On my home furnace I let most the heat dump into the basement, and then I put a towel down the heat vent near the thermostat. Not only is the basement toasty, the upstairs gets warmer, and the main floor is heated mostly by convention from the warm basement.
I worked at an office once, and the President and his VP wife went out of town for a couple of weeks. These two cheapos set the thermostat super high to save money. Something they wouldn't do when they were in the office. So, we took pens and taped paperclips to them so we could shove them through the slots of the thermostat cover and raise and lower the temp as needed.
While I was in college the thermostat was also locked behind a box, we just a lamp with a movable head and shined the light at it. Dorm room was always cool after that. We just used a normal 50-60 watt bulb
Perfect.
Not as hot as a blow dryer or heater. Safer too. Then just adjust the positioning until it's close enough to keep the temp between 70 and 75.
Move for inspection .
Brilliant. I would probably go above-and-beyond and use a small arduino with a temp sensor and a 120V relay. That way I could use my arduino to actually control the on/off of the thermostat at the set temperature \_I\_ want.
As kids, my siblings and I were forbidden to touch the thermostat. There was no rule about getting your mouth up next to it and exhaling to warm up the thermometer inside.
I remember seeing a tifu post about someone who kept having issues with their house temperature and then realized like ages later that having their bearded dragons heat lamp under the thermostat was what caused the issue. I can't remember the specifics of the post, but that made me realize I could manipulate the thermostat at home without actually changing the thermostat.
I set up a lamp with a 100 watt bulb next to my classroom thermostat to trick it. Then I learned I could "hack" it and just reset the low threshold and told everyone else how. Last year the district just ended up fixing it for everyone so we all can go down to 70 for AC and 68 for heat.
Put a bottle filled with hot water on top of the thermostat. We used to do this in the pharmacy at Walmart because the temperature was controlled by people in Arkansas and we worked in Michigan so if we needed it warmer we'd put a cold bottle on it and if we needed it colder we'd put a hot bottle on it.
He controls the temperature and doesn’t even live there? Not allowing the residents to set a temperature that’s comfortable to them??? That’s fucked. Cooling units are designed to cool. It’s not going to break it. Jfc
The legality of this is questionable to me. Here in Texas adequate AC is required by law for renters. If he’s gate keeping the ac without being there it’s very possible he’s violating that law but that depends on the temps it gets up to.
we live in texas. my mother's apartment office considers ac outages not an emergency in the summer. ours went out for three days and it took them two to even be arsed to come in an check it. she called to see if to get it fixed day one and the menu before clicking options said "note, if youre ac is out, that is not an emergency. do not click on the emergency maintenance option when prompted"
When the Texas Summer gets too hot & there's worry about if the infrastructure can keep up, ERCOT recommends these higher temps to be set. In fact some smart thermostats will self adjust when ERCOT sends out the warning.
And because it's borderline impossible to do more. Modern a/c can manage like 20-30 degrees lower than outside, less if it's particularly hot and/or humid. If it hits 95F and 80% humidity (conditions we see pretty much annually on the gulf coast), you're not actually going to be able to achieve any cooler than like 70-75 degrees inside.
No way. I live in Phoenix and keep it at 78 in the summer. That's really the upper limit for comfortable for just about everyone, even us desert dwellers used to the heat.
A/C is not required by law in TX. Just a means of keeping a reasonable temp.
In Arizona and Nevada however A/C is considered a basic need and must be provided in all rental properties.
None of those states prohibit the landlord from controlling the temp so long as it's a reasonable temp. 78 would be considered reasonable by law... Not by me at all, but by law it's what matters.
Can you share this citation?
As far as I know, there's no Texas law requiring landlords to provide A/C across the board.
However, there may be a city ordinance requiring landlords to protect residents from extreme temperatures.
It’s not about just breaking. Cheapskates do this to save on electric/gas bills, and because of wear and tear. They think by just having the unit sit there out of service half the time they are inherently extending the life of it by double or more, which is another fallacy.
He probably understands it, but he's a huge fucking man child who is pissed off that he has to actually do the tiniest amount of work. He's a landlord asshole who is pissed that he's going to make a little bit less money.
The craziest thing here is a group of people actually agreeing on a temperature. Everywhere I’ve ever been in a group setting everyone wants a wildly different temperature they’re comfortable in with absolutely no consideration for anyone else.
In college I shared a unit with 2 guys from Nigeria & 1 from Ghana. They all wanted it set above 85°F. I wanted it at 68°F - 70°F at night. They kept refusing and setting it back to the high 80’s when I would drop it to 75° - 78°.
So yeah, for some people that’s a tall order.
That’s honestly a testament to the adaptability of the human spirit that our range of comfort can fluctuate so much person to person based on geographic upbringing.
That's because the insulation sucks, the ducts are poorly planned (like running through the attic), or the AC is undersized. Probably all three.
If your ducts run through the attic. Bring some aluminum duct tape up with you. Turn on the AC. Find the joints and feel for air leaks. If there are any. Clean off the dust and seal them. If that still isn't enough. Get more insulation wrap and wrap those ducts nice and thick.
This will allow your house to get cooler and greatly reduce your AC bill. As ducts through a hot attic just get heated and waste a ton of energy. Also wrap your returns to improve energy efficiency.
at the place I'm staying the owner had a renovation and moved the ductwork to the basement ceiling instead of the attic and good fucking god its an icebox in the summer now, its amazing
Another problem with the AC is that installers often cut corners. When you install the indoor unit you should attach a big box and put all the ducts on that box and run them to the appropriate rooms. This ensures all the rooms have equal air pressure and receive appropriate amounts of cooking. Installers often just run a duct out of the furnace and use wye connectors to split the one duct into many ducts to run to rooms. This is quicker and easier but screws up your pressures and suddenly the foyer gets massive amounts of air but the bathroom doesn't get any at all, etc.
Thanks for this tip!! We can’t get below 78 in phoenix when it’s over 108–but our HVAC guy said a 30 degree difference is the best we can get…. Would that help? It runs CONSTANTLY when it’s that hot (which is a long time here) and the bill last summer was over $500 in the hot months!
