As summer approaches, the heat gets more intense, making you feel uncomfortable and forcing you to turn on your air conditioner (AC) all day and night. With the extreme temperatures the season brings, you want to ensure that your AC can produce the right amount of coolness you need to allow your home to be a relaxing place to stay in. The last thing you want is to turn the unit on yet feel beads of sweat rolling down your face after a couple of minutes.
Of course, the more you use your AC, the more it’ll be subjected to wear and tear. This may result in the unit being less efficient than before. Fortunately, there are ways for you to simultaneously help your air conditioner serve its purpose for as long as possible and maximize the benefits you get from it.
When using your AC, you need to ensure that it’s perfectly working as it should. Moreover, you should check if it’s still in pristine condition and capable of fulfilling your needs. However, if you’re planning to replace your AC, you might want to look into some air con upgrades to ensure that the unit will keep you cool and stay functional for years to come.
Listed below are several tips on how you can get the most from your air conditioning.
1. Seal The Room Shut
An AC works by releasing cool air all over the room. If the space is wide open and has plenty of leaks and gaps, the cold air might escape the room, and this would negatively affect the efficiency of your AC. Apart from taking longer hours to cool the room, it can lead to an increase in your electric bill during summer. You might also unknowingly let hot air inside the room, which would only defeat the purpose of having an AC in the first place.
When turning on the AC, you should close all of the doors and windows and seal any gaps that you find. Usually, there’ll be gaps in the spaces between the door and windows prior to their attachment to the walls and floors. To keep cold air inside the room, you should use a seal strip to cover any gaps.
2. Use Fans Inside
Aside from allowing the AC to work on its own to cool the room, you might want to give it a bit of help by turning on the fans inside. In this way, you can promote proper circulation of the cool air that your unit’s producing. What’s more, you can increase the AC’s temperature, allowing you to save a few bucks on your electric bill without worrying about the area warming up quickly.
When using a fan, ensure that you place them at the opposite side of the room to allow for proper air circulation. Tower fans work best for this purpose as manufacturers design them to increase the coolness inside a room. This would be helpful if you have a small AC for a larger space.
If you don’t have enough floor space in your home, you can also use ceiling fans to do the same thing. They can circulate the air in the room better, especially if you get one with wider blades.
3. Drop Down The Curtains
If you’re turning on the AC during the day and the sun hits your window, you might want to consider dropping down your curtains or blinds to prevent the sun’s rays from entering the room. While doing so may make the room a bit darker, it’ll help keep the heat out, allowing you to maximize what your AC has to offer.
Apart from dropping down the curtains and blinds, you might want to consider replacing them with thermal materials that can effectively block out heat. They’ll act as a physical shield placed on your windows, allowing your AC to cool the room with ease.
Thermal window films can create a barrier against heat before it reaches your window treatments. In having them installed, you can effectively keep the heat outside the room and ease the burden on your AC.
4. Clean Your AC Regularly
You should clean your AC on a regular basis from the time it’s installed in your home. Ideally, you should remove the filter from the unit every week and wash it with plain water. Using soap isn’t necessary as you only need to clear away the dust particles that have accumulated. By accomplishing the task, you can ensure that your AC releases good air inside your home as too much dust can cause allergic reactions.
Additionally, you should hire a professional AC cleaner to thoroughly clean your air conditioning unit at least once every three months. They’ll take your AC off the wall and clean it properly using water pressure. Their goal is to remove any dust, microns, and debris that might be causing your AC to run noisy, low, or odd during the day. Regular AC maintenance is something you shouldn’t forget about or choose to ignore if you want your unit to work well for you in the long term.
5. Turn On Your AC Early
During the summer season, you can anticipate when the sun would most likely heat up the interiors of your home. Before it gets to that hour or period, you should expect the scenario and turn on your AC early. In doing so, you won’t get the chance to feel the heat and help your AC do its job better at the same time.
If the weather’s already hot and you choose to turn on your AC, it would have to work twice as hard since it needs to fight against the existing heat in the room first. With the amount of extra work your AC needs to do, you can anticipate that it’ll consume more energy.
Ideally, you should turn on your AC at least an hour before it gets too hot. Along with this, it would be helpful if you avoid turning it on and off frequently as this might result in a spike in your electricity bill.
Conclusion
While summer provides a great opportunity to wear sundresses and shorts and to hold barbecue parties, keeping yourself comfortable might be extra challenging even if you’re indoors. Of course, you can choose to turn on your AC and keep yourself cool for the entire day. However, you might unknowingly be doing things that are making it hard for your AC to keep up with your needs. By following the tips above, you can make full use of your unit without damaging it or dealing with high electric bills.