Cheapest settings for central air

Answer 1

Well of course the cheapest setting is off. I set my central air to 73 from 4 PM until 7AM which are the hours that I'm home and during the day I set it to 78. My AC guy states that if you set the difference more then 5 degrees you will lose the benefit because the recovery time will be too long. The recovery time is the time to go from the higher temp to the lower temp. On most days that I'm home the AC will not turn on until 2 PM when the house reaches 78. So based on the days heat and the settings my AC runs off and on rfrom 2PM until 7 PM. I could save more money by using higher tempatures but I want to be comfortable. Please note that I'm located in New England so if you are in a warmer climate your results will be different.