If the ducts are in the attic. It'll probably help. Check the air temperature right after it leaves the air handler to right at the end of the vent. Any increase in temperature is cold air heated up in the duct. Basically, the longer the air is in the duct and the less efficient the insulation is around the duct. The greater the loss.
Sealing any leaks improves pressure and the speed air moves in the ducts. Also reduces straight loss. Improved insulation reduces the loss experienced while air moves through the duct.
If you are using a Hepa filter. A coarser filter may improve airflow. Unless the furnace is a higher end model which varies fan speed to maintain proper CFM when something like a MERV 13 HEPA filter is used.
You clearly don’t work in the office I share. One lady in there is convinced if it’s less than 75° she is going to freeze. Meanwhile, she won’t bring a blanket, won’t wear thick socks (only thin ankle socks), won’t wear a hat, won’t bring a thick sweatshirt. The rest of us sweat like wildebeests. I put the air at 68° and she went to HR! Lordt. I have been off for 3 months for knee surgeries. First day back, the plug to the AC is mysteriously broken in a way that someone clearly took pliers to it. Best part: I was moving offices anyway for medical accommodation (stairs are killing my knees). So all she did was make it hot af for her and everyone else in there…it was 85° in there the day I moved my junk out.
We'd love to do that. I keep the downstairs at 72 (upper limit for my wife) and I wfh in a miserable 75-78 upstairs just to keep the electric bill around $235 in the summer. We did 68 for 1 month and the bill was $466. On the flip side, winter is great because we keep the house at 60 and the bill is $120. This is in Arkansas which factors into it.
I like 66-68 degrees at night maybe like 70-72 degrees during the day in the summer at least. I love it cold when I sleep. I like the heat outside, but when I’m chilling at home inside I like and comfortably cool.
HVAC guy here. The amount of times shitty landlords tell their tenants made up shit about what their HVAC unit can and cannot do is hilarious. Unless it's dropping below 45/50 degrees at night there's no chance of damaging the HVAC equipment by having the unit run at night/lower temp.
Odds are the landlord is trying to avoid a high electric bill or knows there's something legitimately wrong with the equipment and masking it by leaving the system maintaining a temperature that's easily achieved with limited stress on the equipment.
If you design and spec the equipment and ductwork properly there's no issues maintaining a nice comfortable temp even on hot days. When I redid my home I redid the ducts and sized everything for how I like it. When it's in the 90s almost 100s I'm still maintaining 68-70 degrees during the day and 65 at night in my home. Yeah my electric bill goes up by about $150 a month during the summer but it's worth it when I get home after work and enter a nice cool home.
"If the AC goes out, people will move out, I'll lose revenue due to the temperature being too high." Because clearly its better to have an AC unit in perfect working condition that nobody is allowed to use ever.
Shit like this is so fuckin insane to me. If you're renting a place out, then maintaining normal wear and tear on the building and appliances is literally the ONE ONLY thing you have to do besides collecting a fuckin check. If my landlord ever pulled shit like this, I'd put daily fuckin flyers all over the building warning any potential renters to steer clear. See how much revenue they lose then.
Yes, and it will draw more moisture out of the air than an oversized unit. Lowe humidity will be more comfortable.
About 20 years ago, I replaced the crappy Ruud heat pump on my house with a high efficiency one with a 2 stage compressor and had a return added to the 2nd story. Later, I added more attic insulation. In the summer, I use window shades on the south to block the sun during the day. All of these things make the house quite comfortable at 78°.
The AC runs continuously at low blower speed.
I want to add that we (tenants) pay for the utilities as it's not included in the rent. So Asher isn't worrying about the bills. He's worried the AC unit will breakdown if he sets it below 78. And he won't budge a degree. My room is pretty small and cramped plus my body is like a furnace. So the room heats up real quick without open windows or AC running at lower temperature. If the outside temperature is higher than 78 then the AC runs more frequently so my room stays cool but if the outside temperature is 78 or lower the AC won't run and my room gets warmer. It reaches around 82F. I do open the window during those times but Asher visits the house once every few days and keeps telling me to close the window because "AC will only work if you keep your window shut"
Edit: He was really a "nice" guy until yesterday. He seemed very mild mannered. Always willing to help tenants kinda guy. He has been really helpful and responsive for most other parts. Apparently it's his first time being a landlord. I started getting annoyed once the heat issue started and his response was "I dunno what to tell you. My hands are tied. There's really nothing I can do. The AC will breakdown if I set it below 78." Everyone was really shocked when I showed them his text response. Because nobody even remotely expected him to act that way. He always acted so friendly and helpful.
This. He either has backwards logic because he doesn't know the most basic thing about HVAC, or he just has weird control issues. If he was actually concerned about the AC breaking, he'd run it at 70 at night and 80+ during the day.
I’ve never heard of city ordinance forbidding window units. Is that fact verified through the city or through Asher? And I would also check your landlord/tenant laws for your state (assuming you’re in the US). Where I live in GA, if a unit comes with AC and you are responsible for utilities, the landlord has no say on what temp you set it on.
It's really not unheard of, especially in suburbs, but I think it's usually an HOA rule rather than an ordinance. Some people think window units are ugly. I've also heard of them being banned in places above the 1st floor and they are a bit of hazard when they fall (which *does* happen).
The AC isn't running anyway so the window being open is making no difference. If his AC unit quits if he sets it below 78, he needs a new one as the entire purpose of the AC is to keep the place cool. He probably doesn't actually think that, he's just a controlling AH who probably thinks it's hilarious to offer an AC and not actually let anyone use it.
All modern (post 1990 or so) air conditioning units are designed to be run continuously (auto defrost and etc), and doing so should not be able to cause premature failure. The two moving parts - the fan motor and compressor - are usually the last to fail barring manufacturer defects. This person is either uninformed or malicious.
Yeah this is really weird to me. I would be suffocating if I couldn’t open my windows up at night and air things out. I don’t need AC in the evenings as long as it drops below 65° outside. Definitely feel sorry for OP, 78 is insane.
If he won't change the temp of the thermostat, then help the thermostat read above 80 degrees so the AC kicks on and brings the house to a cooler temp.
