What Is The Best Temperature To Set My Air-Conditioner? | Talking Point | Full Episode 

I use Dry mode more often to reduce humidity which inadvertently lowers the temperature to a comfortable degree. Plus this mode is alot more power saving too. This program should cover Dry Mode on AC as an alternative option to cool mode.

my whole life has been scammed LOL i was told and taught since child that turning on the fan with the AC on will eventually do more harm than good to the AC. Thanks CNA for keep pumping such videos to educate us, the consumers!

Also, the most important thing. If there is sunlight, there is heat being radiated. Use blackout curtains to block out the sun heating up your room. Or, at least cover as much as possible so that you don't get as much sun into your room when the Air-con is on.

my method : 16 : starting for 30 min 25 : ac only (perfect + silence) 27 : ac + fan (speed 1-2 for cool airflow + saves bills ) 🤭

I have tested at my home using dehumidifier with aircon and it works perfectly. We feel uncomfortable with high humidity and when it drop below 60%, it gets better. You can set temperature at 26 degree c and it will be good. Play around with the settings that suits you

Very informative to add AC and Electric fan together to be comfortable while saving energy in a tropical country.

I set mine at 25C and I'm still sweating. I can even sleep shirtless in a 21C environment. My expenses has climbed so high i.e. $300 monthly for 2 AC units that I'm sort of freaked out. So I'm trying to acclimatise forcing myself not to run the air con. But I end up foul tempered and flustered for the whole day because I can't stand the heat. Sometimes, I end up spending the day in shopping centers or libraries just to cool myself down. If reincarnation is true, I pray my next life will be spent in the arctic circle or at least temperate countries. No more tropics for me :p If we want to really save on electricity bills. Materials and the way we build housing comes into play. Design it so that homes can stay naturally cool.

25 is pretty right on for me, just walk around in shorts and tshirt and I'm fine, and put on a fan if I get warm for some reason, the biggest thing is just bringing down the humidity for me. Then at night I put the ceiling fan on medium to go to sleep after a cool shower.

Mine's between 26-28 degrees. I don't really enjoy being in very cold environments, and I found this combined with a fan to deliver an ideal working environment. One point not mentioned in the video (and I feel like it should have been) is that air conditioners also reduce the relative humidity in the space in which it cools, which actually impacts comfort in a significant manner. Another point is that part of the current habits regarding AC usage could be a carryover from the days when consumer AC units worked by basically running at full blast until the set temperature is reached, at which point it then shuts off, before re-engaging full-blast when the temperate raises past a certain point. The temperature swings that it would create led to some (including a few in my family) to set the temperature much lower than desired, with the intent of having the AC continue chilling for as long as possible, basically extending its duty -cycle. With current-generation variable compressor units, because the system essentially keeps running (but varies its output according to temperature), it is possible to set the temperature higher and still maintain comfort because the way these newer systems work pretty much eliminate these major swings in temperature (and humidity), so it becomes more viable to set the temperature higher whilst maintaining comfort.

As for now, I switched from cooling mode to dry mode to reduce the humidity in the living room. This helps to save money, and dry mode is especially important for countries like Singapore.

About 2.5 years ago when i changed my aircon in my 4 rooms apartment, the installer told me that the aircon must be set at cool mode and the highest fan level with max temp of 25c in Singapore's climate to avoid damaging the aircon. Not sure how true is it but 25c is too cool for my comfort as I do not sleep with blanket. I found is silly to burst the aircon at lower temperature and cover myself in a blanket. Temp 27~28c is comfort zone for me without blanket 😊

the key to a cool room is to set the air-con on dry mode, living in this part of the world, the humidity is constantly high, high humidity+high temperature=hotter

Where I live I set my AC to 27°C at home with all fans at full blast during the heat wave. Families here in East Malaysia we use smart DIY budgeting. I'm also aware that there are "smarter" ones who would rather embrace the heat wave with nothing on and suffer heat stroke. Some are more impoverished than others despite their hard work, smart work and self-sacrifice.

