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Spring 2011
How to Stay Affordably Cool this Summer
The first thing you should do every spring, before it gets too warm is make sure your air conditioner is working as efficiently as possible. The best way to do this is to have a professional come out and take a look at it once a year or so. The spring is a great time for this because it gives you the opportunity to have any problems repaired before the heat really sets in.
During a regular maintenance visit, a technician will go through your entire air conditioning system to make sure everything is working properly. They’ll clean your coils and remove any sediment that has built up over time. They’ll also check for and replace any worn out parts that could cause a problem in the near future.
Regular maintenance also helps sustain your air conditioner’s energy efficiency, which saves you plenty in energy costs all summer long. It will also help to prolong the life of your system, generating even more savings.
Things You Can Do Around the House
But in addition to making sure your air conditioner is running as efficiently as possible, there are also some things you can do to make its job easier as the temperature outside rises. For one thing, it’s a good idea to make sure your house is well insulated and that the spaces around your doors and windows are well-sealed.
This keeps warm outside air from getting in and expensive air conditioned air from escaping into the world outside. That means your air conditioner won’t have to work so hard or use so much energy to keep your home at a comfortable temperature.
Keep the Attic Cool
Another way heat can seep into your home in the summer is through the attic. Especially if your attic isn’t a living space, you probably have very little reason to go up there, so you may not realize how hot it can get in the summer. But as the sun beats down on your roof all day long, a lot of that heat finds its way into the attic and from there into the rest of your home.
There are a couple of ways to protect yourself from this heat infiltration. One is to have some sort of attic fan installed. These devices fit right into your roof and automatically switch on when the temperature in your attic reaches a certain point. When it’s running, an attic fan can efficiently transfer hot air out of your attic, keeping it cool and stopping the spread of heat throughout the rest of your home.
In addition to an attic fan, proper insulation is important when you’re trying to stay cool indoors. In particular, insulating the floor of your attic will keep the cool air down in the rest of the house and keep the heat in the attic from warming your living spaces. This means lower energy bills for you because your air conditioner won’t have to work so hard to keep your house cool.
Why to Schedule an AC System Tune Up Every Spring
A good air conditioning system needs to get the job done for weeks and sometimes months at a time – we ask a lot of these machines. And while you want to make sure it stays in good working order, you don’t want to throw money down the drain. Many people put off scheduling regular maintenance for their AC because they don’t know what it entails or think that it’s unnecessary, so here’s a quick breakdown of what happens during a regular service visit and why it’s so important.
Why Tune Ups Matter
Whether your air conditioning system is brand new or has been with you for a while, it will benefit greatly from a regular tune up. Just like your car or any other large piece of equipment you use on a regular basis, your AC system can’t keep running indefinitely. Dust and debris will build up in the air filters and on the cooling coil, and parts will wear out and need to be replaced.
Of course, once the situation becomes critical, the AC system will actually break down and you’ll have to call for emergency professional services to get it back up and running again. If you’ve ever had to pay for emergency AC repairs, you know they don’t come cheap. Plus, until the work is done, you have to do without air conditioning for your home.
These types of problems can all be avoided if you schedule a tune up for your AC about once a year. During these annual visits, professional technicians will inspect your entire system to make sure everything is working as it should. During this inspection, they can often find parts that are close to wearing out and replace them before they break.
The technicians will also clean out and change all of your air filters and thoroughly clean your cooling coil so that it can continue functioning at peak efficiency. No matter how sophisticated your AC system is, its cooling coil will attract buildup over time, and this directly impacts the coil’s ability to cool fresh air.
When your AC receives this type of attention once a year, it will work much more efficiently. Plus, you’ll gain the peace of mind that comes from knowing that every part of your system is in good working order. You won’t have to worry about the AC suddenly breaking down in the middle of the summer, leaving you simmering in your house until someone can come out and fix the problem.
Even if you’ve never had someone inspect your air conditioning, it’s never too late to start. Indeed, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much lower your monthly cooling bills are after just one basic tune up. Even the most efficient AC units lose a small percentage of their original energy efficiency each year, but much of that can be recouped through regular basic maintenance service.
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