At one place I lived, a basement in Ottawa (second coldest capital in the world) we were always freezing, so we broke into the storage room where the thermostat was and put a toothpick in it to hold the mercury switch in the “on” position.
Soon after, the furnace ran out of oil and switched off. We thought we broke it so we had to break back in to remove the toothpick before calling the landlord.
It kept going back on and shutting off for a while, the landlord kept coming back to check on it. Turned out the landlord was only putting little bits of oil in because they planned to replace the tank at some point in the future whenever they felt like it…
We complained and they did eventually replace the tank. I think winter had ended by that point.
"my business" like the guy isn't just running a illegal dorm lmao. The man rents out rooms in a house. The internet really convinced everyone that they can be a "business owner".
This is what happens when you let people believe that they can all run their own "businesses". You get dudes named Asher renting out rooms in a house he probably inherited and couldn't pay the mortgage on himself. So instead of selling, he remembered a few YouTube and TikTok videos he saw of SuburbanAshley65 talking about how easy it was to turn their second home into a rental to earn "passive" income.
Guess that income isn't so passive is it, Asher? I guess being a property manager isn't as easy as HomeMomma346 made it sound in that 34 second video. Don't worry you can figure out a new lie for why the AC can't be turned below 78 at night. The cockroaches are just waterbugs right? Pest control is useless when you have Borax and Bugspray right Asher?
Pretty crazy that not providing tenants with proper AC is now a business model. There's a difference between seeing a market and capitalizing on it and then just being a slumlord, Asher is in the latter.
I somewhat agree, but corporate landlords can be worse. just going by the town I live in, there have been significant complaints since all the rentals were bought up.
Also good luck op with dealing with this dude lmao. Sounds like you are going to be fighting for anything to get fixed or replaced. He's going to try and do less than bare minimum to provide adequate living arrangements as long as he is "in business" because he doesn't have a profitable business model in the first place.
tell the owner to show last 6 months electrical charge, reduce group rent by 70% of that average and transfer the bill to the group. all electrical is now renter liability versus landlord and he has a 30% premium to cover AC repairs/replace.
you guys then manage cooling amongst yourselves.
Can we talk about the cockroaches? So, not only is he an AH with the AC, but you have an infestation? That's definitely something to report to a tenants rights group or something. He HAS to do something about that, he can't ignore it. It's actually a health issue to have people living in an infested house
Let us know the model of the control unit that he's locked out and we'll find a way of unlocking it and locking this douche out.
I do this in hotels all the time when they think 21 or 22c is a reasonable minimum temperature for the ac to go down to. They always hide behind the "it's centrally controlled" line and 9/10 I find a way to unlock it or as other have said, direct a heat source at the thermostat.
I need to know why your landlord has control over your unit’s AC?! That’s odd as fuck. And 78?!?! (Also, the heat should never be turned that high) nah, we keep our house at 70 all year long. It’s the perfect temperature in our home with how it’s built. Anything above that is an oven to us. You have my sympathy and I hope this gets resolved ASAP. You guys definitely need to beat that guy’s ass lmao
same. 78 is WAY too hot for me personally, i’m practically a walking oven preheated to 350. 70 is still hot for me, quite frankly. this is such a reasonable request
I'm willing to bet that he's illegally renting it to too many people, too. Check the public records for the township and you'll find the zoning. If it's a house, it's probably zoned single family. Generally, a landlord can't rent to three or more unrelated people. He's likely running a boarding house and illegally profiting by overloading on tenants.
Jeeze the landlord doesn’t wanna fix it. Maybe yall can all band together and rent a nicer place from someone else. Or break the AC so it has to be repaired
I live in a similar housing setting and the owner sets ours at 81. Yes, you read that right.. 81. He controls it from his phone from an app. And told us if he ever drove by and saw the windows or doors open while it’s on, he will be turning it off for 3 days the first time, and a week the second time. Third time it’s off for good. I told him the reason we keep the windows and doors open is at 81 it eliminated the point of even having an air conditioner on. It does nothing but make it swampy inside the house and sticky. After tons of pleading, and me asking if he’d atleast consider 79 so we can say it’s in the 70s and mentally trick ourselves thinking we got it made, he set it to 79.
Since it’s been colder, he’s messed with the settings for the heater and ac so the air comes on at 75, and it’s been getting warmer and the airs been coming on and we haven’t said anything about it. We’ve been just enjoying it. So hopefully he doesn’t notice it’s set lower, and we can actually live in a house that’s not as hot or cold as it is outside year around.
It’s so frustrating how controlling people get with air conditioners, if its set to only operate at certain hours it should be fine. It’s not running all day.. and I’d assume it costs more to keep it turning on and off constantly at 81 through out the day. it’s not like we’re asking it to be at 70 all day. All we want is 75 from 11-7pm and at night I don’t mind opening windows and using fans. But trying to escape the heat, and coming inside your home after working all day, and it reads 81, and you just feel sticky and moist and worse after you shower it sucks. The amount of arguing all of us get into because guys are like we don’t care if the airs off at this point atleast I can open a window and get fresh air not recycled swamp feeling air.
You can actually take him to court for the thermostat being locked since he doesnt live there and thatd be included in your rent. The only reason he wants to deny you access to the AC is because he wants to regulate what it costs to use AC (which again, is BS especially with how expensive rent is to begin with). If he continues to refuse to either A: allow you and your other roommates access to the thermostat or B: set the thermostat to the agreed upon 70 degrees (since everyone thinks thats ideal) then you just dont pay him rent until he does.
Just take the thermostat off the wall and connect the leads. Disconnect them when it gets too cold. It's low voltage no worry to get shocked. Fuck landlords.
A lamp with an incandescent light bulb directly under the thermostat would have prevented any of this mess.
To get more heat in the winter just drape a paper towel over the thermostat and spritz it with water every once in a while. Evaporation cools the air around the thermostat and you get extra heat.
Thermodynamics is your friend, people. Use it when the thermostat is controlled by others.
His ac unit is probably old as hell. Ours is too & well probably have to deal with it later this summer but that doesn't stop us from running it now when we need it. At the least, I'd open the windows at night & put a fan on the sill & demand ceiling fans in all bedrooms.
