What's your magic air conditioner number? Should you switch off the aircon when you pop to the shops? And does "dry mode" actually work?
You don't need to know what all the buttons on the remote do, but some options might make humidity, and bills, more bearable.
Northern Australia is facing hotter temperatures and — some say — possibly a falling population unless it finds ways to cool down.
Heat-stress scientists have warned heat and humidity can impact our work, relationships, quality of life and family.
What can I do?
Energy consultant Alan Langworthy says we can immediately run homes cooler and cheaper, if we focus on removing the humidity.
"Number one, turn the temperature up on the aircon. Try and deal with the humidity first and then manage the temperature second," he says.
His magic number in his Darwin home is 27 degrees Celsius.
"OK, it's warm, it's 27C, but it's not humid. And that makes a big difference," he says.
"Running an air conditioner at 27C is a lot cheaper than running it at 21C."
Mr Langworthy says replacing older window-box air conditioners with modern inverter air conditioners was a no-brainer.
"There are some people that run their air conditioners down at 19 or 20C, 24/7. And I cannot believe that they do that.
"They have water running down the windows it's so cold inside. And that is just nuts."
When you go out
If you agonise over switching off the air conditioning when you pop out for a school or grocery run, don't stress too hard.
Australian National University senior lecturer in mechanical engineering Xiaolin Wang says the costs of starting up the unit might outweigh the cost of leaving it running.
"Otherwise, the room is heated up and the air conditioner needs to run on startup again to cool it down, which costs you more money," Dr Wang says.
"On-and-off-and-on is not good for the compressor of the air conditioner. So once it's running, I'll keep it running."
It depends on the efficiency of your unit and home, but in Dr Wang's home one or two hours is enough to warrant leaving the aircon running.
"The air conditioner knows when it needs to rest or not."
Watch the clouds
While it's tempting to lock yourself away on a hot day, Dr Wang says residents should still pay attention to the weather forecast.
"When you see a temperature drop, turn the air conditioner off one or two hours before the outside temperature drops to 25C," she says.
"These two hours can be covered by the existing cooling capacity in the room, and then you reach the ideal ambient temperature."
Does dry mode work?
Monsoonal conditions see Darwin residents reaching for the "dry mode" button on their air conditioners.
Dr Wang says while "dry mode" will work to some extent, it can be an unknown quantity, as it's impossible to set the amount of "'dryness" on a standard residential air conditioner.
"We don't know to what degree it is cooling the air to. So we don't know how efficiently the water is being removed from the air.
"Reducing the humidity from 80 to 60 per cent, we actually don't need much cooler temperature.
"If you want to reduce humidity from 60 to 40 per cent, you need to cool it much lower. But the air conditioner is not that smart."
Blowing air around
Dr Wang says learning about air distribution is more likely to save you money than trying to understand the operations manual.
"Instead of putting the temperature down on your air conditioner, run a fan," she says.
"The air outlet is only at a specified location around our ceiling.
"if you just work underneath that air outlet, you feel much, much cooler than … [at] other places."
Dr Wang recommends a range of 24 to 28C for summer, and 18 to 22C for winter.
"So in this temperature range, you feel cool and at same time you'll save a lot of energy," she says.
"We all run relative to the ambient temperature.
"With humidity, we feel warmer."
