With spring almost here, the Louisiana heat will soon beat down upon your Gretna, LA, home, taxing your air conditioner and increasing your energy bills. If your air conditioner isn’t properly maintained, you could be leaving money on the table. Let’s take a look at some ways to improve AC efficiency this spring.
Buy a Maintenance Plan
Proper routine maintenance is critical to keep your air conditioner functioning efficiently. If you’re letting maintenance slide, you should strongly consider a maintenance agreement to keep your air conditioner running at peak performance.
Regular maintenance provides many benefits beyond lower energy bills. It increases your indoor air quality, reduces your need to worry about tracking maintenance and warranty issues and reduces the number of repairs to your air conditioner.
Check Your Thermostat Placement
Your thermostat reads the temperature in the room and sends a signal to your air conditioner to cool the room when needed. If your thermostat isn’t placed in the correct location, it can cause your AC system to run more than necessary, leading to uneven cooling throughout your home.
The best placement of a thermostat is an interior wall in a central location, out of direct sunlight and away from drafts. It’s also important to consider what items are in close proximity to your thermostat, as devices like televisions and lamps generate heat.
Install a Smart Thermostat
Smart thermostats give you the ability to set up multiple schedules so you can run your air conditioner less at certain times, like during the day when everyone is at work. Reducing air conditioner usage during periods of time when no one is home is a great way to save on energy bills.
Cover Your AC System
When the sun is beating down, the last thing you want is for the AC system that’s cooling your house to sit in direct sunlight. Not only will this make it work much harder, thereby making it less efficient, it may also significantly shorten the life of the system. An awning will provide some great shade for your HVAC system to stay cool while working.
Install the Right AC System
Whether too big or too small, if your AC system isn’t sized properly for your home, your utility bills will suffer the consequences. Undersized systems will fail to cool the home properly while oversized ones will cool the home too quickly when fired, leading to short-cycling. In addition to increased energy bills, improperly sized HVAC systems may fail much sooner than correctly sized ones.
Run a Ceiling Fan
A ceiling fan won’t actually make the air in your home cooler, but it’ll feel cooler because of the wind-chill effect. Ceiling fans also help to circulate conditioned air through the home, leading to more even cooling. Run your ceiling fan counter-clockwise to create a downdraft to circulate cool air through your home.
Repair Cracks and Leaks
Fixing leaks in doors, walls, windows and especially attics will hold more of your cool air in the home, meaning your AC will run less. Filling cracks keeps the cool air inside instead of allowing it to seep out. Inspecting ducts for dirt, clogs and leaks helps air flow through the system, providing conditioned air the ability to free flow to the vent.
Delaying heat-producing tasks such as running the oven or dishwasher until late in the day when the temperature is dropping may help out your AC. This will also keep your home cooler during the day. Keep additional heat out by keeping blinds and curtains closed when the sun is at its highest point.
Now is the right time to ensure that your system is up to the grueling summer ahead. If you worry about your air conditioner, give us a call today at Bryans United Air Conditioning in Gretna, LA, to let us help you find the right repairs, maintenance plan or new unit to keep your home cool this summer.
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