Does it conserve energy to turn the air conditioning off everynight if i have to turn it back on the next day?

Question

I usually turn off my air conditioning for a few days at a time when its cold enough. But lately it has been cold enough at night and i have to end up turning it on by around noon. So my question again is;

is the energy I am saving by turning off the a/c at night negated by the fact that when I turn on the a/c in the morning it takes a lot of energy to cool the house back off?

please lemme know some sources as well as opinions.

Answer 1

It actually takes less energy if you leave it on.  Once you get the inside of your house the temperature you like it your unit won't have to work as hard.  People don't realize that you are actually having to cool everything else down in your house also.  The walls, furniture, carpets all get either warmer or cooler also therefore using more energy to heat or cool them .  If you leave your unit at an even temperature it doesn't have to redo everything that it has already done.   I have no other sources than my dad who is a building contractor.  Hope this helps a little.

Answer 2

Hi.  Two things:  first, I made a mistake--in my original post, I said that it DOES make a difference to change the temperature setting.  It does, but the savings is essentially negligeable.  Second, I still can't provide any resources except for the report that I helped create in my engineering class way back when.  At any rate, the findings of the report were that there is no major difference considering the heat capacity of the house (i.e. the furniture, the walls, the insulation, etc).

On top of that, two things are the main culprits in wasting energy (with regard to heating/cooling a home).  One of those is poor insulation, which most houses have.  Another is leaks.  Most people don't think their homes are leaky, but that might actually be the number one major cause of waste in heating/cooling of a home.  So, those are two major improvement steps you can take, but they are very expensive.

I agree with what everyone else has said regarding opening windows for air quality and using a programmable thermostat.  However, just make sure that you do it in a way where you turn your a/c back on before the house gets too hot.

Answer 3

Turn the A/C off when you're not using it to save money.  

Airconditioners remove heat from your house.  The amount of heat your house absorbs is directly proportional to the difference in temp between the indoor and outdoor temp, therefor, as the temp creeps up inside, the temp difference DECREASES, thus less heat is gained that has to be removed.

The bottom line is that your A/C will run for less time overall if it is turned off now and then.

Answer 4

I would turn it off at night, open the windows and enjoy the fresh air.  Most houses are sealed so tight that having the fresh air will help your indoor air quality as well as saving you money.

Answer 5

The lady with the contractor dad had a good point.  The trick is don't run the A/C when you don't need it, but don't wait so long before turning it on that the walls are warm.

What I would do is, when outside gets cool at night, turn it off and open the windows.  In the morning, just before the temperature starts to rise, close the windows and turn it on.

Get a programmable thermostat and save the trouble.  Just don't forget to close the windows.

Answer 6

If you can turn it off at night and open windows, DO IT.  If you are at work all day, and not in your home, set it at a higher temp than you prefer, but not so high that it will run constantly when you do get home.