Running your air conditioning unit can effectively make your electricity bill absolutely skyrocket. However, the alternative of sitting around in the sweltering heat isn’t much better. Luckily, there are a variety of things that you can do in order to effectively save money on your air conditioning costs as the summer months progress. Below, we will be going over some of the tips to save money on your air conditioning.
Tips To Save Money:
1. Be Sure To Properly Insulate Your Home.
If your home isn’t brand new, it is very likely that you are letting a lot of the cold air out of your home. Whether the air gets out from under the door frame, a poorly insulated attic, or even through worn window seals – you want to be sure that you are fixing these problems in order to maximise the efficiency of your AC unit. Simply stand outside and see whether or not you can feel cold air exiting your home. By doing this, you will be able to tell where the air is escaping and it will allow you to know where you have to take steps to prevent it from happening.
2. Get Smart.
Another good thing that you can do in order to minimize the amount of money you lose through your air conditioning bills is to get smart. By getting smart or investing in a smart thermostat, you will be able to really regulate the heating and cooling of your home to the point where you know where you can save money, how efficient it is, and whether or not you leave it on when you go on vacation. By having it hooked up with a smart home platform or hub, you will even be able to control it remotely and via voice.
3. Close The Blinds.
Believe it or not, but by investing in and closing blinds throughout the day, you will be able to minimize the amount of heat that gets into the house. A window letting in the hot sun will end up heating up you and your home. Thus, during the warmest parts of the day, you are going to want to keep your blinds closed to avoid letting the sun heat up your home and cause you to need to turn up your AC.
4. Use a Fan.
Another great way to cool your home down or even yourself is by using a fan. By using a fan, you will be able to cool up your room much easier and less costly than turning on your AC unit. Using a ceiling fan can actually reduce the amount of energy you use by a significant margin. In fact, studies show that it can make a room feel 10 degrees cooler while using 10 percent less energy than an AC unit.
5. Raise The Temperature.
A lot of people think that leaving the AC unit at the same temperature when you leave the house will end up saving you money but this is not the case at all. In fact, the most inexpensive way to save money on your air conditioning bill is by turning your thermostat up while you leave the home. This is because air conditioning systems are built to operate most efficiently while they are on at full speed during longer periods of time. Thus, by turning your AC on and off all of the time, you are bound to not hit the maximum efficiency levels.
6. Do Not Set Your Thermostat To The Lowest Level.
You should always try to set your thermostat to the highest temperature that you can stand in order to be able to maximise the savings that you are able to achieve. Even the smallest change can make a big difference to your heating and cooling bill. In fact, you will be able to save as much as 10% on your entire cooling costs by setting your thermostat anywhere from 10 to 15 degrees higher throughout the day for a minimum of 8 hours.
Overall, there are plenty of ways to optimize the cooling efficiency of your home. Follow the tips above and you should be able to do so without having to crank up the AC all of the time and spend a fortune on your air conditioning costs. Be sure to really avoid wasting energy by letting cold air creep out and by keeping the heat out of your home by using blinds. Both of these things can help you stabilize the temperature in your home and by using something like a fan instead of using an AC unit all of the time, you should be able to further decrease the amount of money you end up having to spend on your air conditioning costs.