Summer is right around the corner — and who isn’t ready to get outside and enjoy the warm weather, especially after the long, harsh winter people in some parts of the country have endured. But summer isn’t all picnics, lawn parties, and trips to the beach. There are also summer cooling bills to think of.
The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that 48 percent of the average household’s utility costs go into heating and cooling. While you might be able to get through the spring without cranking up the AC, those uncomfortably hot dog days of summer will be here before you know it. The last thing you want is to have your AC unit break down in the middle of July, leaving you to literally sweat it out as you wait for the repair man. Ready your home and air conditioning system now, before it gets too hot, so you can keep your cooling costs reasonable and make sure your cooling system is in good working order before the hottest days of summer hit.
Get Your AC Ready for Summer
The first step in preparing your home for the summer months is getting your air conditioning unit ready. There are some steps you can easily take yourself, such as changing your unit’s filters. You should check and change your unit’s filter before the summer season starts, and once a month throughout. Some units have reusable filters; you can usually clean these by hosing them down with clean water from your hose or spigot.
More complex steps include cleaning the fins, coils, and condensation lines; leveling the concrete slab; cleaning the evaporator; and checking for leaks in the ductwork. Call for AC repair in Phoenix, or wherever you live, early in the spring before local AC repair and service companies are slammed with requests.
Make Sure Your Home Is Sealed and Insulated
Insulation matters just as much in the summer as it does in the winter — it keeps the cool air in, too. Old windows should make way for Energy Star-rated double-paned windows. Seal leaks around your doors with weather stripping. Make sure your home is properly insulated; old homes are more likely to be more poorly insulated than newer ones, since insulation standards evolve over the years.
It’s easy enough to check the insulation in the attic, just make sure that the access door to your attic is also sealed and insulated against leaks. The U.S. Department of Energy recommends checking your wall insulation by turning off your circuit breakers, then removing an outlet cover plate and poking a long stick or screwdriver into the wall. If your probing meets with resistance, that’s a sign that your walls at least have some insulation. But if it’s been a number of years since you had your house insulated, you may want to have a professional home energy audit performed.
Switch to Energy-Efficient Light Bulbs
You might not think that light bulbs use that much energy, but you’d be surprised. Lighting alone accounts for about 12 percent of a home’s energy bills, but you can cut that figure by switching to energy-efficient compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs. CFL bulbs use a whopping 75 percent less energy than their incandescent counterparts, and burn for about 10,000 hours instead of 800 to 1,500 hours. One CFL bulb will save you about $30 over the course of its life, even when you consider that CFL bulbs cost much more to buy than traditional incandescent bulbs. Plus, they produce far less heat than incandescent bulbs, so your AC doesn’t have to work as hard to keep your house cool.
Shade Your Windows
The more sunlight streaming through your windows on a hot summer’s day, the hotter the inside of your house will get, the harder your AC will have to work to keep your house cool, and the bigger your energy bills will become. That means you can save significant cash just by shading your windows to keep sunlight from shining through.
Some people accomplish this with shade trees or bushes planted strategically around the house. It’s also the reason why some older houses have huge, sheltered porches — they’re there to shade the windows and keep the house cool. If you don’t want to plant a lot of trees and bushes, you could invest in window treatments that block sunlight. Don’t want to live in the dark? Look for window treatments that let some of the light through or consider applying sun-blocking film to your windows.
Summer is rapidly approaching; make sure your home and AC unit are ready to stand up to its climate demands. You’ll be glad you took
