TEXAS, USA — As Texans brace for the summer heat, we all want stay cool without racking up a costly energy bill. One viewer wanted to know whether or not home owners should give their A/C unit a break in the afternoon hours to save money and energy this summer.
THE QUESTION
Does it save money to run your central heat and air two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening, and is it safe for your central heat and air to do so?
OUR SOURCES
Francisco Chavez, Residential Service Manager at Lochridge-Priest, Inc. and Arcadio Padilla, Energy Efficiency Complex Issue Supervisor at Reliant Energy.
THE ANSWER
No, you shouldn't run your air conditioner for two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening. Our experts say to keep it at one consistent temperature to avoid putting a strain on the unit.
WHAT WE FOUND
Chavez says you should just choose to cool your home at a consistent temperature all day.
"The system will run harder to try and catch up with that lost ground," Chavez said. "If you turn your thermostat off between 12 and 5 when you get home from work, and then you are asking it to get down to 72 degrees from 80, it's going to run nonstop. It's going to be harder on the system to try and catch up than it is to maintain, say 74 all day."
Not only will it be harder on the system, but it will be harder on you as a home owner, according to Padilla.
"Let's see, if I'm gone all day, and I turn it completely off, it is going to be blistering hot inside by the time I get home," Padilla said. "Especially because of how hot it is. Will my unit run? Yes. And will it struggle to keep up? Absolutely."
Reliant Energy suggests if you're gone for more than four hours to increase your thermostat setting by four degrees. That way it will cool down efficiently when you return, while preventing humidity and moisture from building when you turn it off completely.
Padilla says taking precautions for your home are as crucial as ever as we prepare for the triple-digit temperatures.
"I'm going to close my blinds, and if I'm working in my office or in whatever room I might be in, I'll run a ceiling fan," Padilla said. "If I have a box fan, I'll run the box fan. Maybe that'll help me keep the thermostat at 78 or maybe even a little bit higher if I can tolerate it. It depends on the situation and how bad it is outside. Right now it's hot. We definitely want to make sure we keep the air conditioning running, but we want to be as efficient as we possibly can."
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