Oct 8, 2026, 9:04 PM#UK residents only:
In the middle of summer, what do you set your air conditioning to?
- Oct 8, 2026, 9:04 PM
Replies
Oct 8, 2026, 9:06 PM@rl_dane
67°F / 19°C- Oct 9, 2026, 3:46 AM
Holy crap, that's downright frigid, bruv!
Doesn't that cost you an arm and a leg? - Oct 9, 2026, 4:16 AM
@rl_dane
In summers when I lived in Texas it did, lol, but it was worth it. I was willing to sacrifice other things to afford to keep it cool inside. It was the center of my budget and I'd scale down other things for it. 
Normal Modenormalmode@mastodon.socialOct 8, 2026, 9:07 PM@rl_dane That’s a very fine grained set of options no one is going to tap on. (I have never set foot in a private residence here in the UK with air con).
- Oct 9, 2026, 4:08 AM
Wow, I just noticed that more people voted that they don't have/use aircon than all of the others put together.
Ouch. :(
- Normal Modenormalmode@mastodon.socialOct 9, 2026, 6:18 AM
@rl_dane Honestly, I’m surprised you got that many votes for aircon. I reckon most of those must’ve voted without noticing the UK restriction 😉
- Oct 9, 2026, 12:31 PM
Likely 😄
Oct 8, 2026, 9:07 PM@rl_dane@polymaths.social
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha... Home air conditioning in the UK? 🤣(I'm aware some city based high-rise premium accomodation _may_ have air con, but generally it only exists in cars and offices here)
- Oct 8, 2026, 9:09 PM
@rl_dane@polymaths.social
To answer from the original post what I would set air con to if I had it or when I'm in a hotel room, it's about 17°CWas going to say I'm a bit weird, but turns out other people have said 18 so perhaps I'm not as weird as I thought.
- Oct 9, 2026, 3:54 AM
Holy crap, that's really cold!
- Oct 9, 2026, 3:53 AM
Really! I was aware that it wasn't necessarily widespread, but I assumed that at least newer homes would have it. Yikes!
How hot does it typically get in the summer, then?
You've reminded me of a trip to Victoria, BC in 2005 when it was getting "a little warm" in the hotel room, and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to turn on the AC unit.
Of course, there WAS no AC unit. 😄
- Normal Modenormalmode@mastodon.socialOct 9, 2026, 6:13 AM
- Oct 9, 2026, 12:31 PM
Wow, that's a crazy increase.
I don't think I've noticed the summers getting hotter, because once it's over 40°C, it's just HOT.
I have noticed the winters becoming more irregular, though. A lot less snow, but occasional snowmageddon.
2021 was a horrible winter for us in Texas, and this winter may be the same.
Oct 8, 2026, 9:21 PMSorry I didn't see the UK thing and since I saw f I figured it was for backwards non metric Americans
- Oct 9, 2026, 4:04 AM
On brand for us, really. 😄
Black Hole Sunn O)))UrbanDjent@metalhead.clubOct 8, 2026, 9:36 PM@rl_dane Hey :¬) I voted 24 because I remember that being the most used setting. 24 seemed to be fine indoors when compared to the hot temps outside. On the odd occasion, this year, we set 22.
- Oct 9, 2026, 3:58 AM
That's very reasonable, to me, and what I usually set mine to. ;)
Sheddisheddi@mstdn.partyOct 8, 2026, 9:41 PM@rl_dane so I've voted for 21C but that's because I've only got a single portable Aircon for my entire (small) house and setting it to that temperature means that it can cool most of the house to 24-25C.
The Tattooed Nonna 🧙♀️Tattooed_Mummy@beige.partyOct 8, 2026, 9:48 PM- Oct 9, 2026, 4:01 AM
Ah, this is interesting to me. People seem to be more careful/miserly with heating than cooling.
68°F/20°C is what I set it to when I go to bed in the winter. I'll usually have it set to 72°F/22°C during the day.
Also, my home isn't very well insulated. Being by the windows can be a bit unpleasant.
Oct 9, 2026, 10:54 AM@rl_dane @Tattooed_Mummy @sheddi 20?? We are like a 17 or 18 in winter 🙃
- Oct 9, 2026, 12:42 PM
@daniel @Tattooed_Mummy @sheddi
That would be very unpleasant. XD
Oct 9, 2026, 10:57 AM@rl_dane @Tattooed_Mummy @sheddi
meanwhile, where I live (not the UK), it's ~30°C every day year round and I do not use AC. ;)
- Oct 9, 2026, 10:58 AM
@rl_dane @Tattooed_Mummy @sheddi
When I was in the US, though, about the coldest I can be for extended periods of time is 20°C. Unless, perhaps, I'm piled under heaps of covers and stuffed animals…
- Oct 9, 2026, 11:00 AM
@rl_dane @Tattooed_Mummy @sheddi
My own impression of why 'muricans complain about summer:
- the ubiquitous controlled indoor climate doesn't allow anyone's bodies to actually adapt to the outdoor climate. I read at some point that it takes the body a few weeks in a certain climate to really adjust to being comfortable in it, which tracks with my own experience when entering and leaving the tropics.
