A functional air conditioner is practically a necessity during the summer, but it’s easy to take your own air conditioning for granted. While it is nice to be able to turn down your thermostat during the hottest days of the year, that can put a lot of strain on your HVAC system. This can lead to high utility bills, an air conditioner that struggles to keep your home cool, or even a complete breakdown of your HVAC system.
If you’re going to run your AC throughout the summer, you’ll need to take some steps to keep the strain on your system to a minimum. Here are just five tips that will help you.
You might think that turning off your AC when you leave your home will save energy, but the opposite is actually true. When your air conditioner has been turned off, it uses a lot of energy to cycle on again and bring your home to a comfortable temperature. Instead of turning off your air conditioning completely, program your thermostat to raise the temperature during times you’re not home. You’ll still be saving energy since your air conditioner won’t have to work as hard, and it will be easier to lower the temperature when everyone is home for the day.
Opening your windows on a hot day draws the cool air outside. This raises the temperature in your home and forces your air conditioner to work harder to maintain a comfortable temperature. If you must open your windows, do so on cooler days when you won’t have to rely on your AC as much.
Dirty HVAC filters impede air flow through your ducts and forces your entire system to work harder than it should. You should at the very least check your filters once a month to make sure that they’re clean if you don’t replace them that often.
You should have your HVAC system inspected and maintained regularly, preferably twice a year. The best times for these maintenance visits are in the spring before you need your air conditioning and in the early fall before you need your furnace. A regular checkup can catch any potential problems before they become too costly to repair.
While you don’t need to keep all of the registers in your duct system open if there are places you don’t need to keep as cool, you should have most of them open at all times. Your ducts are meant to circulate cool air throughout your home, and that can’t happen if there are too many closed registers.
To learn more about how to get the most out of your HVAC system this summer or to schedule a maintenance call, contact Air Creation Heating & Cooling, LLC today. We can inspect your system to make sure it is working efficiently or install a new system that will be right for your home.
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