When Ohio summers heat up, homeowners depend on their air conditioners to keep their place nice and cool. However, confronted with rising energy costs, what can they do to stay cool and keep it under budget?
We at Cincinnati Premier Heating & Cooling offer the following tips and ideas to help keep cooling costs at a minimum this summer without sacrificing home comfort.
Use Your Fans
Instead of adjusting your thermostat when you’re feeling the heat, try using your fans to cool off first. This should help you save money on home cooling costs because fans use less energy and move cool air around by circulating it. Just remember that in order to save more money, you should turn that fan off when you leave the room.
Don’t Forget A/C Maintenance
To keep your A/C operating efficiently and minimize energy costs, make sure you are keeping up on seasonal maintenance. Remember, also, at Cincinnati Premier Heating & Cooling, our maintenance service includes A/C tune up. Additionally, a few simple maintenance tips you can take on your own include: cleaning or changing your air filter regularly, moving back any furniture or drapes that might be obstructing airflow to air vents, and clearing space around the exterior compressor.
Get a Smart Thermostat
Because homeowners enjoy coming home to a nice cool house after a long day, too many homeowners yield to the temptation to keep their air conditioner running all day, or while they’re gone, so it’s cool when they get back. It goes without saying that keeping an empty home cool all day when you’re away will run up a massive bill. This is why smart thermostats, or at least programmable thermostats, are so popular these days. A simple thermostat upgrade enables you to control your home comfort levels from your cell phone, or adjust the temperature of your home depending on the time of day ahead of time. These devices also adjust themselves using sensors and software. They pay for themselves quickly.
Consider Zoned Air Conditioning
Ductless, zoned, or mini-split air conditioners are perfect for homeowners looking to keep certain rooms or areas of their home cooler than others. By cooling only the rooms you are using, instead of the entire house where rooms might not be occupied, you can quickly save money on your monthly energy expenses. Mini-split systems group together specific zones, like bedrooms or living rooms, as well as different levels. This type of system is affordable, practical, and easy to install.
Prevent Sunlight From Coming in Directly
When sunlight beams directly into a dwelling, it can increase the temperature quickly. Therefore, to prevent daytime sunlight from coming directly in through your windows, we suggest either closing your drapes or closing your blinds when the sun is at its hottest during the day. You could also consider planting shade trees outside your larger windows. Sometimes trees improve property value and add beauty to residential dwellings, while at the same time lowering home cooling costs.
Use Window Tint
If you enjoy the bright and cheerful effect of sunlight in your home and don’t like shutting your drapes, you can also consider applying window tint to your windows to keep the heat at bay.
Rolls of residential window tinting can be found at most local hardware stores. This tinting is fairly inexpensive and easy to install on your own. Because windows that face the south and the west normally get the hottest sunlight through them, strategically installing tint on these windows should result in the greatest reduction in your home cooling expenses.
If you are interested or would like to know more, call Cincinnati Premier Heating & Cooling today at (513) 216-5712.