- so many 'muricans do not know the magic that is ceiling fans
- Oct 9, 2026, 12:46 PM
I have ceiling fans. They can help a little, but I still can't imagine being without AC.
Also, one of the funniest things I've ever seen is an outdoor cieling fans where the blades were semi-melted and drooping downwards by about 45°.
TEXAS!!!! 😆
- Oct 9, 2026, 12:44 PM
WAIT, it's 30 AND HUMID, and you don't have AC? 😱
- Oct 9, 2026, 12:47 PM
@rl_dane @Tattooed_Mummy @sheddi
I have it but don't use it. AC is expensive
- Oct 9, 2026, 12:49 PM
That makes sense.
- Oct 9, 2026, 12:51 PM
@rl_dane @Tattooed_Mummy @sheddi
That was a condition of me getting my own bedroom back in middle school or whatever, that I wouldn't run the AC at night, because that would increase our electricity bill by like 50% to have another room running AC all night. XD
(Each room has individual units, it's not central cooling.)
So, yeah, the rest of my family still uses AC.
- Oct 9, 2026, 2:27 PM
Oooof, bro's living in an AC desert 😭
- Oct 9, 2026, 2:28 PM
@rl_dane @Tattooed_Mummy @sheddi
Not sure I understand your meaning?
- Oct 9, 2026, 2:31 PM
I mean that there's AC in the house, but you don't have it/can't use it.
Like an island of no-AC among other AC users/enjoyers.
- Oct 9, 2026, 2:33 PM
@rl_dane @Tattooed_Mummy @sheddi
Ah.
That restriction isn't exactly enforced anymore, I'm used to it now. Those were the original terms and I was fine with them at the time, too. :)
Also, I will say that AC is less of a constant in this house than it was before my dad shed fifty kilos (he's now under [half-joking] doctor's orders to butter his toast).
- Oct 9, 2026, 2:38 PM
Impressive!!
- Oct 9, 2026, 3:04 PM
Does your GenX dad have any tips for this GenXer trying to shed about 20 kilos? ;)
- The Tattooed Nonna 🧙♀️Tattooed_Mummy@beige.partyOct 9, 2026, 9:27 PM
@rl_dane nope, just a fan. But this summer was the hottest for a while and it seems to be getting hotter so we might invest in a portable unit. The problem is we only had a few days over about 25 in the past, so it wasn't worth the expense just for a couple of days
- Oct 9, 2026, 10:01 PM
Yeah, this year was nuts:
rld@Intrepid:~$ weathersummary Weather summary for days over 100°F: year days readings year range data range ---- ---- -------- ------------- ------------- 2024 0 0 10/10 - 12/31 2025 5 94 01/01 - 12/31 07/25 - 08/19 2026 49 751 01/01 - 10/09 07/08 - 09/15(That's 37.7°C)
rld@Intrepid:~$ ctof 40 104.0 rld@Intrepid:~$ weathersummary 104 Weather summary for days over 104°F: year days readings year range data range ---- ---- -------- ------------- ------------- 2024 0 0 10/10 - 12/31 2025 1 2 01/01 - 12/31 07/31 - 07/31 2026 10 141 01/01 - 10/09 07/21 - 08/24 - Oct 9, 2026, 4:02 AM
Ah, setting it low, knowing it'll never get that low. It's like that at my aunt's house, because it's pretty big.
Daniel Johnsonossobuffo@deacon.socialOct 9, 2026, 3:57 PM@rl_dane Having grown up in Guatemala (way up in the mountains), I never knew anyone who had A/C in their home. The only time we encountered it was when we would vacation at a resort hotel down near the coast. That’s why it would always be such a shock when we’d drive up to Dallas in August.
Our temps (at elevation 1900m/6200 feet) generally were in the 60s–70s Fahrenheit. We would get three or four winter mornings every year when there would be frost on the grass, and a few summer afternoons when it crept up into the upper 80s — but that was a fairly dry heat.
- Oct 16, 2026, 1:54 PM
Sounds like paradise to me. ;)
Murray 🇪🇺 :xubuntu:MurrayWindripper@fosstodon.orgOct 9, 2026, 7:55 PM@rl_dane
No air-conditioning in the house but the car climate control is usually set between 15° and 16.5°... except this year when it was broken for the hottest couple of months.- Oct 9, 2026, 10:04 PM
That's rough. I drove with the AC off and the windows rolled up after yoga a couple times just to keep the warmth for longer to make sure I didn't get any charliehorses. It was kinda brutal, even after being in a yoga frame of mind. 😄