The magic temp depends on more than just, well, magic. The bigger the delta C from inside to outside, the more the house insulation is depended upon to perform. If inside and outside were both 30C, then it is a zero sum as far as energy transfer goes. Here in Canberra on new years day 2020 when the outside temp hit 42C, then the delta C really matters. The other factor that matters a lot is humidity, and Singapore is humid. If my calculations are correct, then to condense 1 litre of water vapor back into a liquid from the air conditioned room will release 698Wh (0.698kWh) of heat just to perform that conversion. This is called the 'latent heat of condensation', and that extra heat is before we consider actually removing heat from the room itself. I have seen water running in a constant thin stream from the condensate pipe on a 10kW split system in QLD Australia. The house was an old 'Queenslander', so it had VERY poor insulation and air sealing. Pretty easy to imagine that this particular system was being asked to remove several litres of water per hour, and that costs money! In a nutshell, Delta C, insulation, and in humid environments, good air sealing from outside humidity, all matter.

26 deg C would be a very comfortable environment. Problem with central aircon in commercial buildings is because different people have different comfortable body tolerable range. Some love at 24deg or even 22 deg C. So to avert complain an to manage it, it’s set between 22 - 24 deg C. If too cold it easier for end user to add on a jacket

I think the test did prove that people were more productive taking a short test at 25 degrees. But I think the test doesn't conclude how productivity might be when people are in that enviornment at 21 or 25 degrees for say 8 hours. Performance and other factors will start to affect. So best to run a full sustained test to make a real conclusion as most people are in the air conditioned for relatively long periods of time. The answers we get are greatly influenced on the questions/tests parameters we conduct.

I guess most of us here in the Philippines follow this practice. At home, we have our aircon unit set at 25° then the stand fan is set to its highest setting. Now if we can just have our energy rates here lower...😂

I definitely can perform at 25 c. When our office AC turned so cold that we even have to wear winter glove ! And jacket and blanket, we all can’t function at all . I find that ridiculous because we are facing global warming and the office AC is so crazy cold .

I get cold very easily. Even 24c is really cold for me sometimes. I rarely use aircond at night and my aircond is at a comfortable 25-26c in the afternoon

From my experience at work, and also from the comments in this thread, it seems to me that people have different tolerances for temperature, and different ideas as to what the ideal temperature is. Yes, I see some people wearing sweaters in the office, but others are complaining that it's hot. Also, that experiment about reaction time and productivity at different temperatures needs further study. The sample size was way too small...

It did not work

26°C to 27°C i m ok, i found out tat humidity n dryness makes a difference....CNA pls can do a reseach on it, too pls, thanks...

I have a low heat threshold. Since young, I dislike being warm. 28C is what I consider hot. 21C is just nice. Right now (11pm) I'm shirtless, AC is 25C, fan is running and I have a mug of iced water. I would have set the air con at 18C. But hey, I'm following the video's advice. Set the thermostat higher + a desk fan = cheaper than running AC at low temperature setting.

During the day, sunlight enters the room through the window and heats it up, so it's better to set the temperature at 23 or 24 degrees celsius. At night, 25 degees celsius is the best, unless you like to sleep in a cozy blanket.

When a person to accustom to having chill AC, they can't bear the temperature slightly higher. No forgetting the humidity of the room, I sometime use dry mode to reduce the humidity in the room and this is comfortable couple with a table fan.

i lived in bali and had mine seat at 29° for 24/7 with quite fan mode a -1 bar, had this really expensive inverter that halves the draw to 190w. monthly electricity bill is around $30. as long as im not sweaty it's comfortable, if want to chill more, turning my humidifier vertical fan feels like 25°.

I also use the cool down the room method and keeping the windows closed, so the cold air get kept in and I just turn on the fan. I usually use at 25-27 degree Celsius with fan on it works for me

The first step should be keeping the heat out and the cool in through better insulation, such as double pane windows and walls with an insulation layer.

Im from Philippines and i love this show!!! ♥️

If the temperature is set at 25 and above, it may get stuffy, not hot because either the aircon stops blowing or the circulation gets too weak. What temperature to set has to depend on the condition of the aircon and whether the capacity is sufficient for the room. For HDB, because of the restriction on the number and size of compressor allowed, more often than not the capacity is barely sufficient to cool down the area. A dirty aircon will not be able to work efficiently and if it get clogged with dirt, it wouldn’t be able to cool down the room regardless of the temperature set. I also noticed many people here has a misconception on how home aircon works. They thought that if you set the temperature at 25, it blows air at 25 degrees. The aircon is not sophisticated enough to do that. It merely stop or blow weaker once the room is at the set temperature.

