We've all been there. It's 4:00 PM on a Tuesday in Lancaster, it's 108°F outside, and your thermostat says 78°F even though you set it to 72°F. You keep pushing the button down, but nothing happens. Is your AC broken?
Probably not. You're just fighting physics.
The 20-Degree Rule
Most residential air conditioning systems are designed to lower the indoor temperature about 20 degrees below the outdoor temperature. If it's 105°F outside, achieving 85°F inside is easy. Achieving 70°F is essentially impossible for a standard unit without massive amounts of insulation.
Related: Does maintenance help efficiency? Yes.
Our Recommended Settings
To balance comfort and cost in the Antelope Valley, we recommend:
- At Home: 76°F - 78°F. Use ceiling fans to make it feel cooler.
- Away: 82°F. Don't turn it off completely, or the unit will struggle to recover when you get home.
- Sleeping: 74°F.
Pre-Cooling (The Secret Weapon)
If you have Time-of-Use rates with SCE, electricity is most expensive between 4 PM and 9 PM. We recommend "pre-cooling" your home by setting the thermostat to 72°F from 10 AM to 3 PM. Then, when the rates spike at 4 PM, bump the thermostat up to 78°F. Your home acts like a battery, storing the cold air.
If your system can't even hold 78°F, you might need a maintenance tune-up to check your refrigerant levels.
AC Struggling to Keep Up?
Let us check your refrigerant charge and coils. A clean system cools faster.
Book a Tune-Up