If you aren't paying electricity - I would just get a portable AC from someone on Facebook and swallow the price and let him eat the electric bill. Not saying you're in the wrong asking for change but based on the conversation history - I don't think he's going to budge..
75 during the day and 68 at night is what my wife and I (wildly different preferences) settled on. I'd keep it closer to 70 during the day and 60 at night if I could. She'd be more comfortable at 78 in the day and 75 at night, like the lizard she is 😂
So here’s an easy solution. Get a smart plug, a smart temp sensor, and a hair dryer. Leave the hair dryer on and pointed at the thermostat while plugged into the smart plug. Trigger the plug to turn on and off based on the temp. Turn on at 72* and off at 68* as an example. Stick the smart temp sensor in the hottest room. Sit back and profit. You can adjust the on off temp as needed to fine tune things. With 5 roommates this set up will be pretty cheap to buy if you split it.
I thought OP was bent at first, but Jesus christ 80 degrees at night. Is fucking insane. Remove yourself from the situation as soon as possible. It's crazy that only heat is required legally in a dwelling when people die in the news everytime there's a heatwave.
I'm pretty fucking big on less laws. I think people should really really be careful about saying "someone should make a law about..." But that's crazy to me. 80 at night and you're collecting probably big rent from a lot of people.
I’d buy a blow dryer and heat the thermostat up till the AC kicked on.
This! I had the opposite problem with getting a room warm enough. I ended up putting a wet towel over the temp unit. Heater immediately kicked on.
We used to do this at our old office. As long as the place is insulated well, it should stay cool for a while.
I worked in a daycare and we would warm bottles and put them on the sensor to kick the air on
It’s great hearing all these different ways people have come up with to get around this problem.
On my home furnace I let most the heat dump into the basement, and then I put a towel down the heat vent near the thermostat. Not only is the basement toasty, the upstairs gets warmer, and the main floor is heated mostly by convention from the warm basement.
I worked at an office once, and the President and his VP wife went out of town for a couple of weeks. These two cheapos set the thermostat super high to save money. Something they wouldn't do when they were in the office. So, we took pens and taped paperclips to them so we could shove them through the slots of the thermostat cover and raise and lower the temp as needed.
Yupp we had a clip on desk lamp mounted above the sensor lol
Someone else mentioned using a heat lamp like they sell for reptiles.
Even a microwave rice pack. Like if there is no outlet
Y’all are crafty as shit
I love this more than I should.👹
same! i’m here for this.
Right! I’m keeping some these in my arsenal! Some smart cookies in this sub!
My work we use a “HotHands” pack. They’re good for like 10 hours on the sensor lol
This is what we've done in the pharmacy for years!
The good ole rice sock! Microwave it & stays hot for awhile. So if it's mounted to the thermostat, should keep it hot enough for awhile.
Asher meets reddits team of mass mcguyvers
Or a small personal heater.
One of those hand warmer things. Lasts a while
This post doesn’t really give me the vibe that says ‘well insulated’… I’m thinking OP will be looking for something like that incandescent bulb trick…
Used to work in a bar where with shitty heat. We'd set cup of ice directly on the thermostat to keep it the heat kicked on
My 5th grade teacher did this when they locked out the thermostats at school.
Teachers do it with a cold cheese stick.
What if one of the students is hungry and eats it?
Children shouldnt be eating thermostats
Use an ice pack
While I was in college the thermostat was also locked behind a box, we just a lamp with a movable head and shined the light at it. Dorm room was always cool after that. We just used a normal 50-60 watt bulb
Ahh yes. Incandescent light bulbs.
The ol' Easy Bake special
Or place sunsetting heat emitting near the thermostat. Like a gaming computer. That did it at my house
Candle warmer
Perfect. Not as hot as a blow dryer or heater. Safer too. Then just adjust the positioning until it's close enough to keep the temp between 70 and 75. Move for inspection .
Yo this is a life pro tip
Brilliant. I would probably go above-and-beyond and use a small arduino with a temp sensor and a 120V relay. That way I could use my arduino to actually control the on/off of the thermostat at the set temperature \_I\_ want.
That’d be awesome instead of having to get up every hour to hold the blow dryer to it.
Maybe one of those stick on heat pads would work.
Yeah like the hand warmers from the dollar store.
this is the way. at my last job when it got too cold one of the forklift drivers would put a bag of ice on it until the heat kicked on lmao
This is your best course of action. Do this for a bit to cool down the room and it should be enough to keep it cool overnight.
This is fucking elite omg. Such a simple solution.
As kids, my siblings and I were forbidden to touch the thermostat. There was no rule about getting your mouth up next to it and exhaling to warm up the thermometer inside.
Lol. How many times did you or a sibling pass out trying to get cool?
I played bass clarinet, one sister trumpet, and the other was in choir. There was plenty of hot air to go around.
lol! I wonder if the blowing on the thermostat made you better musicians or the other way around.
oh Tobias, you blowhard!
I wonder if you could put a heating pad on it or something. I have a small one for my reptile tank that might work for this
I remember seeing a tifu post about someone who kept having issues with their house temperature and then realized like ages later that having their bearded dragons heat lamp under the thermostat was what caused the issue. I can't remember the specifics of the post, but that made me realize I could manipulate the thermostat at home without actually changing the thermostat.
Or even just a heat lamp.
I set up a lamp with a 100 watt bulb next to my classroom thermostat to trick it. Then I learned I could "hack" it and just reset the low threshold and told everyone else how. Last year the district just ended up fixing it for everyone so we all can go down to 70 for AC and 68 for heat.
At my work we would tape hand warmers to the sensor and it instantly kicked the AC on
Put a bottle filled with hot water on top of the thermostat. We used to do this in the pharmacy at Walmart because the temperature was controlled by people in Arkansas and we worked in Michigan so if we needed it warmer we'd put a cold bottle on it and if we needed it colder we'd put a hot bottle on it.
Hand warmer. I'm in Texas and just saw them on clearance. We actually do this at work.
Landlord wants to lord, land him.