We are probably not talking enough about the lack of air conditioning in schools. If minute differences in temperature so adversely affects our performance at work, imagine the quality of learning that can be achieved in the classroom with a 'little' investment in our education landscape.

I heard a few retail shop in sg especially set their temperature at 23 to 24 as they think it's more comfortable for shoppers.

I feel very comfortable at 27 degrees.

CNA can you do a part 2 to investigate further, when setting a higher temperature does it damage the aircon's compressor and other parts? I replaced my power circuit board recently and the professional mention that setting a higher temperature reduces the life span of the compressor. Not only one company said so but a few mention the same thing. is this ture? If it is true we got to include repair cost to really understand in a long run which setting saves more.

I personally like 24-26 degrees as long as the humidity is low and there is decent air circulation. That said, our MRT stations are way too warm.

So many simplifications, in the real world comfort depends on the dry bulb air temperature, radiant temperature (temperature of the surfaces), the air flow rate, and the moisture content (also called relative humidity) it can be 25 degC dry bulb temperature in the room, but if the humidity is high 80-90% or low 20-30% it feels very uncomfortable. if the radiant temperature is very high or very low, it will also feel uncomfortable. The real reason for offices in Singapore, Hong Kong, etc. having a very low temperature setpoint is cost, simple AC systems do not provide humidity control, so setting the air temperature lower helps remove moisture in the room (doesn't solve it but helps) push up the temperature higher and moisture content/humidity will increase, risking complaints about humidity, damp, etc.

the program can touch on how much electricity is consumed by a/c in Singapore, and how much of that is used by industrial vs residential. My gut feeling is that industrial a/c consumes more electricity. And data centres can be very brutal in electricity consumption.

You find that when you switch on an AC at a higher temp but place a fan right below where the air is being thrown from the AC, the fan blowing at you is actually much cooling than running an AC without the placement of the fan at a lower temp. I did an experiment and found it actually works. I even found that using the AC dehumidifying mode with a fan blowing at me works very well during the non-heat wave season. You don't need cold but cooling air with comfortable RH to feel comfortable.

I'm cold intolerant so I always set mine to 28 degrees. With small electric fan on the side for the breeze

i am from uk and visited singapore, and air con is a must have, no idea how they cope. The problem is not everyhwere has air con on high, even in shopping centers.

i normally set the a/c to 26 degrees dry mode and will turn it off once the room is less humid and turn on the fan instead

For me, the max temp I need to set is 26, because at this temp i find the humidity start to drop, any temp higher the room stay humid, so it feels hot.

This is good. Very alarming. However human habit hard to change. Hope the future Aircon for home use are set to 25 degrees by default. Some hotel that I stayed overseas, the Aircon is set by default and no one can change it.

Refrigerant only hurts the environment if it leaks. A properly maintained system does not leak. I lived in my last house for 15 years and never once had a leak. My current house is 11 years with no leak.

Please, would love to see an investigation into aircon servicing too. Many servicing companies tend to push for many aircon services; increase cleaning frequencies, chemical wash, top-gas, even washing the compressor (which seems improbable for those live in high-rise buildings). Are these really necessary? Thank you.

Most will pay higher electricity bill for comfort..wonder why Singapore shopping malls r crowded, it’s not for shopping but for the air conditioning

Here’s a summary: The video delves into the best temperature to set air conditioners for comfort, energy savings, and environmental impact. The typical low temperatures of 18-20 degrees Celsius in Singapore buildings are due to the use of chilled water systems, but research suggests that 25 degrees Celsius is ideal. Setting the temperature too low increases energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, with each kilogram of refrigerant having the same impact as driving a car 500 times from Changi to Jurong. Increasing the temperature by just one degree can significantly cut down carbon emissions. A study also found that reaction times were faster at the warmer temperature of 25 degrees Celsius, challenging the perception that colder temperatures increase productivity. Increasing the air conditioner temperature to 23 or 25 degrees Celsius can result in energy savings of up to 34% and significant cost savings. It is also important to keep windows and doors closed to reduce the workload of the air conditioner and utilize fans to disperse cool air. By changing habits and being mindful of energy usage, further savings can be achieved.

I realised that i tend to lean towards 24° but I usually set my aircon to 25° as it is the recommended temperature. However my parents prefer 22° and i usually adjust it back to 23° or 24° after they are asleep.

I usually set my temperature at 27 with fan speed at 3. Found out it reduces the risk of the aircon leaking.

