Up or Down?

[Scar]

OK, so I think we can all agree that when we turn the heat up, it means make it warmer, and when we turn the heat down, it means make it cooler.

But what about A/C?

When I say I’m going to turn the A/C up in the office, all the girls yell at me say “It’s cold enough already!” But to me, I consider turning the A/C "up" means to raise the temperature.

What do you say?

[DisneyOtaku]

When I turn the AC "up", I'm cooling the house, and when I turn it "down", I want a warmer house. I always think of it as using more power--using more power (up) means I need more cooling.

At least down here in Louisiana ;)

[DizNee143]

thats a good question..
i cant think of how i would say it now..after reading what you wrote..
but it can get confusing..usually i get fed up and just tell whoever im moving it from 72 to 73 lol...
i cant wait to see the answers on this..im sure there will be alittle bit of both..

[tmosier]

What a great question, and one that I've pondered myself!

At my house, we skip that wording entirely and simply say, "It's too hot in here!" or "It's freezing in here!" and adjust the thermostat accordingly; thereby avoiding confusion with the whole turn it up turn it down thing.

[brad192]

To me, "up" has always meant an increase in whatever item was being produced - i.e. - an increase in cooling for A/C. But you raise a good point!:D

[PirateLover]

You may move the temperature on the thermostat up, but you're turning the AC down because it isn't working as hard. Think about your car AC. In my old car, before I got one with "temperature control", it just had a knob that I turned up and down to control the intesity. When you turn the knob to the right you are turning it up to the highest power, whether it was heat or AC. For heat, it's the hottest, for AC the coolest.

From my experience, people generally think in that matter. When someone is hot they'll say "Boy, we need to crank up that AC!" Not "Hey, let's turn the AC down."

[Jen C.]

I agree with you , Scar. If you are turning the temperature on the thermostat up, you are raising the temperature the thermostat monitors.

If I say turn the thermostat up, I mean it's too cold.

[Jasper]

To me, "up" has always meant an increase in whatever item was being produced - i.e. - an increase in cooling for A/C. But you raise a good point!:D

:ditto::exactly: We also have always said "up" for more of something and "down" for less of something. So in the case of air conditioning up would mean more cooling thus lower temperatures and down would mean less cooling thus warmer temperatures. It all really depends on what element you are thinking of.

[tinkwest]

If I were lucky enough to have air conditioning I would "turn it up" if I wanted to cool down.

[merlinmagic4]

We don't really use a/c here (we have one window unit in our house that gets used a few times a year) BUT I would turn it up to make it colder and turn it down to make it warmer :thumbsup: