Does turning the air conditioner on and off make the electric bill higher??
Question:Whenever we have the air conditioner on, whenever it gets too cool we turn it off and when it gets hot we turn it back on again. I'm just wondering if it would be better, electricity wise, if we just kept it on all day instead of turning it off and then back on again.
Answers:
No. Your electric bill depends on how long your air conditioner is running. The longer it runs, the higher the bill. This goes back to a fundamental law of physics called the Conservation of Energy. The more energy in the form of heat that you remove from the house, the more energy in the form of electricity is consumed.
However, your thermostat should be regulating the inside temperature. It should not be getting too cool or too hot. Perhaps you need to get a new thermostat. Lowe's has several digital thermostats ranging in price from $29 to $99:
http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=pr...
the less it runs the less its going to cost you
It uses a lot more electricity to run it for a few seconds than it does to turn it off and then back on again.
Always turn it off when not in use
No, that by itself won't have a significant effect on the electric bill. It does take a bit of added "startup" energy to get it running but it's not really all that much if you have a late model machine (one that's still reasonably efficient). Frequently turning it on/off will reduce the life-span of the machine, that's why it's not advised.
The thing about thermostats (and not just an on/off switch on your air conditioner) is that it keeps the load requirement of the machine (in other words, how much cooling it has to provide) relatively constant. If the thermostat is set or programmed correctly at a moderate temperature, the machine isn't forced to rapidly cool a large space by an operator that turns the dial to full capacity, then turns it off once it's cool enough. Instead, the machine can gradually cool the space and not waste energy.
That said, most thermostats have a range of temperature functions that allow the machine to run fairly efficiently. If you don't have one, I would advise keeping the power low enough so that it doesn't run at full blast.
Hope this makes sense.
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