Tips for Reducing Air Conditioning Costs
As much as air conditioning is a treasure during the hottest days of the summer, it can also cause a lot of stress due to air conditioning costs. In an effort to stay cool, safe, and comfortable, it can often become a balancing act between that and running up energy bills.
The good news, however, is that there are things you can do to save on air conditioning costs, without sacrificing comfort. Although it might sound like a good idea to just turn off the A/C when no one is home during the day, this can actually end up costing you more on your energy bills and put excessive strain on your system. Following are some tried and true tips to reducing your costs without sacrificing your comfort:
Set the Right Temperature for Your Air Conditioner
Keep in mind that you should always choose a temperature at which to set your thermostat that makes sense for your home as well as your climate. The average recommended indoor temperatures for day and night are not as low as you might think. Try keeping your thermostat at around 74 -76, instead of 65 degrees when it’s 100 degrees outside. You’ll want to avoid giant temperature swings, too; when you set your thermostat for a temperature that is several degrees below the current indoor temperature, your air conditioner is going to have to work much harder than it has to in order to accommodate these large temperature swings, causing premature wear and tear – and possibly an expensive repair.
Install a Programmable Thermostat for Efficient A/C Use
Get a programmable thermostat, or have us install one for you. This is one of the best things our customers can do to help keep air conditioning costs as low as possible! It’s easier to read the temperature on these digital thermostats, and you really can set it and forget it. We’ll show you how to set the temperature higher during periods of time when no one is home, and how to set your unit to begin cooling your home starting about one hour before people begin to arrive back for the evening. You’ll be able to set a temperature during vacation periods too, where the temperature is up slightly but not up so much that it becomes stifling hot in your home. Regulating the temperature of your home will be fully automated and take care of itself.
Use Ceiling Fans to Save on Air Conditioning Costs
Don’t underestimate the power of ceiling fans. There comes a point with air conditioners where you can crank the thermostat down to 50 degrees if you wanted to, and it wouldn’t do you much good. This can happen during the very hottest days of the summer, when you are reaching the limit of your unit’s ability. Your unit will constantly run and run as it tries to get your home cooled to the temperature you’ve set, and you are going to end up wasting energy, over-using your system and potentially causing a breakdown. Sometimes it’s not only the temperature of your indoor air that is key to comfort, but it’s also circulation. A ceiling fan can do wonders to abate the heat when it increases the air moving throughout a home, and it costs much less than running you’re A/C past its limit.
Don’t Brush off Your Annual A/C Maintenance Appointments
Call A-1 Guaranteed for a preventive maintenance check on your HVAC system at least once per year. Our technicians will come out and perform maintenance on your unit and will look for any upcoming issues. An AC won’t be able to function efficiently if it’s not in peak condition, and when these units have not been serviced the system may be working too hard, and there may be small undiagnosed issues just waiting to turn into larger, expensive problems. We’ll catch those and inform you of them to be fixed! We’ll change filters, repair any small problems that we find (upon your approval), and make sure everything is in top shape. When an A/C unit is functioning as efficiently as possible, homeowners always will save on air conditioning costs.
Contact A-1 Guaranteed for Heating and Air Conditioning
When you want to be proactive about saving energy and saving money while running your air conditioner, taking small steps and making easy changes is paramount to efficient A/C usage. Contact A-1 today and make your preventive maintenance appointment now to start reducing air conditioning costs!
