NEW YORK — Half of Americans wait until summer to turn on the air conditioning, according to a survey of 2,000 Americans. The poll looked at the downsides of summer and found that on average, people think five hours a day outside in the summer is just enough, but 38 percent would opt for even less.
With the worst aspects of the season ranging from feeling sweaty (35%), to bugs (32%), and getting sunburnt (31%), 53 percent of all respondents agree that summer is best spent indoors.
Respondents also named some of their worst summer experiences, which included “feeling faint from the heat,” “getting a second-degree sunburn at the pool,” and “getting dressed up and sweating.”
The average person goes into four public places a week during the summer just to escape the heat, with two-thirds of respondents agreeing that one of the best summer feelings is stepping into an air-conditioned setting.
The perfect temperature for air conditioning
According to the survey, the perfect temperature to keep the AC running at during the summer months is a chilly 64 degrees! Another reason that 55 percent of people prefer staying inside during the summer is that planning an outdoor outing is more of a hassle compared to an indoor one.
This may be why 53 percent are actually looking for ways to have fun indoors this summer. Most respondents add they’re on the hunt for fun indoor activities to catch up with friends and family indoors this summer (59%), but wish there were more options (57%).
Conducted by OnePoll in partnership with Dave & Buster’s, the survey found that 45 percent think it’s hard to find an activity that everyone wants to do on hot summer days. However, half of respondents admit they feel bored of all the usual activities they do with their loved ones in the summertime (52%), backed by 58 percent who agree that it’s easy to get bored more easily during the summer than any other season.
Three-quarters of parents surveyed also shared it’s hard to keep their kids entertained since they’re at an age where they quickly get bored of doing one thing (74%).
“A majority of Americans are actually planning on making summer memories indoors and it’s easy to understand why,” says Brandon Coleman, Dave & Buster’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer, in a statement. “Cranking up the AC, and dining, drinking and playing games are top choices for enjoying the most of the summer months.”
Exploring the great INdoors
This summer, people are open to different indoor activities to spend time with their loved ones of all ages like catching up over yummy food (37%), going shopping (31%) or visiting an arcade (25%).
Three in five don’t mind making things interesting with a little friendly competition in their friend group (59%). The same percentage are also more likely to try out new foods or experiences during the summertime and agree that summer is the best time of year for indulgent foods.
“For a long time, the idea of a ‘summer in the great outdoors’ has reigned as king, and frankly, it’s time for a shakeup,” Coleman says. “Spending time indoors is far from boring with endless entertainment possibilities for people of all ages. It’s easy to see how some of the best summer memories are made inside!”
Is the survey exclusive to electric company CEOs?
My physical therapists gym is at 72 degrees. This is UPMC health system. The biggest non profit, non taxed racket in the world. I am sweating my butt off in a mask. Lower the dang temp.
This entire article and poll are garbage, misinformation. The average homeowner knows nothing’s about HVACR. Your poll failed too take into account very basic principles… Such as heat load, climate, insulation level of the house, windows… Etc. I live in Virginia where our summer times consist of 90-100 degree days with RH ranging from 45-85%. Maintaining 64 degrees with a RH of 40-50% , is 1. going to cost you a shit ton of money ( regardless of heat load, and home insulation level), and 2. Likely to cause your heatpump/condenser to run near constantly. Preventing it from cycling off and on (not short cycling) during somewhat controlled intervals like the systems are designed too. In the residential HVACR Industry a return temperature less than 70 degrees is what’s known as “low heat load”. 99% of residential systems are not designed/optimized for low heat load operation. This leads to the evaporater coil (not always but likely) having too much liquid in it. Too much liquid , not enough heat energy moving over said heat exchanger, preventing all the liquid refrig. From boiling off into what’s known as “superheated vapor”. Whatca end up doing is sending a mix of super heated vapor and liquid refrigerant back to the compressor. Compressors don’t “compress” liquid, instead that liquid slugs the compressor and will destroy the compressor over time regardless of compressor type (scroll, reciprocating). Not only are you sending liquid back to the compressor, there’s a good chance that while ur units been running for the last 4 hours straight your condenser fan motor and compressor are feeling the “heat”. Very rarely do I see run capacitors that maintain proper capacitance while under load for that length of time , causing the “phasing” of said motors to be sync. Not to mention the dramatic decrease in power factor ratio of said motors. When the compressor has been running for that long while getting slugged , you better hope she got an internal overload or some safety mechanism in place. To prevent those hermetically sealed windings from shorting to ground, or better yet an ” open line” across windings.
So how does Commerical HVACR equipment maintain below freezing or even sub zero temperature you may be asking but the systems in your home can’t. The simple answer is because of the way they’re engineered, and more in depth answer is that these systems are designed specially for what’s known as low ambient Cooling. And that is achieved through a variety of means , such as different compressor , different style metering devices, variable frequency device controlled fan motors & VFD compressors with multiple PCB(primary circuit boards, which contain chip sets and are basically computers without a monitor.) They also use different refrigerants with completely different temperature glides, and in alot of cases “chilled water” will be used in place of refrigerant in the condensing cycle. On top of that residential duct systems are typically filled with air leaks and not designed with proper static pressure in mind or even thought about ????????
Moral of the story… Residential HVACR systems have their limitations . Your system isn’t designed to maintain an indoor temp of 64 with appropriate relative humidity. But hey keep your t-stat set that low, and don’t change that air filter, cuz at the end of the day shit like this is what keeps us busy.