How Many Degrees Can An Air Conditioner Cool? | American Home Water & Air (2024)

FAQs

How Many Degrees Can An Air Conditioner Cool? | American Home Water & Air? ›

Air conditioners optimally cool air about 15-20 degrees from its ambient state.

Your AC has limits, no matter its age, how well it was installed, its manufacturer, etc. As a rule of thumb, when it's 95 out, your AC can cool your house to approximately 70-80. Your air conditioner will be able to cool to about 15-25 degrees from the outside temperature.

Air conditioners are designed to lower the temperature of your home's air by about 20 degrees. So if the air in your home is 85 degrees, for example, your air conditioner can lower your air's temperature to about 65 degrees.

Air Conditioners Lower Indoor Temperature by 20°F Max

The standard residential air conditioner can lower the indoor temperature of a home by a maximum of 20°F. If the outdoor temperature is 90°F, the coolest the AC can make the inside of the house is 70°F.

What Temperature Should You Set Your Thermostat When It's 100 Degrees? A good rule of thumb is during the hottest days when the dial reaches 100 degrees it is best to set your AC to somewhere between 75 and 80 degrees.

Most air conditioning systems can only handle a 20-degree difference between the outside and inside air temperatures.

Evaporative coolers, also called swamp coolers, rely on this principle. By passing outdoor air over water-saturated pads, the water in the pads evaporate, reducing the air temperature by 15°- to 40°F-before it is directed into the home.

Our Paschal Pros have a rule of thumb, expect your AC to cool your home 20 to 25 degrees cooler than the outside temperature.

Most air conditioners have a maximum temperature limit of around 115 degrees Fahrenheit. Although the outside temperature may never reach 115 degrees, your unit may get this hot if it is in direct sunlight and is working hard to keep your home cool.

We'd actually suggest keeping your home's thermostat in between 72 degrees and 76 degrees to make things as simple and straightforward as possible for your home. It's a reasonable temperature that will keep you cool without overworking your AC.

Which mode is coldest in AC? ›

The turbo mode is the most powerful. It's for absolute quick cooling. It allows users to cool a room quickly and effectively by operating at a span of 30 minutes before switching back to the previous settings.

The ultimate answer to, “How cold is too cold?” may be 68 degrees, but to maintain home comfort without wasting energy, keep your thermostat between 72 and 78 degrees. If you're comfortable at 78, then try bumping it up to 79 … and then 80. If 78 turns out to be too hot, you can try the same thing in reverse.

In short, yes, it is normal for air conditioners to run continuously during extremely hot days. This is because the system is working hard to maintain the desired indoor temperature by removing heat from the home and releasing it outdoors.

A clogged and dusty air filter will force your air conditioner to labor in circulating cool air to reach your desired temperature (e.g. your set your thermostat at 73 but the air won't drop below 76). The evaporator coil, which cools the air, will then freeze, forming ice that obstructs the airflow.

What's the 20-Degree Rule? In short, the 20-degree rule of air conditioning states that you should always keep your AC unit at no more than 20 degrees lower than the outside temperature. It means that, if the outdoor conditions are at 95 degrees, you should set your thermostat at no less than 75 degrees.

The minimum can vary between models, but it is usually 58 to 60 degrees. The air conditioner manipulates the properties of the refrigerant between a gas and liquid to cool the home. When outdoor temperatures drop below the design temperature, the refrigerant reacts to this change and behaves differently.

While the 20-degree rule sounds nice and neat on paper, it's mostly insignificant in real life. “There's no fundamental reason that an air conditioner or refrigerator can't generate more than a 20-degree difference,” says Craig Bradshaw, director of Integrated Building Systems at Oklahoma State University.