LESLIE: Randy in Texas needs some help with an HVAC dilemma. What’s going on?
RANDY: Hey, I’d like to tell you, first off, that I really enjoy your show.
TOM: Thank you, Randy.
RANDY: And my question is I live in a two-story house and it has a separate air conditioning system for upstairs and downstairs.
TOM: Alright, that’s good.
RANDY: Now, when my grandchildren aren’t here, no one goes upstairs. And so, in this heat wave, I’m trying to reduce my energy consumption. So what would be the optimum temperature difference that I could set the upstairs between the downstairs and still not cause the downstairs system to run excessively?
TOM: Good question. Since warm air rises and cold air falls, I think that you can almost turn the air conditioning system off. But are you going to be using that second story at night?
RANDY: No.
TOM: So it’s completely vacant? The second story is completely vacant. Is there a door that separates it?
RANDY: No, the den opens up into the game room.
TOM: Yeah.
RANDY: Now the bedrooms, I can close those doors off and then the …
TOM: I would close the doors and I would not run the air on the second floor. If you need to use it for some part of the day, I would tell you to set it at around 82, 84 and let it run. But if you absolutely don’t need to use it, I would keep it shut off.
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