What do Villager snowbirds leave their temperatures set at over the summer months

[Juliev263]

Please help me understand maximum temperature that makes sense to leave a patio villa at in the summer months while we are away. Any negative experiences you have had setting it at a certain temperature would be helpful too. I couldn't find any existing posts with this information.

[dewilson58]

80.

[CWGUY]

:icon_wink: 220... 221, whatever it takes. Sorry..... great line from Mr. Mom. Ask your A/C guy.

[karostay]

leave mine 82 with 55% humidity setting and my fans on low circulate the air close all blinds

[tophcfa]

We leave ours at 81. Anything above 83 and you are likely to get too much humidity, which could lead to mold issues. We also leave a couple of dehumidifiers that drain into sinks or tubs with the relative humidity set at 60%. If our AC is working properly they should never need to run, but they are there as a cheap insurance policy should our AC unit die as a way to help control the humidity. So far no problems over several summers. We do get to our home at least once every summer just to check on things and we also check on a friends home, and they return the favor when they periodically visit their home. We are not Snowbirds, but rather part time residents that come and go throughout the year whenever we can ditch our responsibilities up north for enough time to make it worth the travel.

[Fredman]

80 degrees

[New Englander]

Not a snowbird but if I were, I would set it @80.

[66vette]

I keep mine at 82

[rjm1cc]

Assume you do not have a separate humidifier. I would use 80 from say 6am to 12 midnight. Then say 70 from midnight to 6am. The idea is to dehumidify the home with the night setting.
Try it for a night and see what it does for your homes humidity.
My experience is that the home is usually over 60% in the summer with the temp set at about 76. I use a separate dehumidifier to keep it under 60%

[CFrance]

We've done 82 and 83. But we think our thermostat in this current house is a couple degrees off. So it's probably more like 80. We've never left the fans on and have never had a problem with mold. The only thing we ever had a problem with was tiny little brown bugs in flour and paprika. So now I throw all that out.

[lpkshop]

I was advised by my MD not to have the temps at over 75 due to the fact that Florida has a high percentage of mold.

[RobertWR]

Maybe install a Wifi thermostat. You can install yourself, buy at Lowe's for $200 depending on model.

Then vary temp remotely.

[doyle31]

When we are away in the summer, I set the temperature air to come on if it’s 80 or more inside and if the humidity goes over 60%. I’ve done that for six years and things have been fine. I have someone coming over and checked the house generally every two weeks. It’s a big investment and you want to keep it safe.

[Maryland04]

Please help me understand maximum temperature that makes sense to leave a patio villa at in the summer months while we are away. Any negative experiences you have had setting it at a certain temperature would be helpful too. I couldn't find any existing posts with this information.
Something that hasn't been talked about is the AC drain, it needs to be flushed/cleaned prior to you leaving. We have seen to many of our neighbors homes with water damage from the drain backups.

[Jimmay]

The temperature is not the important issue it’s the humidity. Have your HVAC guy install a humidistat. It turns the air on based upon humidity not temperature

[Annie66]

The temperature is not the important issue it’s the humidity. Have your HVAC guy install a humidistat. It turns the air on based upon humidity not temperature

Now this is the correct answer. Not terribly expensive, but more effective than controlling mold by temperature.

[retiredguy123]

In my opinion, if you set the temperature at 80 degrees, your house will be fine. There is no need to do anything else. Very few people have a humidistat, snowbird or not.

[Craig Vernon]

Please help me understand maximum temperature that makes sense to leave a patio villa at in the summer months while we are away. Any negative experiences you have had setting it at a certain temperature would be helpful too. I couldn't find any existing posts with this information.

Your AC is nothing more than a large dehumidifier so it will keep mold from forming as long as it is working on a regular basis. The idea of dehumidifiers is a great back up if AC fails. New remotely operated thermostats would be a must if you are not going to present in the home to monitor humidity and AC operation. Great discussion from others here who obviously have knowledge based on experience.

