70-72. Can't stand it warm in the house. Especially when sleeping.

 

We have a 'split system' (two wall-mtd units in central rooms on 1st and 2nd fl/ single outside compressor=noise outside) that serves all of both floors pretty well....but the doors must be left open. Thus, we set the two remote-control stats @ 72-74....but the temp does not get down to those levels when it's this :HOT: and :HUMID:

Can't wait to see the electric bill next month....

OTOH, a lot of areas visited in our recent travels in Oregon do not even HAVE a/c......it's rarely needed (but global warming seems to be changing that deal)

 

78 all the time.

 

I keep it at a constant 76 degrees with the ceiling fans turning. It stays very comfortable in the house and it reduces the electric bill considerably.

 

I would have voted, but 75* wasn't there

I leave it at 75 during the day, and then it goes to 74 at 10pm to give us that extra coolth for sleeping.

Our gas and electric bill come together, so I'm not sure exactly how much the electric bill alone is, but the total varies anywhere from $150 - $500 a month depending on the time of year. And that's after getting a complete new heating and cooling system.

 

I keep it at 78 all the time. When I had a larger house I ran it at 80. I am a 6th generation native Floridian on my mother's side, she only turns hers on when the outside temp breaks 100 and then runs it about 87-88. I don't visit her much in the summer. My fiance' is from N. Michigan and thinks we are all crazy.

 

I find that unusual for a Floridian. Evey time I've travelled to Florida or Houston, I've frozen my butt off. I can't believe how cold people keep their houses and businesses. It's 100* outside and feels like 50* inside. I remember taking sweaters to a Houston restaurant after our first experience.

 

All of the REALLY vintage members of my family (sadly very few are left) grew up in a Florida without air conditioning, refrigeration, mosquito control or electricity for that matter. I can't imagine florida before mosquito control or air conditioning.

There are records of lots of early shipwreck victims comitting mass suicide after just a few days from the insects. I remember my grandfather telling me stories about having to cover himself in bear fat to clear and drain land. There are some areas still today that I doubt someone without serious woodland skills would survive in for very long at all.

I look around sometimes at what the Florida I remember has become and wish thet air-conditioning had never been invented.
Of course I probably would move somewhere cooler if that were the case along with the 15 million yankees who would flee screaming to the north.
Cheers, Mike

 

Yeah, I know what you mean. I've read a bunch of Carl Hiassen's books, and he gets into the wildlife in a big way.

We tried camping at Assateague Island a couple of years ago, when the insect population was way above normal. Picture three people in 95* heat wearing raincoats to keep the greenflys at bay while putting up a tent in 5 minutes flat. We sat in the tent sweating in a cloud of bugspray for about a half hour, then abandoned camp and spent the night at my brother-in-law's house. We took the tent down the next morning

I can't imagine trying to live like that all the time the way people had to in the old days.

 

We're up in the mountains of Northern New Jersey, and its generally not as hot here as it is elsewhere. It's usually 10 degrees cooler here than in Newark or New York City and 5-7 degrees cooler here than in Morristown which is only 7 miles away. As a result we only use our air conditioning about 15 days a year.

When we do use it we usually keep it at 75* and raise the thermostat to 78* when we're all going to be out of the house for a few hours.

I work in an air conditioned office all day and it is generally too cold. I find that when I leave for home, regardless of the temperature, I drive home with the windows and sunroof open. Usually I had enough air conditioning for the day and I enjoy just being out in the natural, non air conditioned air.