Air Conditioning - Help settle an argument.

My girlfriend and I both work during the day. During those hours I like to shut off the ac because to me it makes no sense to cool a house when there's no one there. She gets home from work before I do and complains about coming home to a hot house and wants me leave it run all day. So is it better to leave it on or turn it off when not in use?

A couple of questions.

What area of country do you live?

What is average daily high temperature in summer?

What is inside temperature of home when gf returns from work and AC was not running?

It is my opinion that cutting off system when you are not at home is false economy and actually makes your system run harder. You may want to compromise and set the thermometer at a higher temp when you are not at home-for ex around 77-78 deg. Then make an adjustment to your normal comfort level when you return home. Of course there are programmable thermostats that will make these changes for you.

:)

Best to set it and forget it.. A/C don't recover as quick as a furnace would.. I've tried it and itjust didn't pay.. I leave ours at 76 and it's fine. Only time I do the temp changes is in the winter.

Leave it at one temp. If anything like Jay says only turn it up a few degrees so it don't have to work as hard to bring it back down. Another downside to shutting it down like you are doing is the house gets humid and it can take up to 2-3 days to get humidity down to a comfortible level.

Is she gonna read this thread. Cause you sure aint getting much backing here are you. :C Sorry dude.

Well fella, guess what, I'm going to join with Matt & Jay. Set it & forget it. If nothing else, think of it as a peace offering. ;) My thermostat stays at 75º all cooling season long.

I hate when she's right. Thanks guys.

lol hope you didn't make a bet??