Using an air conditioner during the hot summer months can be expensive. With the constant rise of energy bills, it pays to find ways to reduce your cooling costs. Here are some useful tactics for creatively keeping your home cool without overworking your air conditioner.
Filter Sunlight
Direct sunlight can have a significant impact on your indoor temperature. While this can be great in the wintertime so you can cash in on free heat, it can be detrimental to your cooling costs in the summertime. A great strategy is to use blinds or curtains to block out direct sunlight during the daytime hours to prevent it from heating your home. In addition to blinds, consider strategic landscaping. Use deciduous trees or bushes on the sunniest sides of your home to block the sun. Window awnings or shade sails can be an effective method to block sunlight that is directly overhead.
Use a Smart Thermostat
Smart thermostats offer easy ways to save money on your annual cooling costs. With a programmable thermostat, you can plan a heating and cooling schedule based on your typical day. Smart thermostats go further than this. If your schedule deviates, smart thermostats offer a variety of technologies to adjust your home temperature automatically. Geofencing will adjust temperatures based on the position of your cell phone in or out of a predetermined radius. Microphones and motion sensors can tell your thermostat which rooms are occupied. If you have zoning in your home, this can direct the air conditioning to only cool the rooms where people are currently spending time.
Use Ceiling Fans
Ceiling fans are a great way to keep your annual heating and cooling bills down. During the summer months, set your ceiling fans to spin in a counterclockwise direction so they force air down onto you. Airflow is a great way to evaporate sweat away from your body. The process will naturally cool you down without needing to turn down the temperature on your thermostat. In the winter, you can reverse the direction of the fan to help distribute warm air that is settled at the top of the room.
If your home doesn’t have a good location for a ceiling fan, you can also use other fans to cool your home. Box, tower, table, and even pedestal fans can all work to effectively move air to cool down your body and use much less energy than your HVAC system.
Consider a Whole-Home Dehumidifier
During the worst of the summer season, the problem isn’t so much the heat as the humidity. When humidity levels get high, it’s much harder for your body to naturally sweat. This makes it harder for you to cool down and leaves you feeling overly hot and stuffy. Investing in a whole-home dehumidifier can be a wonderful way to remove excess humidity from your home. When humidity levels are lower, you’ll feel more comfortable without having to adjust your thermostat settings.
Beef Up Your Insulation
Insulation places a barrier that reduces the ability for heat to move from the indoors to outdoors or vice-versa. If your home hasn’t had new insulation for over a decade, it may be time to consider adding more. There are many companies who can add spray foam or blow-in insulation to your exterior walls without the need to pull siding off your house. The higher the R-value your insulation has, the more resistant it is to allowing outside temperatures to penetrate into your home.
Seal Air Leaks
Air leaks are most prominent around your door frames, window frames, light switches, and outlets. Unfortunately, as the hot outside air penetrates your home, it will naturally increase the temperature inside. A helpful tactic for preventing this problem is to identify air leaks on your exterior walls and seal them off. You can use products like spray foam, weather stripping, or even caulking to effectively seal your walls to keep the outside air outside.
Use Exhaust Fans Regularly
Exhaust fans are required by most building codes to be installed in your kitchen and bathrooms. These fans direct steam outside your home from showers, baths and cooking. If your fans aren’t automatic, be sure to use them whenever you are cooking on your stove or bathing. This will help keep your home more comfortable and allow you to avoid running your air conditioner to offset the high humidity and discomfort of a steamy room.
Try a One Degree Increase
Far too often, we get stuck in the same patterns and can get used to having the same thermostat setting. In reality, most people can’t notice a difference in a room that’s one degree warmer than another. When you opt to increase your thermostat by one degree, it can save you around 3% on your annual cooling costs. Play around with increasing the temperature by one degree at a time to see how it affects your comfort level.
Let the Night Air In
When the sun goes down, the summertime temperature can drop, although the difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures will depend on the amount of humidity in the air. Instead of paying for your air conditioner to cool down your home, open your windows at night. Letting the natural night air cool down your home can save on cooling costs while you keep your family comfortable.
The key to successfully employing this method is to ensure you shut your windows and doors before sunrise. As the morning sun comes back out, temperatures rise quickly.
Importance of Routine Maintenance
One of the absolute best methods for keeping your energy bills in check throughout the summer is to schedule routine maintenance for your air conditioner. Having one of our professionals thoroughly assess, clean, inspect, and repair your system annually can prepare it for the upcoming summer season. This will verify your system is operating at its peak efficiency and significantly minimize your chance of experiencing a breakdown.
A Note on Filter Changes and Upgrading
One of the most important things to keep in mind is your air conditioner’s performance is directly related to the state of its air filter. If your air filter is overly dirty and hindering airflow, it will drastically reduce the efficiency of your air conditioner, causing your energy bills to increase. We recommend checking the air filter every month and replacing it as soon as necessary.
If your existing air conditioning system is over 15 years old, it may be time to consider a replacement. Newer units are more energy efficient, leading to long-term energy savings. You can enjoy a more comfortable home environment without spending an arm and a leg on your monthly cooling costs.
Superior AC Maintenance Service
F.F. Hitchcock Plumbing, Heating & Cooling provides superior AC maintenance service for the Cheshire, CT community. We can also help with all your air conditioning installation, replacement, and repair needs. Simply call us today to book a consultation with one of our knowledgeable HVAC technicians.
