7 Ways to Keep Your A/C Energy-Efficient and Cool
The hot weather is finally upon us, so your home's air conditioning will work hard this season. There are various ways to keep your home cool without turning on the air conditioning unit. However, air conditioning can be a must when the summers are hot, long, and humid. Help you're A/C unit stay energy-efficient this summer by following our 7 Ways to Keep Your A/C Energy-Efficient and Cool:
Close Your Curtains
To reduce the energy used by your air conditioner and to limit the amount of residual heat entering your home, consider closing your curtains, shades, and blinds. For example, closing your curtains during the summer months has been shown to reduce heat gains by 33%.
Don't Block the Registers
If you have a forced-air cooling system in your home, you likely have registers or vents circulating cold air throughout individual rooms. The air from those vents should be able to flow into a room without any blockages or barriers freely. When vents and registers are blocked, air backs up into the ductwork and causes pressure to build in your home's HVAC system.
Impeding this airflow with bulky furniture or other household items will cause your air conditioning unit to work inefficiently. Your unit will continue to pump cold air into the room to compensate for the restricted airflow.
A blocked register will result in unnecessary energy usage, and the lack of airflow can also cause your unit to freeze, resulting in expensive repair costs.
Set It and Forget It
A programmable or smart thermostat can help keep your home cool when needed–and avoid running your air conditioner when you don't. With a consistent schedule, you can automatically set your thermostat to an efficient 78 degrees (25 degrees Celsius) at home and 83 degrees (28 degrees Celsius) at work or away.
Seal cracks
Cracks and crevices are common in every household, but these cracks can be dangerous if you have an air conditioner. This prevents the air from being cooled up efficiently, which is why there is excessive pressure on the system. Too much pressure on the system can lead to an easy breakdown.
Sealing the cracks is relatively easy, and you can do it on your own. Also, it will prevent cold air from escaping. You can do the whole thing yourself and increase the system's lifespan.
Replace air filters
Air filters should be checked once a month and replaced as needed. Dust, allergens, and pet dander circulate more in the summer, which can quickly clog your filters. This makes your system work harder and waste money. By replacing your air filters, you are extending the life of your cooling system!
Keep the heat away
Make sure you move any objects that produce heat near your thermostat. This can trick the thermostat into thinking it's hotter than it is in your home and will run your air conditioning system longer than necessary.
Keep it clean
Clean any debris off your outdoor unit since that is where the central condenser unit is located. Dust, leaves, dirt, and even small pebbles can get into your central condenser, so make sure to clean those away to keep your a/c unit in tip-top condition!
Bonus Tip:
Use Ceiling Fans to Cool Your Home
Fans utilize the wind chill effect to make people perceive that they are cooler. The wind chill is when moving air blows against bare skin, giving the perception that the air is lower in temperature than it is. Sometimes, this effect can make a person feel up to four degrees cooler.
Fans must be turning in the right direction to generate a wind chill effect. To make sure your fan is set correctly, stand below the unit and look up at it while it is running. The blades of the fan should be rotating counterclockwise. The angle of the blades as they rotate counterclockwise forces air to circulate down onto any individuals in the room, creating the wind chill effect.
When home, switch your fans off when you exit the room. Since your fans are incapable of actually cooling anything, leaving them on all day when no one is around does nothing but waste energy.
