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> “They’d been asleep long enough that the house had already gotten to 78 degrees,” English said. “So they woke up sweating.” This is silly. 78 degrees is not

> “They’d been asleep long enough that the house had already gotten to 78 degrees,” English said. “So they woke up sweating.” This is silly. 78 degrees is not that bad and it’s literally what the Department of Energy recommends setting your thermostat to in the summer.

endisneigh 5y ago
To be fair the humidity in Houston is often above 80 percent even at night. 78 and 80% humidity would cause you to sweat profusely while sleeping under covers
- motles 5y ago
  what if they used a fan and didn't sleep under the covers?
  - endisneigh 5y ago
    That could work but you’d probably feel too cold, haha. The eco solution would be to get a whole house dehumidifier and a ceiling fan. But for those who already have central air that seems superfluous
    - Dylan16807 5y ago
      Does an air conditioner use that much more power than a dehumidifier?
      - unishark 5y ago
        I think they're actually similar technologies and wattages. So really I think people are comparing using a room unit (being a dehumidifier) versus a central AC systems cooling the entire house.
      - robjan 5y ago
        They can be a lot cheaper. We commonly use them in HK to stop our flats going mouldy when we are out the house and it's 35C (90-95F) at 80% humidity. It's a lot cheaper, possibly an order of magnitude, than running the air-conditioning 24/7.
  - brianpan 5y ago
    Sweat profusely with a warm breeze. I grew up in the midwest where it's not as hot but just as humid and A/C was a luxury. I never slept with any covers as a kid and a fan in the room sure felt like it was doing nothing.
    - analog31 5y ago
      An amusing oddity is that due to the same childhood experience, the noise of a fan helps me go to sleep.
      - yurishimo 5y ago
        Grew up in Texas and this is so real. I need white noise to sleep and my go-to is a ceiling fan. Even in the winter, it’s not uncommon for me to have the fan on high while it’s 65-68 inside. I compensate with an extra blanket.
        analog31 5y ago
        Living in the north, the two nights when I get the worst sleep are: The first night in the spring when we open the windows, and the first night in the fall when we close them. Likewise, my first night on any camping trip, and the first night back at home. It takes at least one night for my brain to settle on a new noise / silence pattern.
- mardifoufs 5y ago
  In that case is AC still needed or would a dehumidifier be better to "cool down" a very humid house? I'm actually curious about the energetic efficiency of running a dehumidifier vs just turning on AC. AC has the advantage of outright lowering temperature while also dumping some of the humidity, but id guess not nearly as much as a dehumidifier. And if you are sweating at 78° it is probably so humid inside that just lowering temperatures ends up gets you very diminishing returns
  - endisneigh 5y ago
    Most dehumidifiers generate heat. It would need to be a whole house dehumidifier which usually exhausts the hot air outside . A dehumidifier that keeps things cool is basically just air conditioning.
    - analog31 5y ago
      Indeed, I've thought about a control for air conditioning, that's based on a combination of temperature and humidity, rather than temperature alone. I'm a northerner, and when I moved to Texas, I was prepared for the heat. What they didn't tell me about was the air conditioning. During the summer, people bring a sweater or jacket to restaurants because the AC is so cold. Today we live in Wisconsin, so we rarely use AC, usually only if we have elderly guests, or maybe the 1 or 2 most oppressive days of the year. We just have to manage the hours in the early evening, when the outside temperature has fallen but there's no breeze. So we have some window fans for that condition. But I've noticed, that I can turn on the AC and it will run for a long time without the temperature changing, because it's using all of its available power to remove water. But it gets more comfortable. But of course if you're going to cool the air in order to dehumidify it, you might as well enjoy the cooler air.
      - dragonwriter 5y ago
        > Indeed, I've thought about a control for air conditioning, that's based on a combination of temperature and humidity, rather than temperature alone. Better existing residential HVAC controls already do that, combining settings and sensors for dehumidfying, heating, cooling, and, if a humidifier is included in the system, humidifying.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
mardifoufs 5y ago
I guess that explains why Texas is using so much electricity in the first place :)
tolbish 5y ago
What's all this nonsense then about 68-72 being "room temperature"?
dehrmann 5y ago
78 warm if you're sleeping. This recommends 60-67: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-is-the-ideal-sleeping-temperature-for-my-bedroom/ https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-is-the-ideal-sleepin...

