AC

sort of random question (i think i might have asked about this before on here actually lol) but what do yall keep the ac at?

my school definitely doesnt hold back on it (pretty cold, most of the kids have light jackets on), but i'm a bit more frugal at home. frankly i havent turned mine on at all yet, but as it starts to get hotter i'm going to have to give in eventually and foot the bill. anyways, whats your ideal temp?

24 for me

24 set to low. BUT it can strongly depend on the room, air flow, time of day, A/C condition, who is coming in (sweaty stinky kids after gym), etc.

I've worked in offices or taught in classrooms where anything from 18 (cavern with a bunch of people, windows and only one underpowered unit) to 25~26 (adjacent to hall pumping out icebox temps/badly maintained unit that would distractingly rattle at lower temps/shoebox small window office) was fine.

But ideally 24 and low. Usually that's all that is really necessary with patience and proper clothes but that assumes conditions that are occasional at best.

At home 26 or 25 set on the A/C depending on the humidity.
I never understood why some like 18 degrees celsius. It would only make sense if they kept their house at a lower temperature than that in the winter.
Similarly, if someone sets their heating to 27 or whatever in the winter, what temp. do they set on their A/C in the summer? 30? That's how it would make sense.

17C, which is the coldest my AC goes. But it depends, currently it's at 23C, once it gets a bit hotter and more humid, I'll be turning it down more. typically for June it's around 20 - 24C, then July / Aug, always 17C, and I slowly turn it back up as it starts getting less hot and humid.
I like it cold. :p

I never understood why some like 18 degrees celsius. It would only make sense if they kept their house at a lower temperature than that in the winter.

i dont use heating in the winter at all, so maybe 18 is the temp for me! (or maybe not, ill probably stick with 24ish for a while and see how that goes)

My new home one has a "Turbo" setting at 16 with high fan.  That chiller 'er down pretty quick, then usually 23-24-25.

At school, if I'm teaching, I set it to 22.  At rest, 24, but I also have a small desk fan.

pretty cold, most of the kids have light jackets on

So wasteful. It’s destroying the environment.

i blast the classroom at 18. on turbo.   at home i have one of the big stand up units. I set it to 24 and put it on eco mode.   that was it turns on only when it gets up to 26,  cools it down to 23, then turns off the ac and only runs the fan til it gets back up to 26.  i hate the bill, but i hate the humid hot summer more.  generally ill run the dehumidifier for an hour before i get home.

i blast the classroom at 18. on turbo.   at home i have one of the big stand up units. I set it to 24 and put it on eco mode.   that was it turns on only when it gets up to 26,  cools it down to 23, then turns off the ac and only runs the fan til it gets back up to 26.  i hate the bill, but i hate the humid hot summer more.  generally ill run the dehumidifier for an hour before i get home.

You should get an inverter unit. A 15 pyeong standing unit running day and night, only increases our bill by 15.000 krw or so.
When we had a 6 pyeong non-inverter in a smaller apartment, we paid quite a bit more.

F' 24. I sweat at that temp.

I grew up on Vancouver Island with the very hottest day of the year being 26 and 27.

I want the a/c at 18, I'll settle for 22 if students complain, shoot for 20 with no air flow power. Written on the board in summer: "It's so hot outside but it is nice and cool here. Ah!" (*hands wafting down the a/c*) Have all the students recite it at the beginning of class and pray no one objects in English (I ignore the "cho-ah" comments as my hagwon contract specifies no Korean in the classroom and their Korean teachers here at the hagwon remind them of this immersion English fact).

It depends on the air con unit.  Some run cold and some run warm.  Also depends on whether the room faces the sun or the shade and if the building is insulated, partially insulated, or not insulated at all.  Also depends on the country.  IE  South Africans seem to never use it.

Ideally low to mid 20's is good for afternoon or evening and maybe turned up to mid 20s overnight while sleeping if in the next room.  But around 20 for the first little while after turning on before moving to 23 or 24. 

