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wapu
Broadband Ranger
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join:2001-09-05
Albion, NY

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wapu

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Do you turn up AC or Turn Down AC to make it colder?

Which do you guys think is the correct phrasing?

Turn up the AC to make it colder?
Turn down the AC to make it colder?

We can all pretty much agree that turning up the heat means to makes it warmer, but I keep hearing people say "it's hot in here, turn the AC down." This seems odd to me.

Weasel2
join:2001-12-18
Lombard, IL

Weasel2

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My 2 cents:
You don’t turn the heat or AC up or down – you adjust the thermostat.
The thermostat goes up to make it warmer and down to make it cooler.

Phil
Rojo Sol
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join:2001-06-11
Downers Grove, IL

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I use "turn up" personally.
wth
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join:2002-02-20
Iowa City,IA

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up for warmer
down for cooler
heat or a/c, makes no difference.

TearAbite
D'oh
join:2001-07-25
Rancho Cucamonga, CA

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my wife and i always have this confusion (well, she does, i dont)..
We turn DOWN the A/C as in to make the temperature go down..

Alcohol
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join:2003-05-26
Climax, MI

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Depends if you're talking about the temperate or fan speed.

Have you asked the said people who used those terms to explain?

TearAbite
D'oh
join:2001-07-25
Rancho Cucamonga, CA

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Fan speed on both our home units are static - the unit is either off or on.. so less confusion at our house..

KLH
join:2001-09-24
Vincennes, IN

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You turn DOWN the thermostat to make the room cooler, regardless if you are referring to the AC or the heater.

Think back to the older mercury thermostats before everyone had digital thermostats. You turned it down to make it cooler, or up to make it warmer.

pog4
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Kihei, HI

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AFAIK, you have variable fan speeds but the compressor is either on or off.

When you change the temperature, all you are doing is changing the point at which the system toggles the compressor's power. If the compressor is already on, lowering the thermostat's temperature will not make the AC increase the amount of cooling going on.

Anyway, the correct terminology, IMO, is whatever gets your point across...

wapu
Broadband Ranger
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join:2001-09-05
Albion, NY

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said by Alcohol:

Depends if you're talking about the temperate or fan speed.

Have you asked the said people who used those terms to explain?
I do and I usually get the same responses as here. Some are referring to turning up the fan to blow more cold some are referring to turning down thermostat to lower the temperature. I am just glad English is my first language.

ImaDuffer264
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join:2003-11-05
Mercer, PA

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For me it's:
Turn it up (to make it warmer)
Turn it down (to make it cooler)

Lone Wolf
Retired
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join:2001-12-30
USA

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said by Weasel2:

My 2 cents:
You don’t turn the heat or AC up or down – you adjust the thermostat.
The thermostat goes up to make it warmer and down to make it cooler.
I agree with you.

rfnut
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join:2002-04-27
Fisher, IL

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If I want more heat out of the heater I turn it up.

If I want more AC out of the AC then I turn it up too.
tcope
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join:2003-05-07
Sandy, UT

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Depends on the aspect of the person doing the adjusting.

MrBradTX
join:2001-05-23
Carrollton, TX

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said by wth:

up for warmer
down for cooler
heat or a/c, makes no difference.
What s/he said.

timcuth
Braves Fan
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join:2000-09-18
Pelham, AL

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I turn it down to make it cooler, up to make it warmer. YMMV

Tim

ROCINANTE
Original Member 007
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join:1999-06-29
Hartsdale, NY

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said by pog4:

AFAIK, you have variable fan speeds but the compressor is either on or off.

When you change the temperature, all you are doing is changing the point at which the system toggles the compressor's power. If the compressor is already on, lowering the thermostat's temperature will not make the AC increase the amount of cooling going on.

Anyway, the correct terminology, IMO, is whatever gets your point across...
This is what the women in my life can't seem to understand. Turning down the thermostat while the compressor is already on will not lower the temperature any faster.

watice
@rr.com

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it really depends on what you're using. If you're using a stand alone window AC, I'd use the term turn the AC UP because it's sole function is to cool a room, so you would UP it's power consumption and compressor time.

Jeff
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GMT -5

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I say "turn it up" to make it cooler, "turn it down" to make it warmer.

Neither is correct I assume. As what I am saying sort of implies fan speed. I should say "make it cooler" or "make it hotter".

djrobx
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join:2000-05-31
Reno, NV

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Love this question.

