Have you seen the cost of air conditioning bills in recent months? They can be absolutely outrageous. More than 85 % of American families use an air conditioning system. There's absolutely nothing better than entering your air-conditioned home during that summer heat wave. Yet the utility expenses during the summertime might just cost a fortune. Right here are our 5 ideas to help you save cash on your a/c this summer season.
Number 1: We made sure that the cool air continued to be inside our home. Among the first things that I did was to examine the windows and doors to see to it that they were not allowing the cool air to get away. I saw that a lot of our windows required a bit of maintenance. So I got some weather stripping and made them airtight. It cost me less than $20 and only took a two hours to work on all the windows in our home. This helped immensely by keeping the cool air where we wanted it: within our home.
# 2: I did an audit on the ac unit's thermostat. I notice that we had a number of lamps quite near the thermostat. I wondered if this was causing the thermostat to supply a false reading about how warm the space was. I transferred the lamps to another part of the room to ensure that the thermostat was getting an exact temperature.
Number 3: Speaking of thermostats, it is good idea to buy a programmable thermostat. These are inexpensive little devices that allow you to set the time that you want the air conditioning unit to turn on or to switch off. If your whole family is at work or school throughout the day, you can simply program the thermostat to turn on right before everybody gets home. This saves you the cost of running the a/c unit all day. However, it also ensures that your household returns to a colder home.
Pointer # 4: Due to the fact that I was home for many months, I had time to work in the garden. I observed that the outdoor compressor unit for our ac system sat in the blasting sun all day. It appeared to me that it might be a good idea to supply some shade for the unit. I planted some shrubs around the outdoor system to offer it some shade. I had read somewhere that this could help the system run far more effectively.
# 5: Get a technician to come out and perform an inspection of your air conditioning system once a year. You can locate fantastic recommendations through online review sites like Angie's List. An annual review will catch any type of prospective problems prior to they turn into really pricey ones. If your a/c unit is 15 or 20 years old, you might think about updating to more energy reliable model. This is one of the smartest things you can do to conserve cash on your utility expenses all summer season long.
Number 1: We made sure that the cool air continued to be inside our home. Among the first things that I did was to examine the windows and doors to see to it that they were not allowing the cool air to get away. I saw that a lot of our windows required a bit of maintenance. So I got some weather stripping and made them airtight. It cost me less than $20 and only took a two hours to work on all the windows in our home. This helped immensely by keeping the cool air where we wanted it: within our home.
# 2: I did an audit on the ac unit's thermostat. I notice that we had a number of lamps quite near the thermostat. I wondered if this was causing the thermostat to supply a false reading about how warm the space was. I transferred the lamps to another part of the room to ensure that the thermostat was getting an exact temperature.
Number 3: Speaking of thermostats, it is good idea to buy a programmable thermostat. These are inexpensive little devices that allow you to set the time that you want the air conditioning unit to turn on or to switch off. If your whole family is at work or school throughout the day, you can simply program the thermostat to turn on right before everybody gets home. This saves you the cost of running the a/c unit all day. However, it also ensures that your household returns to a colder home.
Pointer # 4: Due to the fact that I was home for many months, I had time to work in the garden. I observed that the outdoor compressor unit for our ac system sat in the blasting sun all day. It appeared to me that it might be a good idea to supply some shade for the unit. I planted some shrubs around the outdoor system to offer it some shade. I had read somewhere that this could help the system run far more effectively.
# 5: Get a technician to come out and perform an inspection of your air conditioning system once a year. You can locate fantastic recommendations through online review sites like Angie's List. An annual review will catch any type of prospective problems prior to they turn into really pricey ones. If your a/c unit is 15 or 20 years old, you might think about updating to more energy reliable model. This is one of the smartest things you can do to conserve cash on your utility expenses all summer season long.
About the Author:
Before summer heats up, you should take a look at your air conditioning unit. Read our tips here: Portable AC guide and AC Reviews.. This article, Summer Energy Costs: What You Should Do To Reduce Them is released under a creative commons attribution license.