endisneigh 5y ago

To be fair the humidity in Houston is often above 80 percent even at night. 78 and 80% humidity would cause you to sweat profusely while sleeping under covers

motles 5y ago
what if they used a fan and didn't sleep under the covers?
- endisneigh 5y ago
  That could work but you’d probably feel too cold, haha. The eco solution would be to get a whole house dehumidifier and a ceiling fan. But for those who already have central air that seems superfluous
  - Dylan16807 5y ago
    Does an air conditioner use that much more power than a dehumidifier?
    - unishark 5y ago
      I think they're actually similar technologies and wattages. So really I think people are comparing using a room unit (being a dehumidifier) versus a central AC systems cooling the entire house.
    - robjan 5y ago
      They can be a lot cheaper. We commonly use them in HK to stop our flats going mouldy when we are out the house and it's 35C (90-95F) at 80% humidity. It's a lot cheaper, possibly an order of magnitude, than running the air-conditioning 24/7.
- brianpan 5y ago
  Sweat profusely with a warm breeze. I grew up in the midwest where it's not as hot but just as humid and A/C was a luxury. I never slept with any covers as a kid and a fan in the room sure felt like it was doing nothing.
  - analog31 5y ago
    An amusing oddity is that due to the same childhood experience, the noise of a fan helps me go to sleep.
    - yurishimo 5y ago
      Grew up in Texas and this is so real. I need white noise to sleep and my go-to is a ceiling fan. Even in the winter, it’s not uncommon for me to have the fan on high while it’s 65-68 inside. I compensate with an extra blanket.
      - analog31 5y ago
        Living in the north, the two nights when I get the worst sleep are: The first night in the spring when we open the windows, and the first night in the fall when we close them. Likewise, my first night on any camping trip, and the first night back at home. It takes at least one night for my brain to settle on a new noise / silence pattern.
mardifoufs 5y ago
In that case is AC still needed or would a dehumidifier be better to "cool down" a very humid house? I'm actually curious about the energetic efficiency of running a dehumidifier vs just turning on AC. AC has the advantage of outright lowering temperature while also dumping some of the humidity, but id guess not nearly as much as a dehumidifier. And if you are sweating at 78° it is probably so humid inside that just lowering temperatures ends up gets you very diminishing returns
- endisneigh 5y ago
  Most dehumidifiers generate heat. It would need to be a whole house dehumidifier which usually exhausts the hot air outside . A dehumidifier that keeps things cool is basically just air conditioning.
  - analog31 5y ago
    Indeed, I've thought about a control for air conditioning, that's based on a combination of temperature and humidity, rather than temperature alone. I'm a northerner, and when I moved to Texas, I was prepared for the heat. What they didn't tell me about was the air conditioning. During the summer, people bring a sweater or jacket to restaurants because the AC is so cold. Today we live in Wisconsin, so we rarely use AC, usually only if we have elderly guests, or maybe the 1 or 2 most oppressive days of the year. We just have to manage the hours in the early evening, when the outside temperature has fallen but there's no breeze. So we have some window fans for that condition. But I've noticed, that I can turn on the AC and it will run for a long time without the temperature changing, because it's using all of its available power to remove water. But it gets more comfortable. But of course if you're going to cool the air in order to dehumidify it, you might as well enjoy the cooler air.
    - dragonwriter 5y ago
      > Indeed, I've thought about a control for air conditioning, that's based on a combination of temperature and humidity, rather than temperature alone. Better existing residential HVAC controls already do that, combining settings and sensors for dehumidfying, heating, cooling, and, if a humidifier is included in the system, humidifying.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

mardifoufs 5y ago

I guess that explains why Texas is using so much electricity in the first place :)

tolbish 5y ago

What's all this nonsense then about 68-72 being "room temperature"?

dehrmann 5y ago

78 warm if you're sleeping. This recommends 60-67: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-is-the-ideal-sleeping-temperature-for-my-bedroom/ https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-is-the-ideal-sleepin...