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The story
According to a Panasonic survey, households this summer ran their air conditioners for an average of 13 hours and 6 minutes a day, 32 minutes less than the previous year. The drop is thought to be linked to a later-than-usual end to the rainy season and cooler temperatures in the latter half of summer, yet 60% of respondents said they had left their AC running 24 hours straight at some point. By prefecture, Okinawa topped the list at 16 hours 37 minutes of daily use, while Hokkaido was lowest at 10 hours 49 minutes. The thread debated the truth behind the claim that “leaving the AC on nonstop is cheaper than switching it on and off,” which costs more — dehumidify mode or cooling mode — and rising AC unit prices, with plenty of personal anecdotes thrown in.
A Panasonic survey found that households nationwide ran their air conditioners for an average of 13 hours and 6 minutes a day this summer, 32 minutes shorter than the previous year. The change is believed to reflect a later end to the rainy season — especially around the greater Tokyo area — and a handful of relatively cool days in the latter half of summer. Meanwhile, 60% of respondents said they had left their AC running 24 hours straight at some point.
How often households left their AC running “24 hours straight” this summer
The company surveyed usage patterns among owners of its “Eolia” brand air conditioners from June through August. By prefecture, daily usage time was longest in Okinawa at 16 hours 37 minutes, followed by Kagoshima (14 hours 16 minutes) and Fukuoka (14 hours 5 minutes). Hokkaido had the shortest usage time at 10 hours 49 minutes.
Source: yomiuri.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Isn't that just a myth?
But I heard a mini ice age is supposed to hit around 2030 or so (´・ω・｀)
Re: #20
So which is it, lol
I get it — nights when the outdoor thermometer reads 29°C and it's raining.
This year and last year were cool enough.
The year before that was so hot I had no choice but to keep it on overnight too.
Calling a year with repeated 40°C+ days "cool"… wow.
Should I get a circulator fan too?
I use a circulator fan too.
While we were at it, we sold the sofa, bought futons, and now all five of us sleep lined up together in the 20-tatami-mat living room.
This morning the forecast said 16°C, so we even turned on the heater to sleep.
But they're pricey — big-room air conditioners. When we replaced ours recently it cost 360,000 yen.
Right, that's about 100,000 yen more than it used to cost.
That's a winter thing. In summer, people die from stubbornly refusing to use the AC, not from using it.
It's not our bodies that are broken, it's the climate. Humans were never built to survive long exposure to 40°C.
That said, even when summer's outdoor temp is quoted as 35°C, a sun-facing house or room can actually hit something like 42°C in direct sunlight. And in winter, even if it's 10°C outside, a sunny spot can feel more like 18°C.
Honestly, I wish the Japan Meteorological Agency would report temperatures with multiple readings — like, 'this is the reading in the shade, but sunny spots were running about this much higher.'
But mine isn't an inverter model, so it keeps cycling on and off anyway.
Can't you just adjust the set temperature on your AC?
At my age, I turn it off when I go to sleep and use the timer so it kicks on for a bit while I'm sleeping, then switches itself off again.
This summer just wasn't the type where nights got cold.
These days there are air-cooled mats and water-cooled mats, you know. Live smart!!
As long as it's around 27°C at night, I don't sweat much and it's not that uncomfortable for me. I've done it this way for years, so I'm probably just used to it. I sleep fine, so that's just what I do personally — but I do tell my family to just use the AC normally when they sleep.
My routine: AC on auto at 25°C for 30 minutes, then fan only for 1-2 hours, repeat. Doing that through July and August cost me just over 7,000 yen.
With all the rain this year, that's probably extra likely to happen. Better do a chemical cleaning before switching over to heating mode.
I feel like insulation matters more than the AC itself. I haven't checked my bill lately, but I think running 4 units costs a bit over 10,000 yen.
AC 1: evening to morning
AC 2: morning to night
(AC 3: barely used since getting married)
AC 4: runs 24/7, even stays on while the kid is at school
AC 5: turned off while the kid is at school
Fan: DC model, used instead of a circulator
Filter cleaning once a month (no self-cleaning feature)
24-hour ventilation filter also cleaned once a month
Mold suddenly exploded in mine. First time this has ever happened. Not sure if it's because the unit's getting old and losing its dehumidifying power, or because I felt sick and just hadn't been checking on it. I taped it off with plastic wrap and scrubbed it down with mold remover. One of the blades on the spinning fan part broke in the process lol
Your insulation must be pretty good then.
Re: #136
Okay that's seriously too far gone lol. Why not buy one of those fan-cleaning sprays and wash it out? Actually, just replace the thing.
That happened to me too when I was slacking on filter cleaning.
Newer units blow air even after you power them off. The one I bought recently has some kind of "internal clean" mode that blows air for over an hour.
Even on my old AC, just cleaning the filter once a month got rid of the mold.
It still works, so replacing it is kind of… (^_^;) no money anyway lol. Mold just suddenly exploded on me, first time in my life! I'll post a photo of it after cleaning lol
More importantly, my TV antenna broke and I'm trying to figure out a cheap fix ~(^_^;)
There are two types of dehumidify mode (plus hybrid versions).
In terms of cost: weak-cooling dehumidify < cooling < reheat dehumidify
https://smtgvs.weathernews.jp/s/topics/img/201906/201906250075_box_img1_A.jpg
Electricity cost per hour:
Weak-cooling dehumidify: ¥4.1
Cooling: ¥11.0
Reheat dehumidify: ¥14.9
Non-reheat dehumidify (dry mode) is basically just weakening the airflow. From a former regular of the home-appliances board's AC thread.
Seems like it. Should've posted the bottom part of that article too, I guess.
https://smtgvs.weathernews.jp/s/topics/img/201906/201906250075_box_img2_A.jpg
https://weathernews.jp/s/topics/201906/250075/
It costs more, but if you want to dehumidify without actually cooling the room, reheat dehumidify is the only option.
Reheat dehumidify removes moisture using the cooling function, then uses the heating function so the room doesn't get too cold.
Difference between reheat dehumidify and weak-cooling dehumidify:
Reheat dehumidify: Cools the humid air to remove moisture, then warms it back up to a comfortable temperature before blowing it out, so it doesn't feel cold.
Weak-cooling type: Cools the humid air with a weak cooling operation to remove moisture, then blows it out as-is, so the air coming out can feel cold and give you a chill.
https://kadenfan.hitachi.co.jp/support/ra/q_a/a41.html
Background and Key Points of Debate
The claim that “running the AC continuously is cheaper than switching it on and off” was itself questioned in the thread as possibly a myth — in reality, it depends on a room’s insulation, the gap with outdoor temperature, and whether the unit is an inverter model, so no single answer applies. On dehumidifying, the figures posted in the thread (weak-cooling dehumidify: ¥4.1/hour, cooling: ¥11.0/hour, reheat dehumidify: ¥14.9/hour) show that the common assumption “dehumidifying saves more energy than cooling” doesn’t hold for the reheat dehumidify method — an easy point to miss. The survey itself only covers users of Panasonic’s “Eolia” brand air conditioners, not an average across all households, which is worth keeping in mind when reading the numbers.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Flash+) thread “60% of Households Have Experienced Leaving the AC on 24/7 This Summer… Panasonic Survey Says It’s ‘Becoming the Norm’“.
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