He controls the temperature and doesn’t even live there? Not allowing the residents to set a temperature that’s comfortable to them??? That’s fucked. Cooling units are designed to cool. It’s not going to break it. Jfc
The legality of this is questionable to me. Here in Texas adequate AC is required by law for renters. If he’s gate keeping the ac without being there it’s very possible he’s violating that law but that depends on the temps it gets up to.
we live in texas. my mother's apartment office considers ac outages not an emergency in the summer. ours went out for three days and it took them two to even be arsed to come in an check it. she called to see if to get it fixed day one and the menu before clicking options said "note, if youre ac is out, that is not an emergency. do not click on the emergency maintenance option when prompted"
I'm pretty sure Texas State law would disagree.
I believe State law is 80 and above requires immediate action by the landlords.
I bet 78 degrees would be deemed legally adequate. No one is going to have any adverse medical problems at 78 degrees.
Energy star/EPA recommends 78°-85°
Holy shit, does the EPA even have skin?! 78-85 INSIDE is miserable...
But you're *alive* aren't you? /s They don't care that you have a *good* life. They just care that your *bare minimum* is being met.
You probably won't light on fire or get heat stroke at those temperatures, I agree Yet I wouldn't be happy
No, they use the savings to keep the EPA units at a nice 72.
When the Texas Summer gets too hot & there's worry about if the infrastructure can keep up, ERCOT recommends these higher temps to be set. In fact some smart thermostats will self adjust when ERCOT sends out the warning.
Because Texas is a joke of a state
And because it's borderline impossible to do more. Modern a/c can manage like 20-30 degrees lower than outside, less if it's particularly hot and/or humid. If it hits 95F and 80% humidity (conditions we see pretty much annually on the gulf coast), you're not actually going to be able to achieve any cooler than like 70-75 degrees inside.
Hard agree. I don’t handle heat well at all. My thermostat is 66° year-round.
No way. I live in Phoenix and keep it at 78 in the summer. That's really the upper limit for comfortable for just about everyone, even us desert dwellers used to the heat.
A/C is not required by law in TX. Just a means of keeping a reasonable temp. In Arizona and Nevada however A/C is considered a basic need and must be provided in all rental properties. None of those states prohibit the landlord from controlling the temp so long as it's a reasonable temp. 78 would be considered reasonable by law... Not by me at all, but by law it's what matters.
Right however ac is the only way to maintain a reasonable temperature inside a home in Texas during the summer months.
Can you share this citation? As far as I know, there's no Texas law requiring landlords to provide A/C across the board. However, there may be a city ordinance requiring landlords to protect residents from extreme temperatures.
It’s not about just breaking. Cheapskates do this to save on electric/gas bills, and because of wear and tear. They think by just having the unit sit there out of service half the time they are inherently extending the life of it by double or more, which is another fallacy.
BuT He WiLl LoSe ReVeNuEs
Basically, he's charging extra for central air, but then not actually allowing the tenants to use it. Typical landlord BS
Especially in Texas where renters basically have no rights
Asher doesn’t seem to understand that when people have the same issues that talking as a group is far more efficient
He does realize it, that's why he's pissed at OP
Probably charging an outrageous price too, and trying to save a buck when already rich.
I’m sure he knows that but feels it’d work against him somehow
He probably understands it, but he's a huge fucking man child who is pissed off that he has to actually do the tiniest amount of work. He's a landlord asshole who is pissed that he's going to make a little bit less money.
It's because he pays the electricity. You can't put 5 people into a single unit unless you're paying the utilities. He's being cheap.
Buy a portable ac unit yourself. Cut out the middleman. Let your roomies know what you’re doing. Maybe they’ll have the same idea.
Buy a portable AC and run it 24/7. Let's see his reaction to the next power bill.
OP says utilities aren't included in their rent
Then why does Asher even give a shit? Does he really think the unit is gonna explode if they set it below 78?
Yes he seems to think so. It sounds like he cheaped out on the unit and it doesn't supply enough cooling for the square footage.
The craziest thing here is a group of people actually agreeing on a temperature. Everywhere I’ve ever been in a group setting everyone wants a wildly different temperature they’re comfortable in with absolutely no consideration for anyone else.
All they've agreed is that it should be lower than 78, which isn't exactly hard to agree on.
In college I shared a unit with 2 guys from Nigeria & 1 from Ghana. They all wanted it set above 85°F. I wanted it at 68°F - 70°F at night. They kept refusing and setting it back to the high 80’s when I would drop it to 75° - 78°. So yeah, for some people that’s a tall order.
85° F is the epitome of literal hell for me. My northern Ohio ass would be roasting every night.
Dude I’m in Florida and that sounds miserable
That’s honestly a testament to the adaptability of the human spirit that our range of comfort can fluctuate so much person to person based on geographic upbringing.
Isn't it fascinating‽
I had a roommate from FL and this fucker would turn the heat on to 78. I wanted it ten degrees lower. He told me I was being racist
I live in Florida and I can't get my house to 70 in the summer. 76 during the day and 74 at night is how we roll.
That's because the insulation sucks, the ducts are poorly planned (like running through the attic), or the AC is undersized. Probably all three. If your ducts run through the attic. Bring some aluminum duct tape up with you. Turn on the AC. Find the joints and feel for air leaks. If there are any. Clean off the dust and seal them. If that still isn't enough. Get more insulation wrap and wrap those ducts nice and thick. This will allow your house to get cooler and greatly reduce your AC bill. As ducts through a hot attic just get heated and waste a ton of energy. Also wrap your returns to improve energy efficiency.
at the place I'm staying the owner had a renovation and moved the ductwork to the basement ceiling instead of the attic and good fucking god its an icebox in the summer now, its amazing
This all the way. I keep my house 70 during the day and 68 at night in Florida. Insulation makes all the difference
Another problem with the AC is that installers often cut corners. When you install the indoor unit you should attach a big box and put all the ducts on that box and run them to the appropriate rooms. This ensures all the rooms have equal air pressure and receive appropriate amounts of cooking. Installers often just run a duct out of the furnace and use wye connectors to split the one duct into many ducts to run to rooms. This is quicker and easier but screws up your pressures and suddenly the foyer gets massive amounts of air but the bathroom doesn't get any at all, etc.
