Did you know that HVAC appliances can malfunction when the outside temperature goes above 95 degrees? Most systems are built to cool 15 to 20 degrees lower than the temperature outside! So, if we end up hitting triple digits, it means that our A/C appliances will not be able to cool our dwellings efficiently & will continue to run in much longer cycles… In a situation like that, everyone would turn the thermostat down, but that is doing more harm than good to be honest.
- In fact, if you turn down the temperature on the thermostat, the component will essentially be forced to task even harder.
Which could then cause it to become less efficient & it can also create a crucial malfunction! Last warm season, when the temperatures were blazing outside, my cooling appliance broke down. At that point, we were basically seeing temperatures hovering around the triple digit mark. I try my best to adhere to the guidelines offered by the Department of Energy… They recommend keeping the thermostat set to 68 degrees when you are at your own dwelling & at 70 degrees when the dwelling is empty. The only time I deviate from the proposed temperatures is when I go to sleep at night, where I set the thermostat to 67 degrees. I have tried other temperatures, but they are never comfortable enough to get any good sleep in. Anyway, given that I run my component especially conservatively, I was surprised when it malfunctioned. I know now that cooling systems tend to malfunction the hotter it is outside. And that’s basically because the systems were designed to function in such a way.