Everyone who lives in Sacramento during the summer wants to have a reliable air conditioning system. Whether it’s a traditional central air conditioner, heat pump, or a ductless system, it’s going to need to keep you cool on even the hottest of days. The question is, is your air conditioner working as efficiently as possible? An effective air conditioner can’t really be called effective if it’s not.
Maybe you’ve noticed that your monthly utility bills are higher than you might like. Well, we have some tips for you that can lower your energy bills, by making your air conditioner more efficient. Read on to learn some best practices that you can put in place right away to boost that efficiency.
Keep Your Home Tightly Sealed
Homes today are built “tightly,” leaving no room for air to escape through drafty windows and doors. This helps keep your air conditioner’s cooling inside and the hot air out. But this doesn’t mean much if you leave windows and doors open during the warmer part of the days. We get it—it’s nice to get some fresh air in the house, but there are other ways to achieve this without sacrificing HVAC efficiency.
Even the smallest air leak can have a huge effect on the efficiency of your HVAC systems.
Keep a Reasonable Temperature Setting
What’s reasonable? Most people are comfortable with a temperature setting of about 78°F, and this is the recommended setting from the Department of Energy for the most efficient AC use. Homeowners often believe that setting their air conditioner’s thermostat as low as possible helps their air conditioner cool the home faster. But all it does is make the air conditioner run longer to try to reach the temperature setting, which is why it’s inefficient.
Using Your Ceiling Fans
Ceiling fans alone cannot lower the temperature of a room. But what they can do is distribute the air better within the room. This means that using ceiling fans in combination with your air conditioner allows you to set a higher temperature from the thermostat because you will feel cooler.
Change the Air Filter Regularly
There’s a common misconception that the air filter that comes standard with your air conditioner is in place to protect your indoor air quality. It’s actually instead in place to protect the interior components of the air conditioner from dust, dirt, and other debris that can harm its sensitive components.
What happens though, is that the air filter can get too clogged up, and restrict airflow. When airflow is restricted, the evaporator coil of the air conditioner cannot absorb heat properly, and then can’t cool your home as easily. Therefore, it can’t cool your home efficiently.
These air filters should be swapped out every 1–3 months during seasons of HVAC use.
Schedule Professional Maintenance!
Professional AC maintenance allows our technicians to comprehensively inspect, clean, and adjust the components that need it within your AC so that it works as efficiently as possible.
For professional air conditioning services in Sacramento and beyond, contact Sierra Pacific Home & Comfort, Inc.