[justjim]

It has been my experience that thermostats can be off a couple of degrees. Anyway, we set ours at 78 degrees. I would rather it be a little cooler than warmer. The difference in energy cost is minimum.

[Goalieman9]

I leave ours at 81 and once a week drop it down to 74 for a few hours. I have a WIFI thermostat so I can control it from anywhere. I also put a few tablespoons of vegetable oil in the garbage disposal, turn water off, hot water heater off.

[GaryKoca]

SunKool guy said leave it at 80.

[rz5drf]

82 is perfect.

[leej63]

Best solution is to have a Humidistat installed. It maintains your humidity and not the temperature. We’ve had one for 7 years and it works great(55%)

[Villagesgal]

Lived here for 19 years, set the thermostat at 83 when I leave for the summers, never had a problem. No ceiling fans left on either. Works fine for me.

[FredJacobs]

I added a humidistat to my thermostat - about $25 at Home Depot or have your AC company install it. I set the thermostat to 80-85 and the humidistat to 60. The air conditioner will not turn on until the humidity reached 60%.

[daca55]

The temperature is not the important issue it’s the humidity. Have your HVAC guy install a humidistat. It turns the air on based upon humidity not temperature

The humidistat is the right answer. I have one and When I leave I set it at 55% humidity. User the thermostat at 82. Been doing that for last 8 years and have never had a problem.

[TNLAKEPANDA]

The most important thing is humility not temperature. 80 to 85 should keep the humidity below 60%. I recommend you get a WI-FI thermostat installed. It will allow you to check the humidity and change the temperature setting.

[davem4616]

Sounds like you're a northerner...hopefully you have an Air Conditioning company that periodically service your unit (just like you most likely have a heating company service your unit up north)....give them a call, they'll give you the right information and be able to tell you if you need additional monitoring equipment. Remember, the builder didn't equip these homes specifically for 'snowbirds'.

Or, instead of posting the question in this forum and having to wait for it to appear, you could stand at the corner of any street corner at any of the town squares and ask any number of people passing bye this question....just don't let them get within six feet of you and you should be fine.

[renpan]

80-81

[asiebel]

When we were snowbirds we had a humidistat installed and that took care of everything. Another tip, after you clean your bathroon toliets, before you put the lids down, cover them with seran wrap. Then put lids down. Should keep you from returning to moldy toliets.

[renpan]

Our house is 15 years old. Keepint the temp at 80 degrees during the summer has been fine. No mold or odors

[GoodGuysAir]

Good Guys Air checking in with some info. Before moving to the villages I had a vacation home in the Tampa area that I kept at 80 degrees when I was not there during months at a time. I also had a web connected thermostat to monitor and alert me of problems. Humidity stayed between 40 and 50. My home was built in 1979 with original single pane windows and not built with the higher standards of the homes here in the villages. If A/C is working correctly it will keep humidity under control by simply keeping at one temp and allowing it to run as needed. Some stats also allow a high limit set point in case humidity does go up. The old way of controlling humidity was to install a basic dehumidistat as mentioned many times in this thread. The current and most accurate way is using a modern digital thermostat with a dehumidification mode with web monitoring which will alert you if the humidity gets too high so you can have your contractor respond in an emergency to prevent damage from an inoperative AC system.

Also, keep the fan in the "Auto" setting to help control humidity.

[tophcfa]

The most important thing is humility not temperature. 80 to 85 should keep the humidity below 60%. I recommend you get a WI-FI thermostat installed. It will allow you to check the humidity and change the temperature setting.

The WIFI thermostat is a great idea, the problem with that is that many homeowners who are not full time don’t pay for year round internet access when they are only at the Villages for less than half the year. For us, when we are lucky enough to be at our Villages home, it is also a very healthy digital de-toxification time. During normal times, there is already too many fun things to do at the Villages than there is time in the day. We get by at the Villages just fine with unlimited data on our phones. We can turn our phones into personal WIFI hotspots and then use our tablets for necessities like making T Times or dinner reservations and check our e-mails.

