78 Degrees is the Perfect AC Setting in Summer!

[K Frame]

My house faces dead east-west. I don't get a ton of the morning sun on the back of the house during the summer because there are a ton of mature trees that do a good job of shading it, but after about noon-1 p.m. until about 6 p.m. I get mostly full sun on the front of the house. After 6 or so it dips behind the mature oak trees up the street. If those trees ever crap out, the front of my place will get baked for about 8 hours a day.

I'm hoping that the new windows I'm getting in the next few weeks will help with that. I can't see that they won't, but I'm still going to keep the black out curtains.

[MechAg94]

I have my AC set to go up to 78 during the day, but if I am home, I normally bump it down to 74 or 75.  I like 72 at night. 

If nothing else, lowering it keeps the humidity down in the house.  If I leave it higher all the time, things can get damp.

[K Frame]

"If I leave it higher all the time, things can get damp."

Yep, exactly the same for my place.

I have a huge dehumidifier running pretty much all the time in the basement (primarily to protect my gun safes) and a smaller one upstairs that I use during and after showers.

Even with those it's not uncommon for the humidity in my place to go well in excess of 65%, and no matter what the temperature, that's just uncomfortable as all hell.

[JTHunter]

1979 I transferred colleges and got a small efficiency apartment off campus. Utilities were included in the rent. Everything electric. Thermostat was visible behind a locked and fortified clear plastic housing. No adjustments possible.
However, while stingy management “set” the temp, a smart renter discovered that hanging a bag of ice over it in winter and thoroughly ventilating it with a hot hair dryer in the summer could bring about any desired result.

  No protective cover on my 'stat but there have been times when I've done a "big bad wolf" on it to either kick the AC on or the furnace off. 
Well, it happened this morning.  The AC kicked on about 5:15 a.m. and woke me and ran for ~30 min. to take it down 2 degrees (73-71).  So this morning, I had to climb on top of my dryer to get to the filter.  Took it out and vacuumed it off so I'll be curious to see how long it runs at 4 p.m. today. 

[K Frame]

Yesterday here in Northern Virginia it was quite... steamy.

Ambient air temperatures were in the 95 to 97 range.

The heat index temperatures?

Depending on exactly where you were, anywhere from 105 to 120.

Friends of mine took her car to be serviced. He sent me a screen cap showing the ambient temp where they were at 115.

[JTHunter]

Friends of mine took her car to be serviced. He sent me a screen cap showing the ambient temp where they were at 115.

Good grief !
That's almost as bad a Phoenix - except they are drier ! 

[K Frame]

Sorry, not ambient temperature. The 115 was the feels like temperature, the combination of actual temperature and humidity.

Was almost as bad today until we had some storms roll through.

[WLJ]

Sorry, not ambient temperature. The 115 was the feels like temperature, the combination of actual temperature and humidity.

Was almost as bad today until we had some storms roll through.

118.9 on my weather station here

[Boomhauer]

These past couple of weeks have definitely felt worse in the shop than normal summer. And we even have two huge Big ass fans to stir the air but even they weren’t helping a ton. I did my best to wash my machines to work on in the morning and then spent mid day and afternoon in the shop for the shade.

[K Frame]

Those storms that rolled through yesterday seem to have brought something of a break in the weather. Next 10 days were not supposed to go about 85 and with more reasonable humidity.