Are you trying to keep your power bill from flying sky high as your air conditioning system tries to keep up with rising summer temperatures? Or are you perhaps concerned with the environmental effects of running your AC unit 24/7 throughout the summer? There are actually several things you can do around your house to bring the temperature down a few degrees and help your AC unit out. Here are some tips to cool off your home without the AC turned on.
Use Your Fans Correctly
You’ve installed ceiling fans throughout your home, but are you using them correctly? For maximum cooling effect, make sure ceiling fans spin in the direction that pushes air down, rather than sucks it up. Also, don’t leave a ceiling fan on for too long, and be sure to turn them off when you leave a room. Fan motors give off small amounts of heat, so if you are not going to be in the room to enjoy the breeze anyway, let the motor rest rather than adding small amounts of heat to an empty room you’ll be returning to later.
Block the Sun
If you love natural light and tend to throw open your drapes and blinds as soon as you wake up, either stop completely for the summer, or close them again before leaving for the day. Sunlight turns into heat when it enters your home, so bare windows will help heat your home in the winter but will cause your AC to work overtime in the summer. Installing energy efficient windows is also a way to block some of the sun’s strong summer rays, but there’s a cheaper and easier alternative. Energy saving window film can be purchased at your local hardware store and you can peel and stick it onto your sun-facing windows yourself.
Open Up
If the outside temperature dips lower than your ideal indoor temperature, you can cool your home off the old fashioned way. Open windows on opposite sides of your home with bedroom doors left open to create a current of cross-ventilation. If pollen and outdoor sounds won’t bother your sleep, leaving windows open throughout the night will usually cool your home to a lower temperature than your AC unit will, as summer nights are usually cooler than the temperature at which you set your thermostat. Not only will this keep your AC unit idle throughout the night, it will be later in the next day before your house warms to the point it needs to kick back in.
Watch the Heat Monsters
All of the electronics and appliances in your home release heat in differing amounts. Large appliances like refrigerators use the most, but of course that isn’t something you can power down each night. Instead, make a heat difference by turning off your computers and televisions when not in use. If it is convenient for you, do laundry in the morning or evening so that your dryer is not running during the hottest part of the day. The same is true for your oven – if you are able to schedule your baking for a cooler part of the day you can avoid releasing excess heat for your AC unit to battle with.