Is it smart to turn your a/c off or up to 80 at night?

We live in central Texas and our office manager turns the a/c up to 80 degrees every night. Is that a smart thing to do? Is she really saving any money? Does it reduce the life of our a/c unit?

Is it smart to turn your a/c off or up to 80 at night?
The best way to save on power using AC is by having he unit kick on and off the least as possible.





If the office stays cool all night then it should be okay as the AC unit will not to kick on or kick on for long to cool the space.





If the office naturally cools due to night time, there is no need to turn the AC up to 80 as it would not come on if the temperature in the office doesn't reach the set turn on temperature.





If the office is hot in the morning and the AC unit needs to run and run to cool the office off. This uses more power than if the unit kicked on and off a few times during the night.





Same principle with driving a car. Does it take more power to get the car started adn up to speed or to keep the car at the same speed.
Reply:ha ha ha - I keep my thermostat on 86F day %26amp; night.


Of course I sweat a lot but the fan helps!


I wish I could afford to keep it on 80F!!! Report It

Reply:Sure, if you don't want to sleep.
Reply:You would need to have a HVAC contractor come and do a heat loss study and they would be able to tell you the correct answer. If in fact you are in a large office area, then the temperature should not be adjustable by your manager. It should all be automatic. Most commercial buildings go into a "unoccupied" mode of operation which often is set as high as 80. I am in this business, please call someone who can give you the right answer and you might get a raise.
Reply:Yes it is smart. It will save some money. Why would you want to cool a room that will not be used for over 8 hours. It will be a little warm in the morning, but it will cool off in a little bit. I live in hot Florida, and I turn mair up when I am at work.
Reply:Yes, it's a good idea. We have it set to 80 during the day anyway. The good thing is that since the office probably falls below 80 during the evening/night, the A/C never turns on.
Reply:If it is set to 80, it is still consuming electricity. The only real way to save money and increase the life of your AC unit is to turn it off completely when the office is closed.
Reply:where in central tx do you live, I live in Brownwood





it's better to keep it at one setting
Reply:I live in North-East Texas,Howdy neighbor:).A/C will not be harmed by doing this,Temp drops to high 70's to low 80's at night where we are so unit wouldn't come on anyway.When you arrive at work and turn t-stat to 70,unit will run normally,,just a little longer.
Reply:no then it runs all day to get the temp down again, set the temp and let it stay there
Reply:Yes, it's smart. You're only in the office for 8 hours, right? She's saving money.
Reply:no, between 70 %26amp; 75 is good. if you turn it off or too high then it takes more electricity to cool it off again
Reply:No, it is typically better to leave the thermostat at a single setting rather than adjusting it on a daily basis. The amount of work the compressor has to do to catch up and return to a comfortable temperature consumes more energy than if you just leave it at a steady, comfortable temperature. Some people think that by raising the temperature they are saving energy and money, but the unit then has to work twice as hard to lower the temperature when it is adjusted the next day. This kind of up and down is not good for the life of the unit.





That said, if you are planning on leaving for an extended period of time, it is better to conserve energy than to waste it by setting the thermostat accordingly.
Reply:It is not smart