Does Running The Air Conditioner With An Open Window Increase Or Decrease Your Electric Bill?
My room mate is constantly "lecturing" me about having my bedroom window open while she has the air conditioner on at its lowest setting and how it is driving the electric bill up. I have closed and blocked off all of the vents to my room as well as the door. I did this back at home, my parents never had a problem with it (that I am aware of).
Answer:
If your house has central air conditioning and you perfectly seal off your room from the rest of the house, but don't close the vents in your room, then it has no impact on the electric bill, but your room will be colder than you like. Hence, the need for open windows. If you close the vent to your room so that the air conditioner is no longer cooling it, then the electric bill will decrease. Similarly, if you don't have central air conditioning, sealing off your room will lower the electric bill, regardless of whether or not your window is open. wow! A lot of answers on this one but it is simple. With everything blocked off in your room the temperature will get warmer in your room than the rest of the house. The Problem is everytime you open your door to enter the rest of the house the warm air from your room pulls back into the rest of the house adding heat back to the conditioned space thus causing the system to run more to reduce the heat. "nuff said