With the high cost of energy everyone and their Aunt's daughters' Uncle Smythe Jr the third and twice removed offeres the same ol advice but never really says why.
Cooling the home. Yeah its summer .... yahoo, whee and whatnot but just for a sec quiet down and really listen ... hear that? Those are klinking change bits falling out the window. Why? Well it's obvious here in TDR land that we ARE FEELING THE PINCH! The cost of everything is being handed to us bundled neatly in the electric bill , food, good lord even water.
So one of the biggest energy munchers is cooling the home. This is a ahem ... hot issue if you will but I am going to sit here and spill the same ol' diatribe that your neighbor, and good ol Uncle Smythe (Twice removed) has said. O.K Central systems, window units, and room units (The last one is just insane) are pretty much the norm. How you manage them can save a ton.
O.K we have routines right? Of course we are human! We get up, shower eat (Or not) hop in the truck and go to work. Whoever is the last one out kills the air right? ERRRT don't. When we let the house cook in the mid day heat everything in the home is brought up to the same , hot temp. Walls, countertops, floors, ceilings, toilets, tubs, tile and the list goes on.
We come home walk in the door and .... ugh Man this sucks it's hot blah whine blah. This can be avoided just by doing a few things to help "seal" the heat OUT.
- Set the A/c to 78* and let it stay there
This takes a TON of load off your system as it does not need to cool down the surfaces in your home that are hot and radiating heat. 78 is ideal as it is the "Norm" or cusp of radiation
- Close all the blinds, shutters, closet doors
Close off doors to un-climate controlled areas or that give off heat transfered from the attic area. This holds true ESPECIALLY for cape style homes and colonials!
- Window units, seal the gap between upper and lower sash, and even pad the "acordian" sides with some nicely trimmed out styrofoam.
The seal deal is a big one as the fan is drawing air into the unit over the coil while the exhaust or "Hot" side of the unit is just inches away on the other side of that window. Transfer temps creep inbetween the two halves of the window thus making the unit work harder. Styrofoam can be trimmed out in panels and actually make the front of that AC look nicer too.
- close off a couple LOWER floor vents to send air upstairs so it works its way DOWN.
Science class .... cold air is heavier ... blah blah makes sence move on.
- Filter, FILTER FILTER! keep em clean or changed!
This is a huge performance booster. Cars , Trucks, A/C Clogged filters in an hvac system can cause freezing of the coil which blocks airflow which caused solid ice, floods when melting ... yuk
- Clean that AC coil ... Got pets????
What does make it by the filter hits the next stop (Either the Hydronic heating coil if aplicable) the AC coil. Being they are cold and usually wet with condensation being pulled from the air, Pet hair and dust stick really easy!
- Clean the condensor unit outside (From inside out like a K&N filter)
Pop the lid (Kill the power first!) and with a hose rince the unit out from th einside out. Scoop out the leaves and mulch and watch the difference!
- Shut down heat generating items during non use (Like a computer) night lights, even some stereo equipment.
All eletronics to some extent (PC's Amps, TV's) give off alot of heat. Take away some of the source ans cash is two fold no power consumption and ac efficiency goes up too!
- close the flue ( A sealed home's air handler will try and draw make up air from the open flue)
Cold air heavier, yeah We moved on from that one but drawing hot light air through cold is easy too.
- "Lock" windows to make a tight seal
Many vinyl windows use the locks to make a tight seal.
- Clean windows (Or mirror tint if ya want some home bling)
Clean glass reflects sunrays back out. Clean tinted ones do it better!
- clean the refrigerator coil!
The fridge, our pal,buddy, keeper of the cold. When it's coil is dirty it cannot shed heat as easy and makes more heat to do the job it needs to do. More heat means just that .... MORE HEAT into your living space.
Now that all this is done.... You could just wind up saving a nice nut every month. Take that savings and save it twards future home energy upgrades.
Tell Uncle Smythe I said Hi
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