The Air Conditioning War: Recommendations for Peace at Home and in the Office

It’s the business of every summer morning. Cecilia, an insurance broker, arrives at her job in downtown Santiago — the very place where she has worked for ten years — and the first thing she receives is a climatic slap: as if crossing the threshold of the The entry teleported her non-stop from Santiago to Antarctica.

“I can’t always get there with my car, because parking is an arm and a leg,” he says, “so I take public transport. Sometimes I come running, all hot. But I go to the office and I’m freezing to death.

The freezing climate that Cecilia feels inside her office, when the summer outside offers temperatures that exceed 30 degrees, is due to the air conditioning, this electronic device which represents a blessing for some and a curse for others.

In the case of Cecilia’s office, it is an individual team and not a centralized system, so it is common for the workers themselves – when not the boss – to program its operation. “It’s not always at the same temperature,” he says. “Sometimes we can set it to 23 degrees, but when it’s really hot outside they turn it down to 17 degrees.”

Cecilia belongs to the group of “colds”, who suffer and complain when the office looks like an iceberg. If it were up to her, may the team stay fixed at 24 degrees. But it is enough for him to take the remote control for the “heated” side to reproach him for the suffocating atmosphere which plagues them. It’s a daily showdown.

How can Cecilia—like so many other office workers, laborers, and even family members—find climate peace?

This standoff implies that on the same day the temperature is raised and lowered according to (bad) individual criteria. This has both an energetic and a monetary cost. At this point of climate change and rising prices, we should know that we are not in a position to waste.

“As the temperature rises and falls, the energy consumption increases,” explains Alfonso Flores, local category manager at Electrolux. Users, he says, “tend to mistakenly think that turning on an air conditioner immediately lowers the temperature. However, it takes time and consumes more energy in this process because it has to regulate the climate of the environment”.

This is one of the main mistakes made with air conditioning. So thinks María Luisa del Campo, academic and director of the technology center. Kipus from the University of Talca: “When a room is at very high temperature, the only thing you want is for it to drop quickly: that’s why they put it at 17 degrees.”

However, this graduation is much lower than recommended, and when the environment seems to become more comfortable, the temperature will continue to drop. “We won’t realize it until it’s cold and we want to climb it again. It means loss of energy.

The recommended thing, according to Del Campo, is to immediately set the equipment to a comfortable temperature and not touch it again. What will happen like this? First, the equipment will cool the environment – perhaps not as quickly as an impatient hope – and then it will regulate itself, keeping the place heated to the degrees that have been determined.

This is a point on which there is no absolute consensus. However, specialists — like María Luisa del Campo — estimate that it should be between 21 and 24 degrees. This, yes, depends on several factors, such as the level of thermal insulation of the building, the orientation towards which the windows look, and also what is called the “internal load”: that is to say the number of elements that can spread there is heat in the place. This includes people and appliances, such as a kettle or coffee maker. All these variables imply a greater or lesser power requirement of the equipment and, possibly, a variation in the temperature of the air conditioning.

In any case, Alfonso Flores gives another key: the difference between the ambient temperature outside and inside an enclosure must not exceed 5 degrees. Something that, surely, will not leave enthusiasts very satisfied. Especially if it’s 35 degrees outside.

The air conditioning war jeopardizes the harmony of offices, but also homes. How many fights between little brothers – and not so many – have been started because of the heat and the cold at home?

This can lead to some desperate actions on the part of those who feel oppressed by the hegemony the other side manages to install. A very common one is to cover, partially or totally, the grilles through which the equipment expels the air. This, says Flores, “will always affect the team and it will only manage to waste energy, between 35 and 40%, precisely.

Now, speaking of errors, another that is commonly given is to believe that in addition to air conditioning, the air conditioner ventilates. And it’s not like that. “The equipment does not deliver oxygen,” says Del Campo. For this reason, he says, it is necessary to maintain “a few small openings in the windows that allow ventilation and the renewal of air in the room”.

This contravenes the traditional indication —and ignites the controversy— to keep everything closed when using the air conditioning, so as not to have energy losses. However, the recommendation has permission from another specialty that has a lot to say about air conditioning exposure: medicine.