We "crank up" the AC and "turn up" the heat. Most people get the meaning. I find getting someone to raise the thermostat temperature is more of a challenge to convey. So you end up with something like, "It's really cold in here, can you fix the thermostat?"
quote:
This is what the women in my life can't seem to understand. Turning down the thermostat while the compressor is already on will not lower the temperature any faster.
LOL! My mom does this when she gets into the car. Her car has climate control with a digital readout. She always turns it down to 50 degrees thinking it will somehow get the AC to cool faster.

SandShark5
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join:2000-05-23
Santa Fe, TX

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As much as I've tried to convince my wife that "turning up" the A/C means setting the temperature warmer (higher), she still doesn't get it. I'm an HVAC technician and I find a lot of my customers use the same term as in, "I turned it (A/C) up and it's still not blowing cold! Can you fix it?"

tkwester
@tds.net

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I think its probably a regional thing, and a common sense thing.

In the winter I turn up the heat to make it hotter,
In the summer I turn Up the AC to make it colder.

whats a heaters job? to make it hot. if I turn it down then its not running as much so it will get colder.
Whats an air conditioners job? to make it colder. if I turn it down then it woldn't be running as much and it would get hot in here.
So if my wife says "honey its to cold in here will you turn down that AC" she means its doing its job to well, running to much and would like me to make it warmer. she didn't mention the thermostat then it would be completely different story.
sjprep06
join:2008-04-01
Philadelphia, PA

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Funny I should see this topic because I've caught myself using both terms interchangeably. When it's humid out, I turn down the a/c (fan speed) to make and keep the room cooler. If I've just finished with exercising, I turn the a/c up (fan speed again) to make me cooler. When I'm sleeping and the room is too cold, I again turn down the a/c (lower fan speed, raise temp to reduce the amount of cool air) and the reverse for when it's too hot.....

So, down/up for me can mean different things at different times...
Turbocpe
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join:2001-12-22
IA

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said by djrobx:

LOL! My mom does this when she gets into the car. Her car has climate control with a digital readout. She always turns it down to 50 degrees thinking it will somehow get the AC to cool faster.
I don't know about that. On a car, there is a "blend-door". Turning down the AC to 50 degrees should enable max cooling position via the blend door. Anything else could be mixing in engine heat via the heatercore or outside air (warmer).

djrobx
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join:2000-05-31
Reno, NV

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I understand the blend door concept, but there's no way that the automatic climate control will leave the blend door partially open at 70 degrees when it's 100+ outside and probably even more in the cabin. That would defeat the whole purpose.

Weasel2
join:2001-12-18
Lombard, IL

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My furnace has two states – On and Off.
Same with the AC – it’s either On or Off.
If the furnace/AC is On, I can’t turn it more or less On. I can only turn it Off.
I can, however, turn the thermostat higher or lower. Turning it higher makes it warmer and turning it lower makes it cooler.

TSI Gabe
Router of Packets
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join:2007-01-03
Gatineau, QC

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NO NO NO...you guys have it allll wrong.

It needs to turn right.
Turbocpe
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join:2001-12-22
IA

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.
ctggzg
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Turning up the A/C means to increase the power, i.e. make it colder when it's hot outside or warmer when it's cold outside. Turning the temperature up or down means just that.

It's also interesting that we differentiate between an air conditioner and a heater. "Conditioning" the air can mean making it either warmer or cooler, but the A/C is usually associated with cooling. But I've only lived in California and Florida where it's not as cold, so maybe it's different elsewhere.

SandShark5
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Santa Fe, TX

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SandShark5

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said by ctggzg:

Turning up the A/C means to increase the power, i.e. make it colder when it's hot outside or warmer when it's cold outside. Turning the temperature up or down means just that.

It's also interesting that we differentiate between an air conditioner and a heater. "Conditioning" the air can mean making it either warmer or cooler, but the A/C is usually associated with cooling. But I've only lived in California and Florida where it's not as cold, so maybe it's different elsewhere.
If we're talking about central air conditioning, there is no power to turn up. The system is either on or off. It's using the same amount of power and putting out the same BTUs whether the thermostat is on 75 or turned down to 55. If we're talking window units, the fan can be turned up, as in a speed increase. However, the compressor is still cranking out the same BTUs whether the fan is on low, medium or high speed.

Edit - To complicates matters further, there are two-speed compressors, in which case "turning up" the A/C (as opposed to turning up the thermostat) could be taken as bringing in the second stage of the compressor. In that case, you would be "turning up" the output. Also, there are units that have two individual compressors that are also staged. The previous "turning up" description applies in this case, also.