is it better to have your A/C on constantly or only on when you are home? right now, we only turn on the a/c if it's ridiculously hot. fortunatley, we live in a well shaded area and sometimes don't have to turn on the a/c for a couple of days. my concern is turning it on and off periiodically might be taxing on the unit. plus, i think i'm saving money by doing what i do currently. but, i don't want to do it at the risk of ruining the unit.
The argument towards leaving it on is that allowing your house to get very hot and then running the ac to cool it down more than 5-10 degrees is more taxing and expensive than leaving it on and having it come on every once in a while to cool it a degree or two Basically...ACs are designed to stay on. The thermostat ensures that it only comes on when it is needed....so set it to a number you can live with and it will only come on during the hottest parts of the day.
If you can go a couple days at a time without turning it on, I'm guessing that's the more economical approach.
Yep. I'll leave mine on all day, but when I leave, I set it at around 80, just a bit higher than normal, so it won't run as much. When I get home, I'll turn it down a bit, and it won't take long to change the temp a few degrees.
Check into variable speed furnaces and zone damper systems. I had those intalled in my new home and so far, my first electric bill was only $185 (2,900 sq. ft house), keeping it on 78 during the day and 72 at night (with the zone system, I only cool the master bedroom and my sons room at night)