Koreans do seem to be willing to use air con much more than in the past very very recently.  I guess one of the positive changes here. 

Koreans do seem to be willing to use air con much more than in the past very very recently.  I guess one of the positive changes here.

I think the official policy was to move money from the foreign english teacher budget across to cover for heat in winter and ac in summer. You might see it as a positive, but I would prefer to see salaries go up.

I have wondered...

EITHER:

1. Is "air con" actually often said in some native English-speaking countries? I have never heard it in 30 years in Canada nor in my travels across America, US network TV upbringing nor American films.

OR:

2. Is it a Konglish/ESL term adopted by some native English speakers, after time here?(certainly native English teachers sometimes go native, linguistically speaking).

Like the op and some posters, i have only heard "air conditioner" or "a/c" back home.

Is it a South African thing? A Scottish thing? Waaa?

(This thread's diverging comments and.my past puzzlement compelled the inquiry.)

1. Is "air con" actually often said in some native English-speaking countries? I have never heard it in 30 years in Canada nor in my travels across America, US network TV upbringing nor American films.

Maybe travel to the UK, Australia, South Africa or New Zealand if you want to hear people say air con. It's the only way to know for sure.

I actually have no idea either. When I left NZ, I only knew one person with an air con. That was my brother-in-law, and he bought it back from Australia in the mid 1980s. He just called it an air conditioner when I asked him what it was. I learned the term air con from living in Korea.

You lucky bastard!

Vancouver & Vancouver Islander summers are likewise mild.

But then in middle school, and high school, we moved 4 hours to the interior of the province, Kamloops, and f'n' 41 C to 45 C summer days came... a 38 C summer high was surprisingly so not hot. "But it was a dry heat." Yeah, no sweat because it vaporized in the semi-arid B.C. central Interior, but the BURNING sensation was tough as heck. And my lips bled, fingertips cracked and heels of feet cracked, bled and caused emergency medical treatment.

An a/c was needed to LIVE through some heat waves. I recall the cool library was STACKED with readers as well as books in the middle of summer.

You lucky bastard!

Vancouver & Vancouver Islander summers are likewise mild.

But then in middle school, and high school, we moved 4 hours to the interior of the province, Kamloops, and f'n' 41 C to 45 C summer days came... a 38 C summer high was surprisingly so not hot. "But it was a dry heat." Yeah, no sweat because it vaporized in the semi-arid B.C. central Interior, but the BURNING sensation was tough as heck. And my lips bled, fingertips cracked and heels of feet cracked, bled and caused emergency medical treatment.

An a/c was needed to LIVE through some heat waves. I recall the cool library was STACKED with readers as well as books in the middle of summer.

I lived in the southern interior, and the dry heat wasn't a problem, because the temp dropped by like 5 too 10 degrees as soon as you found a shady spot. Also, it got nice and cool at night no matter how hot it was during the day.
Although, I gotta say, leaving footprints in the asphalt because of the 45 degree heat was a bit disconcerting...

I think the official policy was to move money from the foreign english teacher budget across to cover for heat in winter and ac in summer. You might see it as a positive, but I would prefer to see salaries go up.

I doubt that's true or exactly tit for tat.  But yes it would be nice to see them rise. 

The a/c in my apartment is on 24/7 at usually 22 (which makes the room temp read 24) 'cuz I have two long-haired cats that are immobile and tongue-extended if the room gets up to 26 c when i'm not home (years ago i discovered that and committed to ensuring the apartment never exceeds 24).

Yeah, measured and set temperature can be different. Perhaps those that set 18 on their A/C never actually reach that temperature.
The measured temperature in my case usually goes half or one degree Celsius lower than the setting. Last night wasn't really hot but it was very humid after the rain. So I decided to go to sleep with the A/C set to 25. I felt cold in the morning. The actual measured temperature was 24.2.
At 20-22, I would need a thick blanket. At 18 I would need 2.