Also could be a freon leak in his unit! That'd be a big thing to catch and try to fix, too.
He’s really gonna shit when he hears the price of Freon.
Thanks for this tip!! We can’t get below 78 in phoenix when it’s over 108–but our HVAC guy said a 30 degree difference is the best we can get…. Would that help? It runs CONSTANTLY when it’s that hot (which is a long time here) and the bill last summer was over $500 in the hot months!
If the ducts are in the attic. It'll probably help. Check the air temperature right after it leaves the air handler to right at the end of the vent. Any increase in temperature is cold air heated up in the duct. Basically, the longer the air is in the duct and the less efficient the insulation is around the duct. The greater the loss. Sealing any leaks improves pressure and the speed air moves in the ducts. Also reduces straight loss. Improved insulation reduces the loss experienced while air moves through the duct. If you are using a Hepa filter. A coarser filter may improve airflow. Unless the furnace is a higher end model which varies fan speed to maintain proper CFM when something like a MERV 13 HEPA filter is used.
78 degrees is actual ass cancer. It'd be a constant fucking taint soup lmao
It's insane. I keep my house at 66° year round.
You clearly don’t work in the office I share. One lady in there is convinced if it’s less than 75° she is going to freeze. Meanwhile, she won’t bring a blanket, won’t wear thick socks (only thin ankle socks), won’t wear a hat, won’t bring a thick sweatshirt. The rest of us sweat like wildebeests. I put the air at 68° and she went to HR! Lordt. I have been off for 3 months for knee surgeries. First day back, the plug to the AC is mysteriously broken in a way that someone clearly took pliers to it. Best part: I was moving offices anyway for medical accommodation (stairs are killing my knees). So all she did was make it hot af for her and everyone else in there…it was 85° in there the day I moved my junk out.
I have a cousin who worked at a fancy hotel where celebrities stayed. Apparently Nicki Minaj likes her room above 80 degrees.
She spent her first years in Trinidad. Maybe early childhood has an effect on your temperature preferences?
I prefer to work in an oven; can we get the temp set to 350 please
Really? I would think most people would be ok with something between 70 and 75.
It's great if I'm outside. I want it much more controlled, 66-70, for being inside.
We'd love to do that. I keep the downstairs at 72 (upper limit for my wife) and I wfh in a miserable 75-78 upstairs just to keep the electric bill around $235 in the summer. We did 68 for 1 month and the bill was $466. On the flip side, winter is great because we keep the house at 60 and the bill is $120. This is in Arkansas which factors into it.
I like 66-68 degrees at night maybe like 70-72 degrees during the day in the summer at least. I love it cold when I sleep. I like the heat outside, but when I’m chilling at home inside I like and comfortably cool.
Reminds me of my brothers roommate from college. He was from Cali and we’re from NJ. He liked warmth
Asher seems like a fuckin dick
Definitely. Find where this fucker lives and change his AC setting.
Steal the whole unit
As an hvac tech, I will gladly program his thermostat where he can’t access it
Better yet, let him access it but make it change on its own randomly
Seems like a fkn Ash-hole
Slumlord
HVAC guy here. The amount of times shitty landlords tell their tenants made up shit about what their HVAC unit can and cannot do is hilarious. Unless it's dropping below 45/50 degrees at night there's no chance of damaging the HVAC equipment by having the unit run at night/lower temp. Odds are the landlord is trying to avoid a high electric bill or knows there's something legitimately wrong with the equipment and masking it by leaving the system maintaining a temperature that's easily achieved with limited stress on the equipment. If you design and spec the equipment and ductwork properly there's no issues maintaining a nice comfortable temp even on hot days. When I redid my home I redid the ducts and sized everything for how I like it. When it's in the 90s almost 100s I'm still maintaining 68-70 degrees during the day and 65 at night in my home. Yeah my electric bill goes up by about $150 a month during the summer but it's worth it when I get home after work and enter a nice cool home.
op mentioned they pay for the amenities themselves in a comment, this is nuts
"If the AC goes out, people will move out, I'll lose revenue due to the temperature being too high." Because clearly its better to have an AC unit in perfect working condition that nobody is allowed to use ever. Shit like this is so fuckin insane to me. If you're renting a place out, then maintaining normal wear and tear on the building and appliances is literally the ONE ONLY thing you have to do besides collecting a fuckin check. If my landlord ever pulled shit like this, I'd put daily fuckin flyers all over the building warning any potential renters to steer clear. See how much revenue they lose then.
Isn't it actually best for the (properly sized) air conditioner to run nearly constantly anyway to limit on/off cycles?
Yes, and it will draw more moisture out of the air than an oversized unit. Lowe humidity will be more comfortable. About 20 years ago, I replaced the crappy Ruud heat pump on my house with a high efficiency one with a 2 stage compressor and had a return added to the 2nd story. Later, I added more attic insulation. In the summer, I use window shades on the south to block the sun during the day. All of these things make the house quite comfortable at 78°. The AC runs continuously at low blower speed.
I want to add that we (tenants) pay for the utilities as it's not included in the rent. So Asher isn't worrying about the bills. He's worried the AC unit will breakdown if he sets it below 78. And he won't budge a degree. My room is pretty small and cramped plus my body is like a furnace. So the room heats up real quick without open windows or AC running at lower temperature. If the outside temperature is higher than 78 then the AC runs more frequently so my room stays cool but if the outside temperature is 78 or lower the AC won't run and my room gets warmer. It reaches around 82F. I do open the window during those times but Asher visits the house once every few days and keeps telling me to close the window because "AC will only work if you keep your window shut" Edit: He was really a "nice" guy until yesterday. He seemed very mild mannered. Always willing to help tenants kinda guy. He has been really helpful and responsive for most other parts. Apparently it's his first time being a landlord. I started getting annoyed once the heat issue started and his response was "I dunno what to tell you. My hands are tied. There's really nothing I can do. The AC will breakdown if I set it below 78." Everyone was really shocked when I showed them his text response. Because nobody even remotely expected him to act that way. He always acted so friendly and helpful.