[DReifinger]

I put my powdered goods, as you mentioned, in the refrigerator. Then they are fresh to use when ready.

[peggyb]

Had a humidistat? Installed. Set it at 60% whenever we leave. Set to 78 to 83, but Munns said temp didn’t matter since the humid controls overrides it.

[mikeritz53]

I recommend that my Owners ( I manage 50+ SnowBirds and 40+ Rentals) that 82 works best and if there is a humidistat set that at 55. This allows the AC to kick on periodically.

[Carene7]

80 to 81 degrees will keep the humidity at a safe level.

[ctmurray]

I installed a thermostat that has a "Florida" mode, which has a preset combination 82F and 60% humidity control. So the AC comes on to keep 82F and will come on at any temperature if the humidity is greater than 60%. But I wanted a slightly lower temp of 80F so I set this manually and there is a humidity setting also, so I set that at 60%. I have been using this for two years, no issues.

[CFrance]

I installed a thermostat that has a "Florida" mode, which has a preset combination 82F and 60% humidity control. So the AC comes on to keep 82F and will come on at any temperature if the humidity is greater than 60%. But I wanted a slightly lower temp of 80F so I set this manually and there is a humidity setting also, so I set that at 60%. I have been using this for two years, no issues.
What brand is it?

[pauld315]

Our house is 15 years old. Keepint the temp at 80 degrees during the summer has been fine. No mold or odors

We had laminate flooring put in throughout the house and the installer said you should keep the house at 78 if you aren't there in the summer.

[Spike380]

Before you leave have your furnace checked and think about installing a humidistadt. Worth every penny.

[Oneiric]

We set ours at 85. This is cool enough so the furniture, fabrics, household items don't get damaged.

[DeafDeaf]

I have set to 85 for several years while I was gone up the COOL north. 85 may save you more than either 80 or 82! :bigbow:

[Quixote]

The temperature is not the important issue it’s the humidity. Have your HVAC guy install a humidistat. It turns the air on based upon humidity not temperature

We’ve all heard this time and again: ‘It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity!’ It could not be more true anywhere than in Florida. We’re full-timers now, but when we were part-timers, we learned the tremendous value of what this poster calls a ‘humidistat,‘ while back when we were newbies it was a ‘dehumidistat.’ Same thing. I think ours, a Honeywell, cost about $50, and I installed it myself; it’s a single wire that goes in series with the thermostat.

Per instructions from our A/C company technician, we had it set at 60% and the thermostat at 82 degrees. The point is that it doesn’t matter what rhe inside temp is; it could go into the 90s—there’s no one there to feel uncomfortable—as long as the humidity stays below 60%. Your A/C will be on a lot less, and the device can pay for itself that first summer season. Remember, in Florida the issue is mold, and that’s caused by humidity, not heat. Have a safe summer, and enjoy the peace of mind that also comes with the use of this little gadget!

And—sorry, off subject—be sure you put a spoonful or two of cooking oil in each drain and close/cover each one—and don’t forget to cover the overflow hole in the washroom sinks. Put some bleach in the toilets and cover them with plastic wrap. To the extent that you can, bring inside your outdoor furniture and anything else loose outside; remember, hurricane season starts June 1. And have a great summer!

[bellringer606]

Installing a dehumidistat the way to go. They override your thermostat so the only time your AC unit comes on is if the humidity reaches a pre determined percent.
I usually set my thermo at 80- 85 and my dehumidistat at 60. Been doing this for 12 years and never had any mold problems.
My wife insist on leaving our frig running so between that and the AC our summertime electric bills are only about 12 to 15 dollars. That being the case if I get a higher bill I know there’s a problem with my AC.

[jsmith99]

mikeritz53 apparently has a homewatch service. Anyone know the best way to contact him?