Cooling your home is essential, particularly during the summer. On the other hand, cooling your home means spending more on energy costs. With rising energy costs, you should do everything possible to save money on utility bills. It is possible to have the same level of comfort still while spending much less on energy.
The following are tips on how to save money on cooling your home.
Replace Your Old Air Conditioner
The average lifespan of an air conditioner is fifteen years, depending on its use. If you have an air conditioner over ten years old, it will start experiencing degradation and hence be less efficient. An inefficient air conditioner means increased energy consumption and higher energy bills.
Therefore, to save money on cooling your home, consider replacing your air conditioner or at least maximizing its efficiency. It is much cheaper to pay the sum of a new energy-efficient air conditioner than to use an inefficient one that will blow your electric bill through the roof.
Seal Your Home Effectively
Though your air conditioner may function well, it will have to work harder to cool your home if there are outlets for the cool air to escape. These escapes will tax your air conditioner so hard that it may require repair from ARS.
Therefore, you should do your best to ensure your home is sealed correctly. Caulking or weather-stripping windows and doors will prevent air from indoors from escaping and air from outside from entering your home. Consider contacting a professional home inspector to determine if your home has air leaks.
Use A Smart Thermostat
The thermostat you use to adjust your home temperature significantly affects how much energy you use to cool your home. You should get a smart thermostat if you want to reduce cooling costs in your home. It will adjust the temperature based on the instructions you program into it.
Instead of a constant temperature, the thermostat will vary the temperature based on the heat in the room. It will adjust the temperature accordingly if you go out and still want to return to a cool home. Intelligent heat regulation by the thermostat will reduce the strain on your HVAC system and lead to spending much less on electricity bills.
Use A Ceiling Fan
A ceiling fan makes a room seven to ten degrees cooler using the wind-chill effect. Ceiling fans also consume much less electricity than an HVAC unit, so whenever you don’t need to use the HVAC, turn on the ceiling fan. It will not only make the room cooler, but it will also make it more comfortable.
The best thing would be to use the AC and ceiling fan together as it doubles the cooling effect, meaning you won’t have to use either at full capacity. The ceiling fan disperses the cool air from the AC throughout the room and house. However, turn it off if no one uses the fan, or you will raise your electric bill.
Maintain Your AC
If you take care of your HVAC unit, it will take care of you. The best practice for lower cooling costs is proper HVAC maintenance. Properly maintaining your AC unit is the best way to ensure it is as efficient as possible and hence consumes as little power as possible. There are many elements to AC maintenance.
Changing the air filters of the AC is crucial as it can increase energy costs by 10%. It would be best if you also fixed any leaks in the AC’s ducting, which can lead to energy losses of up to 40%. Tuning and cleaning your AC will help keep it efficient as well.
We live in difficult economic times, meaning we must do all we can to save money, and reducing cooling costs helps. Maintaining your AC, using a ceiling fan and a smart thermostat, sealing your home, and replacing your old HVAC unit will help reduce cooling costs. Developing good energy consumption habits is the key to reducing cooling habits.
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