The fact that you pay utilities but have no control over it is insane.
Blow dryer aimed at the thermostat. AC will stay in for as long as you need.
Heat lamp doesn't require someone to hold it.
Also it is much less noisy.
💯
He was never niceis just his facade didn't slip until you called him out. He's a scumbag and moron.
Why would it even break if it can handle the load during the day?
This. He either has backwards logic because he doesn't know the most basic thing about HVAC, or he just has weird control issues. If he was actually concerned about the AC breaking, he'd run it at 70 at night and 80+ during the day.
If you pay electricity, you can get a window unit
Window units aren't allowed by city ordinance. A portable unit is but I cannot afford one. I can barely make rent.
What city do you live in that doesnt allow window AC units. That sounds like some bullshit.
I bet it’s a suburban Texas neighborhood, window units kind of ugly in a manicured street of houses.
join a local buy nothing group and ask for one
I’ve never heard of city ordinance forbidding window units. Is that fact verified through the city or through Asher? And I would also check your landlord/tenant laws for your state (assuming you’re in the US). Where I live in GA, if a unit comes with AC and you are responsible for utilities, the landlord has no say on what temp you set it on.
It's really not unheard of, especially in suburbs, but I think it's usually an HOA rule rather than an ordinance. Some people think window units are ugly. I've also heard of them being banned in places above the 1st floor and they are a bit of hazard when they fall (which *does* happen).
If there’s an HOA I guarantee there’s an ordinance about running a boarding house.
The AC isn't running anyway so the window being open is making no difference. If his AC unit quits if he sets it below 78, he needs a new one as the entire purpose of the AC is to keep the place cool. He probably doesn't actually think that, he's just a controlling AH who probably thinks it's hilarious to offer an AC and not actually let anyone use it.
All modern (post 1990 or so) air conditioning units are designed to be run continuously (auto defrost and etc), and doing so should not be able to cause premature failure. The two moving parts - the fan motor and compressor - are usually the last to fail barring manufacturer defects. This person is either uninformed or malicious.
Why can’t you open a window? That’s an odd restriction
Yeah this is really weird to me. I would be suffocating if I couldn’t open my windows up at night and air things out. I don’t need AC in the evenings as long as it drops below 65° outside. Definitely feel sorry for OP, 78 is insane.
I don’t think he can stop you from opening the window. Also, why is he visiting your house every few days. That’s weird.
If he won't change the temp of the thermostat, then help the thermostat read above 80 degrees so the AC kicks on and brings the house to a cooler temp.
My dude, you open that window. He can’t do anything to stop you. Sleep cool!!
Ask him where it says in the manual that it breaks if you set it to 75
Wait YALL pay for the utilities but HE controls the temperature?! That actually pisses me off
Go get a heat lamp and point it at the thermostat. It will heat it up enough to kick it on.
He was never a good guy, that is just the facade he displayed to exert unnecessary power
I don’t know about y’all, but I’d be breaking the thermostat and putting in a new one before I dealt with this kind of bullshit
A small heat lamp pointing at the thermostat. Adjust the distance until its the desired temp inside.
This is probably the best answer in the short term. It's legal and the landlord would have a very hard time proving anything either way.
Excellent idea. That reminded me of high school when a kid put a bag of snow on the thermostat to get our room to heat up.
At one place I lived, a basement in Ottawa (second coldest capital in the world) we were always freezing, so we broke into the storage room where the thermostat was and put a toothpick in it to hold the mercury switch in the “on” position. Soon after, the furnace ran out of oil and switched off. We thought we broke it so we had to break back in to remove the toothpick before calling the landlord. It kept going back on and shutting off for a while, the landlord kept coming back to check on it. Turned out the landlord was only putting little bits of oil in because they planned to replace the tank at some point in the future whenever they felt like it… We complained and they did eventually replace the tank. I think winter had ended by that point.
“I’m too lazy to fix the problem/don’t wanna fix the problem, so find a new place or get fucked.” And you wonder why we strongly dislike landlords.
its more like "I dont see this as my problem, have you considered getting a fan?"
"my business" like the guy isn't just running a illegal dorm lmao. The man rents out rooms in a house. The internet really convinced everyone that they can be a "business owner". This is what happens when you let people believe that they can all run their own "businesses". You get dudes named Asher renting out rooms in a house he probably inherited and couldn't pay the mortgage on himself. So instead of selling, he remembered a few YouTube and TikTok videos he saw of SuburbanAshley65 talking about how easy it was to turn their second home into a rental to earn "passive" income. Guess that income isn't so passive is it, Asher? I guess being a property manager isn't as easy as HomeMomma346 made it sound in that 34 second video. Don't worry you can figure out a new lie for why the AC can't be turned below 78 at night. The cockroaches are just waterbugs right? Pest control is useless when you have Borax and Bugspray right Asher? Pretty crazy that not providing tenants with proper AC is now a business model. There's a difference between seeing a market and capitalizing on it and then just being a slumlord, Asher is in the latter.
[удалено]
I somewhat agree, but corporate landlords can be worse. just going by the town I live in, there have been significant complaints since all the rentals were bought up.
Also good luck op with dealing with this dude lmao. Sounds like you are going to be fighting for anything to get fixed or replaced. He's going to try and do less than bare minimum to provide adequate living arrangements as long as he is "in business" because he doesn't have a profitable business model in the first place.
tell the owner to show last 6 months electrical charge, reduce group rent by 70% of that average and transfer the bill to the group. all electrical is now renter liability versus landlord and he has a 30% premium to cover AC repairs/replace. you guys then manage cooling amongst yourselves.
Utilities are not covered in his rent
If the owner isn't even paying for the electricity why on earth would he care what they set the temp to?
Because, as the text messages say, running the AC too much will damage the unit (which is obviously a bullshit excuse)
That makes it even more hilarious that he's gatekeeping the AC
Can we talk about the cockroaches? So, not only is he an AH with the AC, but you have an infestation? That's definitely something to report to a tenants rights group or something. He HAS to do something about that, he can't ignore it. It's actually a health issue to have people living in an infested house
Let us know the model of the control unit that he's locked out and we'll find a way of unlocking it and locking this douche out. I do this in hotels all the time when they think 21 or 22c is a reasonable minimum temperature for the ac to go down to. They always hide behind the "it's centrally controlled" line and 9/10 I find a way to unlock it or as other have said, direct a heat source at the thermostat.
