Is An Air Conditioning Myth Costing You Money?

While most of the country has been hit hard with a heat wave, we've been relatively lucky with the actual temperatures...but the humidity has been off the charts.  A/C usually comes in handy for that too.

Some say to save some money, leave your air conditioner on low when you're not home. But according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (can you imagine how exciting those Christmas parties are?), it's not actually true.

In actuality, air conditioners are most efficient when running at full blast, and they're also better at controlling humidity levels.

So in other words, turn your A/C off when you leave for work, then crank it to cool your place down as soon as you go home.

These "rules" apply to those window units. If you have central air, you should either turn it off or set the thermostat at 78 or higher...each degree above that saves you 3-5 percent. So if you set it at 80 instead of 78, you're using up to 10 percent less energy.

If you're running a ceiling fan when you're not in the room, you're just wasting electricity. They don't actually cool the room, they just move air across your skin so it feels nice.

Get more cost-efficient cooling tips from or a free estimate from Northeast Mechanical...and they're part of our $100K Home Makeover!

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