Good info. Thanks

Another trick is to turn on the fan with the AC to spread the air better.

- 25c to me is still too warm … I still sweating ! 😰

What i would do is to set the aircon about 2 degrees Celsius below the current temperature .. So if the current temperature is 30 degrees Celsius, then i would set the aircon to 28 degrees Celsius ... that is comfortable for me.

27°C the best.

Here in Canada with central AC, 23.5C is as high as I'll go...

Any expiry date for the Aircon coolent gas? Been hearing hdb certified contractors asking for gas purge and top up. I thought simpler chemicals don't breakdown as in expired? Also the Aircon vendors are slow to repair Aircon with parts, any reason for that even as we already out of covid?

My air-con is set 27-29 degC. This is dependent on the location and density of apartments (HDB or Condo) nearby.

I simply cannot understand people who turn on the AC and still leave their windows open, even if just a little bit, or completely unshielded from the hot, bright sun. Unless your windows are double-glazed, you're letting more heat in thru the window glass while your AC is trying to cool the room down. You should be closing all your windows, and lowering your blinds or closing your curtains. If you need more light, use LED lights in the room, or leave a small gap in the curtains/blinds for daylight to come in. Even if the room is not lit with LED but with fluorescent lighting, if your AC is set at 25degC, you'll still save energy and money in your utilities bill. LED lighting would be even better, of cos. Also, if you can sleep without a blanket or your shirt, your AC temp can be set even higher at 26 - 27 degC without you feeling warm at all. To help you adjust, you can set the AC at 26 - 27 degC and turn on a fan with a timer set for 1hr when you go to bed. By the time the timer is up, you should already be asleep and your body won't feel the difference. Even at that higher temp, the room will still be cool enough when you're asleep. Then if your fan has a programmable timer, you can set it to turn on 1hr before you wake as well as programming your AC to turn off 1-2 hours before you wake. You'll be amazed how much energy and money you can save this way. So if say you sleep 8hrs a day, your AC is only working for 6hrs a day while the fan takes over for 2hrs of the day. Together with a higher set temp for the AC, that's a lot of savings and climate change action taken. Another trick that people can try is using a fan and a dehumidifier instead of using an AC. Our bodies react not only to temperature, but also humidity. SG has relatively high humidity and this reduces the amount of moisture that the air can absorb. Less moisture absorbed = less sweat evaporated from our bodies. And we all know that when evaporation of moisture takes place, it also helps to reduce the temp of the surface where the moisture was. So when sweat is evaporated from our skin, our bodies not only feel more comfortable but also cooler. So if you have a dehumidifier in your room keeping the air at a humidity level of below 60%, the humble fan should be enough to keep you cool while you sleep. Some dehumidifers can even go lower than 40%, but take note, the lower the air humidity, the dryer the air, which may not be good for some people with certain conditions, like dry skin etc.

My AC is usually at 25 and 26 and I have a fan running at speed 1 directed at me. After a while it gets really freezing cold that I need to switch off the AC a while to warm up.

To reduce energy consumption for Aircon, I suggest to ware appropriately allow easy air circulation around your body.

I set to 19 degrees every night. In Singapore , there is nothing as too cold.

I think in almost many Singapore offices, the temp setting is around 20 to 23 degrees.

In my room I sit near the air flow of the AC, use eco mode at 27⁰C, and for sleeping it's 26⁰C. The room is also has very little gap for air to move to & from the outside. Trust me, that will save you a lot on electricity bill. If you want more efficiency & able to do it, paint your outside wall & roof white.

20-21C with high fan settings for me. If 24C and above or without ac fan on, sweat started pouring and feel sticky whole day for me. Those who did the test with faster reaction times at 25C probably did so faster in order to get out of that temperature LOL but working at low temperatures make me more alert and I feel comfortable without sticky feeling whole day. Some places they had ac on but turned off the ac fan settings, which is torture.

How about dry mode? Does it saves more energy?

It also explains why the air outside feels hot, it's because each AC start a chain reaction that expels hot air outside creating a positive feedback loops

Do not turn you ac any lower than 17 degrees celsius or 64 degrees ferenheit otherwise you are risking the coils freeze up and damaging your ac. The lowest i set mine 20 degrees C 67 degrees F. I live in the US and its 100 degrees here in Oregon today.

22:09 “consider me a fan”…😂😂😂 CNA wai yu lyk dis

We use to set @26 for sleeping time and 25 for day time if we open.