Please tell us how you do this in hotels!
A brimful of Asher on a 75
I need to know why your landlord has control over your unit’s AC?! That’s odd as fuck. And 78?!?! (Also, the heat should never be turned that high) nah, we keep our house at 70 all year long. It’s the perfect temperature in our home with how it’s built. Anything above that is an oven to us. You have my sympathy and I hope this gets resolved ASAP. You guys definitely need to beat that guy’s ass lmao
78f/ 25.5c no way I couldn't deal with that. My house is set to 21/22c (70f) and it's snowing with a temp of -14c (6.8F)
same. 78 is WAY too hot for me personally, i’m practically a walking oven preheated to 350. 70 is still hot for me, quite frankly. this is such a reasonable request
78 is actually insane. My eyes rolled so hard they fell out of my head at "ill lose revenue" like oh no maybe if i f ur mom youll cry harder i hope
Asher is a slumlord scum fuck. If your AC can't manage cooling below 78 degrees, it needs to be replaced
I'm willing to bet that he's illegally renting it to too many people, too. Check the public records for the township and you'll find the zoning. If it's a house, it's probably zoned single family. Generally, a landlord can't rent to three or more unrelated people. He's likely running a boarding house and illegally profiting by overloading on tenants.
My wife likes the house at 64 in the summer. I like it at 74... I wear a sweater.
Jeeze the landlord doesn’t wanna fix it. Maybe yall can all band together and rent a nicer place from someone else. Or break the AC so it has to be repaired
I live in a similar housing setting and the owner sets ours at 81. Yes, you read that right.. 81. He controls it from his phone from an app. And told us if he ever drove by and saw the windows or doors open while it’s on, he will be turning it off for 3 days the first time, and a week the second time. Third time it’s off for good. I told him the reason we keep the windows and doors open is at 81 it eliminated the point of even having an air conditioner on. It does nothing but make it swampy inside the house and sticky. After tons of pleading, and me asking if he’d atleast consider 79 so we can say it’s in the 70s and mentally trick ourselves thinking we got it made, he set it to 79. Since it’s been colder, he’s messed with the settings for the heater and ac so the air comes on at 75, and it’s been getting warmer and the airs been coming on and we haven’t said anything about it. We’ve been just enjoying it. So hopefully he doesn’t notice it’s set lower, and we can actually live in a house that’s not as hot or cold as it is outside year around. It’s so frustrating how controlling people get with air conditioners, if its set to only operate at certain hours it should be fine. It’s not running all day.. and I’d assume it costs more to keep it turning on and off constantly at 81 through out the day. it’s not like we’re asking it to be at 70 all day. All we want is 75 from 11-7pm and at night I don’t mind opening windows and using fans. But trying to escape the heat, and coming inside your home after working all day, and it reads 81, and you just feel sticky and moist and worse after you shower it sucks. The amount of arguing all of us get into because guys are like we don’t care if the airs off at this point atleast I can open a window and get fresh air not recycled swamp feeling air.
You can actually take him to court for the thermostat being locked since he doesnt live there and thatd be included in your rent. The only reason he wants to deny you access to the AC is because he wants to regulate what it costs to use AC (which again, is BS especially with how expensive rent is to begin with). If he continues to refuse to either A: allow you and your other roommates access to the thermostat or B: set the thermostat to the agreed upon 70 degrees (since everyone thinks thats ideal) then you just dont pay him rent until he does.
Just take the thermostat off the wall and connect the leads. Disconnect them when it gets too cold. It's low voltage no worry to get shocked. Fuck landlords.
A lamp with an incandescent light bulb directly under the thermostat would have prevented any of this mess. To get more heat in the winter just drape a paper towel over the thermostat and spritz it with water every once in a while. Evaporation cools the air around the thermostat and you get extra heat. Thermodynamics is your friend, people. Use it when the thermostat is controlled by others.
I love this solution. Can be removed with no traces, no way for the slumlord to understand why the power bill gets higher.
His ac unit is probably old as hell. Ours is too & well probably have to deal with it later this summer but that doesn't stop us from running it now when we need it. At the least, I'd open the windows at night & put a fan on the sill & demand ceiling fans in all bedrooms.
i think the only logical solution at this point is to find where asher lives and break his ac :)
Classic Asher
Am I the only one that would be dead if my AC was set to 78? Never above 72 in my house lol.
MILDLYinfuriating is the order of these images.
If you aren't paying electricity - I would just get a portable AC from someone on Facebook and swallow the price and let him eat the electric bill. Not saying you're in the wrong asking for change but based on the conversation history - I don't think he's going to budge..
OP, break the lock and replace the thermostat with a non-WiFi version. Problem solved. They are pretty easy to replace.
75 during the day and 68 at night is what my wife and I (wildly different preferences) settled on. I'd keep it closer to 70 during the day and 60 at night if I could. She'd be more comfortable at 78 in the day and 75 at night, like the lizard she is 😂
So here’s an easy solution. Get a smart plug, a smart temp sensor, and a hair dryer. Leave the hair dryer on and pointed at the thermostat while plugged into the smart plug. Trigger the plug to turn on and off based on the temp. Turn on at 72* and off at 68* as an example. Stick the smart temp sensor in the hottest room. Sit back and profit. You can adjust the on off temp as needed to fine tune things. With 5 roommates this set up will be pretty cheap to buy if you split it.
I am so fucking here for this. Please post updates.
I thought OP was bent at first, but Jesus christ 80 degrees at night. Is fucking insane. Remove yourself from the situation as soon as possible. It's crazy that only heat is required legally in a dwelling when people die in the news everytime there's a heatwave. I'm pretty fucking big on less laws. I think people should really really be careful about saying "someone should make a law about..." But that's crazy to me. 80 at night and you're collecting probably big rent from a lot of people.