In this solo Q&A episode of the Ask Derrick Cole Show, host Derek Cole explains why an auxiliary light may stay on while an air‑conditioner is cooling, outlining possible wiring, control board, or heat‑strip faults that can cause the heat strips to run simultaneously with the AC and dramatically raise energy bills. He then shifts to thermostat‑setting advice for homes in southeastern North Carolina, emphasizing a 78 °F setpoint when the house is unoccupied to ensure dehumidification, warning against higher temperatures that foster mold, and recommending typical comfort ranges of 70‑75 °F for occupied periods. Cole also notes the difference between older slide‑bar thermostats and modern digital units, advising listeners to trust the actual temperature reading rather than the dial position. Throughout, he balances energy‑saving concerns with personal comfort, urging listeners to send in more home‑energy questions.
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Hey, on this episode we talk about your auxiliary light on while your cooling is on, and I go on a tangent about setting your temperature. You ask your comfort and energy questions and they get answered. This is the Ask Derrick Cole Show. Ready? Yeah. Hey, this is Derrick Cole. Welcome to episode 79 of the Ask Derrick Cole Show. Answering our home and energy questions. And last week was fun because Thursday and Friday was hot. So it was fun here. We had a lot of fun with that. Today's— I got long sleeves on. It's going to be nice and 60-something degrees. So it's a nice North Carolina weather pattern. But we still have questions. Why is my auxiliary light on when my unit is cooling? That is going to be a problem. Worst case scenario is that your actual heat strips are on with your cooling, which means that you're probably not really feeling it, but you will feel it when you get that energy bill a month from now and you say, why is it $500? Well, your heat strips have been running with the AC the whole time. So what causes that? I mean, a number of things. You could have a thermostat wiring problem, a wiring problem to the board, a board problem. A heat strip problem that could be shorting out and then coming back. You could have a number of things going on, but if that happens, you should get that checked out because it's one of those things where you're probably not noticing it because your home's fine. But if you see that happening, you're going to notice it a month from now when you get the energy bill, and you're going to be blown away by the price of the energy. So get that checked out, get it fixed. Uh, it's probably just a wiring thing, or it could be heat strips. So it's not a huge fix in the scheme of fixing your AC unit, but it is a huge thing for your energy bills. Make sense? What temperature should I set my cooling? It really depends. I mean, if you look up the Department of Energy, you know, what you should be setting your home at, they're going to tell you to set it at 78 when you're gone, all right? Set it to 78, be uncomfortable. And the problem I've seen is that, and this is a big problem in the realty companies because every time I talk to those folks, they tell people when they sell their homes, you know, set your thermostat to 80, 85 because no one's living in the house. Whoa, wait a minute, because that's going to be a problem. We're in southeastern North Carolina, okay? It is hot, it is humid, so you need to dehumidify that space and cool that space a lot more at 85 and 80. I wouldn't go higher than 78. If you're leaving the home for a period of time, I would keep it at 78. That way it will come on, it will dehumidify. Otherwise, you're going to have a lot of humidity in the house, things are going to start growing, and that's going to be a whole nother problem outside of the energy bills you're trying to save. But going back to the question, what is good for you? I mean, between 70 and 75 is kind of what I've seen in homes. Some people Some people like 72, some people like 75, some people like 76. I mean, whatever is comfortable for you. Someone I go to church with recently replaced their thermostat, and the problem when you go from a slide bar thermostat to a digital thermostat is that the digital is now reading accurate temperatures and the slide bar is not. Slide bar might be at 75. Digital might be a 70. So whatever, I mean, don't get hung up too much on the numbers. So whatever is comfortable for you in your home is what you need to set it at. So if you're good with 70, go with 70. 75, go with that. So I mean, me myself, I keep my home about 73, 74, and then when I go to bed it gets really cold. I go down to like 71 or 70 because You know, that's what I like. So whatever you like, you need to keep it at, but just be aware that when you read or listen to people, when you leave your home, do not go above 78 degrees. Even if you have an upstairs that no one ever goes in except for the kids at Christmas and Easter when they come to visit, 78 degrees, because you don't want, you don't want it to start growing things and humidity get out of control in that area. Plus, if it's upstairs, you need to keep that a reasonable temperature anyway because it is going to affect the downstairs because you have that ceiling in between each. So take a look at that, and again, whatever is comfortable for you. Don't get hung up so much on the number, but the feeling is what you need. Make sense? All right, that's episode 79 of the Ask Derrick Cole Show. Be sure to send in your questions. #AskDerekCole and we'll get them on the show.