Physical discomfort is a classic among those who complain of excessive air conditioning in homes or offices. Sonia Carballo, general practitioner at the NúcleoSalud clinic, explains that the discomfort is due to the fact that this system tends to reduce the humidity in the air, “and if the temperature is not regulated, they also tend to chill her too much.” This forces our airways (nose and throat) to increase the temperature and humidity of the air before it reaches the lower airways. And that causes irritation.

Ismael Zabalaga, otolaryngologist at RedSalud, explains that the irritating effect occurs on the mucous membranes of the nose, pharynx, tonsils and larynx, which can cause varying degrees of inflammation. “It can even affect the airways below the vocal cords, causing acute bronchitis,” he says.

For example, the use of air conditioning can increase the incidence of rhinitis, pharyngitis, laryngitis, sinusitis, conjunctivitis and dry skin. Especially, says Carballo, in people who regularly suffer from allergies or who have deficits in their immune system.

Zabalaga also adds patients with chronic respiratory diseases – such as asthma -, “in addition to children and the elderly, who must use air conditioning in a controlled manner to avoid complications”.

And the headaches? Two reasons can explain them: the first is the aforementioned drop in humidity. This, explains the otolaryngologist, causes “silent” dehydration, which leads to this acute discomfort inside the head. So even if it’s not as hot in the office or at home as it is outside—or even if it’s cold because of the air conditioning—drinking plenty of water during the day is essential.

The second reason is that climate change can cause chemical imbalances in the brain that lead to migraines or make a headache worse.

Allergies are also a common discomfort when you are in an air-conditioned environment. When there’s not proper cleaning and maintenance of equipment, Zabalaga says, dust and bacteria can build up.

For all this it is relevant to keep a small opening in the windows and thus renew the air. It is also essential to carry out regular general maintenance of the equipment, “at least once a year, with an authorized technical service of the brand”, specifies Alfonso Flores. It will never hurt to clean the filters and vents, which can be done with the gentle power vacuum.

On the other hand, the most modern equipment offers activated carbon technologies and HEPA filters, which eliminate bad odors and also particles that can be harmful to health, such as dust mites, dust and other allergens.

High summer temperatures can be a problem even at night. “The heat can cause us to wake up frequently and not get restful sleep,” says Carballo. In this case, the doctor considers that air conditioning can serve as a solution, although the ideal is “to adjust the temperatures so that they do not fall below 22 degrees”.

Zabalaga is a little more cautious: he warns that the airflow should not directly hit people while they sleep. But also, he is of the view not to keep the equipment on all night. His recommendation is to schedule it to turn off “in the coldest hours of the morning, especially for families with a population at risk, such as people with basic respiratory diseases, the elderly, children or patients who had Covid-19 and were left with respiratory sequelae.

Considering all the factors and consequences mentioned — and considering that there are workers who have little to do with the use of air conditioning — we offer some survival tips.

• Ventilate spaces: “Whenever possible,” as Sonia Carballo says, because using air conditioning “encourages us to be locked up longer and germs and irritants can accumulate in those places.”
• Always ready for the worst: Although the idea is that the air remains at a fixed temperature, you must be prepared for a possible sudden change in the scale. Zabalaga recommends “bringing a coat to use when you’re cold.” The ideal is to have on hand a garment covering the upper body, such as a cardigan, a sweater or a light jacket. And it is also advisable, according to the otolaryngologist, to have an accessory to cover the neck and throat, “which are particularly sensitive”. A scarf is fine. Even if it’s January.
• Through the nose, not through the mouth: Zabalaga says it’s important to worry about breathing through your nose, not your mouth, as some tend to do. Indeed, the nose “conditions the air before it is inhaled”, it is therefore cleared of particles in suspension, moistened and warmed before “passing over the respiratory tree”.
• Relocation strategy: The closer you are to air conditioning, the weaker the wind chill will be. For this reason, advises María Luisa del Campo, “the best alternative would be to readjust the location of people according to the requirement of more cold or more heat that each one has”. Hot closer to the team, cold further away.
• Beware of the rag: Make sure the air never hits you directly. Always try to be a few meters from your exit.