you go somewhere after work, you’re always dressed too warm! I don’t see why 25 deg is ok in winter but not in summer…

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 01:04:40 +0000

I live in Perth where it has been a bit warm lately, we’re having runs of high 30s (c) and pretty humid – however our work aircon is set to 19 degrees!!! It is rediculous- if it were winter we would be turning it UP to 25 degrees so why have it so much lower in summer? in the middle of summer we are all wearing jumpers and have blankets at work. I keep trying to change it up to 24 but it always gets changed back down again. I’m sick of freezing my arse off in the middle of summer!

By: Naomi

Naomi — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 08:55:23 +0000

This is interesting, there are so many factors though. I must say, you should be able to adapt more to your country’s weather and then work from there. I’m one of the ones that is used to the temp and get cold in buildings thus, but I deal with it because I know most people don’t struggle with it as much as I do. (I wish I could handle the cold like you Canadians!)
Women get cold quicker than men, which is our biggest problem. The ladies are cold and the men get hot, but its an open office so we need to agree somehow. It would be interesting to see the difference in preference between women and men.
Humidity would play a big part in this too, I assume. What would be the correct humidity? I live in JHB South Africa and apparently its dry here (though I just checked a weather forecast for today and it said 59% humidity, don’t know if thats very dry?). The cold a\c can dry it out more, I find sometimes too much, and then people start getting sick and that spreads because of the aircon too. Is there a specific percentage that is best for the average person maybe?

By: Combat High Humidity with a Dehumidifier | Renovate Australia

Combat High Humidity with a Dehumidifier | Renovate Australia — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 05:34:20 +0000

[...] Over on my previously article about “What temperature do you set your air conditioner to?” someone asked me the following about combating high humidity in the home [...]

By: Adam

Adam — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 03:14:21 +0000

Taken from http://www.originenergy.com.au/

Brisbane
30°C, Hazy

Keep your air conditioner at 24°C for ideal comfort levels and efficient running costs.