air-conditioner temperature, where do you set it?

[Joedog]

77-78, and we use ceiling fans a lot (we have 6). We have an all electric home that averages about $80/month (2350 sq. ft.). In the Summer, coming in from outside, it feels like a meat locker for a few minutes. In the winter the heat is usually at 68.

 

[DirtDog]

I used to go down to Singers on visa-runs, great place to visit, but I would go a little stir-crazy living there. I suppose that's why the surrounding islands get heavy traffic on weekends:

View attachment 3846712
Sentosa

That looks like a cool place to go! I was stuck up near Interpol HQ for a week....smack dab in the middle of Singapore - great if you like shopping! I spent the off-time at the nearby hawker stalls and took one trip down to Marina Bay. That was great.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I first saw crazy-fast internet in Singers at my former boss' penthouse apartment behind Orchard Towers.
Cameras were everywhere, even back then, & the police hid in the corner of the shopping malls behind two-way mirrors.

There are a lot of things you can get fined for & it is enforced!
example:

asked the taxi-driver to drop me at the hotel, he stopped about half a block away & said it would cost X amount more to go right in front of the hotel, because big-brother was watching his movement & he'd get a charge for crossing this intersection
He pointed at a box in his front window that gets "tagged" by the surveillance.

Very George Orwellian!

 

[DirtDog]

I first saw crazy-fast internet in Singers at my former boss' penthouse apartment behind Orchard Towers.
Cameras were everywhere, even back then, & the police hid in the corner of the shopping malls behind two-way mirrors.

There are a lot of things you can get fined for & it is enforced!
example:

asked the taxi-driver to drop me at the hotel, he stopped about half a block away & said it would cost X amount more to go right in front of the hotel, because big-brother was watching his movement & he'd get a charge for crossing this intersection
He pointed at a box in his front window that gets "tagged" by the surveillance.

Very George Orwellian!

Funny you should mention that. I expected to be caned the minute I stepped out the door of my hotel. But I never saw a cop the entire time I was there. But I guess they saw me!!! I did notice that in the touristy area I was in there seemed to be a bit more tolerance. I saw someone spill ice cream on the sidewalk outside a McD's but didn't see any cops with canes come running....

Traffic was quite mellow - I understand that it's pretty expensive to register a vehicle (like $40K). That would partially explain why there weren't too many crazy drivers on the road.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I never saw a cop the entire time I was there. But I guess they saw me!

As I mentioned, they're hidden, stand at the corner of a shopping mall & light a cigarette, Blammo!

I understand that it's pretty expensive to register a vehicle (like $40K). That would partially explain why there weren't too many crazy drivers on the road.

Owning a vehicle is expensive, because they tax the crap out of you.
They also won't allow vehicles on the road after they're X years old. In Thailand there was no limit, as long as it functioned, but there's also No such thing as an annual inspection in Thailand.

I blame it on education, one thing I've noticed in Asia is that the better their education system, the better the drivers are.

 

[neurotictim]

Topic near and dear to my heart. I could happily live in a 68°F/20°C or less home, but my wife would freeze solid. Her minimum is 73°F/~23°(ish)C, and you wouldn't think that a few degrees would make a difference, but I'm typically near to sweating at that point and completely unable to sleep comfortably. It caused a ton of conflict at first, fighting over the thermostat. Eventually we settled on a compromise I'm happy to share:

Window AC in the bedroom. I can live with a warm house, and she can live with a "freezing" bedroom. I keep the window AC at 60°F/15(ish)°C from around 10pm till I get up at 5am, and turn it off when I go to work (except in the summer when she turns it off when she gets up later). Much cheaper than trying to cool the whole house, and she can always bundle on the blankets. Our bedroom windows face the back of the house so it's no eyesore either.

 

[DWBass]

In my house, I can't stand anything below or higher than 74. Summer or winter.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Geothermal?

We're on a natural gas HVAC - big central air furnace unit in the basement, big AC condenser outside, connected to central air. In a region where lows can hit -30C in the winter and +30C in the summer - a system like this is critical. On the hottest days, I wish I had more horsepower in my blower motor to push the cool air upstairs. In a 98 year old house, we have a lot of heat/cooling loss. Modern windows, R40 insulation in the attic, but not a stitch of insulation in the walls!

Also have two natural gas fireplaces in the house. Makes it nice and toasty on cooler days and don't have to run the furnace at all between 0C and 15C.

There is a little DIY geothermal heating in ''odd spots to build houses when you think about it''. Generally it's straight electric which used to come from hydro in the main but now about 50% and the rest coal with a bit of wind and geothermal thrown in.

It struck me that combined cycle water up heating with aircon gas motor would be an efficient use of gas. Get the exhaust heat before you and it skyward. Don't see that here in domestic.

 

[DirtDog]

There is a little DIY geothermal heating in ''odd spots to build houses when you think about it''. Generally it's straight electric which used to come from hydro in the main but now about 50% and the rest coal with a bit of wind and geothermal thrown in.

It struck me that combined cycle water up heating with aircon gas motor would be an efficient use of gas. Get the exhaust heat before you and it skyward. Don't see that here in domestic.

Our AC is electric powered, gas for the heat (and hot water). Our electricity supply is 50% nuclear, 25% hydro and 25% gas/wind/solar/biofuel. No more coal fired plants here. Would like to switch our stove over to gas, but that's more of a culinary thing than energy. Right now, electricity is $0.10 per kWh. Gas prices, $0.08 m^3, most of which is service charges/tax.

 

[Downunderwonder]

Our AC is electric powered, gas for the heat (and hot water). Our electricity supply is 50% nuclear, 25% hydro and 25% gas/wind/solar/biofuel. No more coal fired plants here. Would like to switch our stove over to gas, but that's more of a culinary thing than energy. Right now, electricity is $0.10 per kWh. Gas prices, $0.08 m^3, most of which is service charges/tax.

crikey, mine is getting on for double. Distribution does cost a lot more here per household with few sources and strung out populations spread along mountainous islands, but heck!

 

[Indiana Mike]

My career is commercial industrial HVAC.
not always, but usually either heat or cool is not working. I'm outside a lot,or in 100 plus degree boiler rooms.

I refuse to sweat or freeze in my own home.

A/C is usually at 70 in my house

 

[DirtDog]

crikey, mine is getting on for double. Distribution does cost a lot more here per household with few sources and strung out populations spread along mountainous islands, but heck!

Well, we don't have a lack of energy resources here in Canada. And the part that I live in is pretty close to the industrial heartland of Canada - why here? Cheap power! Gas comes from way out West (Alberta) by pipeline.

 

[LBS-bass]

Depends on what I'm doing, etc. I can't sleep if the temperature is too hot; I wake up sweating with my heart racing and it takes hours to go back to sleep. So it goes down to 70 at least at night, much lower in the winter.

During the day if we are outside by the pool we turn it up to at least 78 or 80 because there's no sense cooling off a house that we are not hanging out in. The water cools us off nicely so our core temperatures remain low throughout most of the evening and I never really need to turn it down too far until it's time to go to sleep.

Wintertime it's usually aroung 68-70 but down to 65 or lower during sleep time. My parents both grew up in homes with central stoves and they always turned the furnace down as low as it would go in the wintertime so I am used to sleeping in the cold.

 

[Passinwind]

We run our portable AC in our living room for about 10-15 days most years. Unless ambient temp outside is over 90 it’s never on and we use it mostly when we’re close to or over 100. We shoot for about 68-70, which typically means running full blast from mid morning until 10 PM or so. Don’t run it late at night much, only if ambient inside is over 80. A fan or two gets much more use.