I set my air cond to 28°C & switch on my stand fan at no.1 because i want to feel the breeze.

Yea. 25 is perfectly comfortable

Aaron and Laurenzo need the balloons in their homes as visual representation on how much they contribute to global warming

26 is the perfect number

When I drive my bus, I will frequently set the aircon to full blast and at the lowest temperature depending on the bus and aircon model but sometimes I will set it to 21 or 22 if its too cold

Temperature is 22-24 degree depending on comforter. Two fan

I will on air con for 1 hrs only to cool down the room ( with timer) and at the same time with a fan on. By the time within 1 hr, I already slept.

£13 Stirling a month , in uk would cost Rm 70 before I use electricity 😮 , we have a charge for service .........

Sgp should develop new generation HDBs with focus on cool air ventilation. Economy of scale can cut costs best.

One wrong interpretation about inverter is that they help save energy by lowering the amount of energy consumption to cool a room. Unfortunately, the law of thermodynamics still follows that you need a minimum amount of energy to cool a room. The amount of energy required to cool a hot room is more than cooling a cool room. An inverter helps by running the compressor at a pre-defined speed to maintain a room temperature. This ensures that the compressor doesn't run at max setting every time it kicks in to cool down the room. The comparison result for running an aircon with inverter for the whole day and only running it when required is mixed. They are roughly equal in energy consumption. That's where the idea of chill water system for large scale is employed, because it's much more efficient to control the amount of chilled water to cool down a room and the heat exchange between refrigerant and water is better than refrigerant and air.

16:00 i see a flaw in the experiment: 24 Celsius was omitted. While the figures themselves do help suggest some degree of increasing energy savings at higher temperatures, a layman without the patience to read the numbers carefully may be convinced of more dramatic than actual savings. Some marketeers use this tactic to over-direct would-be consumers' attention and convince them of a very miraculous saving when the real savings are more nuanced or even muted. I'm not trained in marketing or statistics, those who are better trained my correct me or provide better examples. While I do agree that 25 Celsius puts a lower cooling load on the air conditioner than 24 Celsius, logging data for 24 Celsius would further support the claim.

200+ saved? Forget it. I'm sticking with 21 degrees celsius. Take my money.

Office aircon isn't the same as home aircon. It's much colder at the same temp setting at the office.

25 to 26 is the magic number for me

My aircon only use in bed not anywhere else , fan outside in day we live outside , our bills are Rm 70 a month including security lights outside , that's really cheap .

Then why Changi Airport terminal building so warm.

i was in this video💯

I try my best not to use air conditioning. I never ever sleep with air con switch on. The electricity bills really adds up and of course, it is really not good for the environment. On warm days, I will switch on the air con at 26 degrees, with the fan on. It is really quite cooling. Once it is cold enough, I will switch it off, but leave the fan on.

Well... temperature is not the only reason, it is the humidity. If it is 24 C with 0% humidity, I'll be okay. The problem with SEA countries, we usually have 40% - 80%. Our body is literally cannot evaporate the sweat efficiently. One of the interviewee's view about how Asia loves direct draft while western doesn't like direct draft is pretty interesting

For workplace environment, it should not be 25. But for residential, it is actually ok. Probably due to the heat load.

To sleep best, i set 18 for 4hrs. it stays cool enough till i wait up. cooler days 24c will do

I do put 25celcius at home Cool mode for 1 hour, then dry mode

In korea the lowest air con temperature you can go is 25.

24-25c on auto at our home! I don't like draft either.

21 works for me

I set it at 28 degrees. It was a bit too warm at first but I'm used to it now and actually find it cold at night. My bills are very low.

Will my aircon spoil if its set at 26? That was what gaincity told me

Why dry mode was not mentioned here? It can save as much as 50% of your bill

My room is 25°c but on rainy days i can go up to 26 or 27°c. My parent got very extreme liking. Dad prefer 26 to 27°c while mum need 16°c else she cannot fall asleep. She can complain hot at such temperature. Almost daily they sleep at different time zone cos each have own temperature. My brother don't use his aircon daily. Usually only use in the day. He is the fan type. I can't stand the fan blow on my face directly like my brother. I think it can be drying to skin so i choose beauty over fan.

1:25 “just hot air”…nice one CNA

I used midea aircond at 28c (very rarely at 27). even at that temp I woke up with blanket XD