One of the best ways to save money in the summer is to have an air conditioner that works well. There are a few ways to ensure that your air conditioner works well this summer, which will keep your family from having to deal with any broken A/C hot days and will save you money in the long run.
One way to make sure your air conditioner stays in good shape is to have a professional come in for a maintenance appointment every year before the cooling season. This might seem like an unnecessary expense, but it can keep you from having to actually pay to repair your air conditioner, which can be very expensive and annoying. Besides this, keeping up on your air conditioner maintenance can keep the whole system clean, and it can give you an estimate of when things might need to be replaced. That way, you can at least see it coming when an expensive repair might be in your near future or when you might need to replace your air conditioning system.
Another way to keep your air conditioner in good shape is to run it less often. Throughout the summer, you can go easy on your air conditioner by setting your thermostat up a little bit higher, which can also save on your energy costs, of course. Besides this, you can keep your south-facing windows covered by curtains or blinds, which can help keep your rooms much cooler even without the air conditioner. Also, putting exhaust fans in your warmest rooms and running ceiling fans along with your air conditioning system can help you save on air conditioning and run your system less.
You can also keep your system working less by shading the actual air conditioner if it is outside of your home. Make sure that you don’t plant anything too close to the box, but put trees or tall, decorative grasses around the air conditioning box that will keep it cooler so that it has to work less.
If you’re building a house from scratch or completely re-doing your HVAC system, you can use this same concept to keep your air conditioner cooler. Put the air conditioning unit on the north side of your home where it will be shaded for most of the day, especially during the hottest parts of the day. This way, you can keep your air conditioning unit in the shade without having to rely on the landscaping.
Although you’ll always have to replace your air conditioning system from time to time, you’ll be able to keep it in better shape for longer if you can keep it from running quite as hard. Keeping your air conditioner maintained on a regular basis will also help it stay in better shape. Taking all these simple steps can save you lots of money in air conditioning costs, and it can also help save you from expensive air conditioner repairs.