When you tell someone (or they tell you) to turn the AC down, does that mean to raise the temperature or lower the temperature? I have always wondered how other people interpret that question.

 

Voted, it's now a tie.

 

Tie breaker.

 

Doesn't make much sense to say "turn the AC down" for the temp in the room to go up, does it? But I think that's how most mean it. They say that when they are cold.

 

The down refers to the energy consumption, not the temp. Therefore, turn down the AC means turn down the power, thus raising the temp in the room.

 

I voted for it to mean to turn the temp down, as my gut instinct. If I'm already cold I'll want to turn it off, not down.

 

If you move the thermostat down the temp goes down. I guess you could interpret this either way.

 

Right, the number on the dial is lowered, and the temp is thereby lowered.

"Turn the heater down vs. turn the heater up" ... for me, refers to the temp, too... But with heater there is no possibility of distinguishing whether it's the temp or the amount of energy that is to be turned down.

With AC, people who are focused on controlling the machine are more likely to go with the energy usage interpretation; whereas people more oriented toward controlling the temperature interpret the usage as referring to raising or lowering the temp.

 

Went with the obvious choice, down, meaning a lowering of temp.

 

Went with the obvious choice, meaning a raising of temp. (Down means less A/C).

JonasM