It takes a lot of energy to keep a home comfortable during the summer months. In fact, about 2,000 kWh of electricity are consumed cooling a typical home over a single season. Since energy efficiency directly impacts consumption, you’ll save money on household operating costs when you improve cooling efficiency. You’ll also enjoy some other significant benefits, including greater comfort, fewer breakdowns and repairs, and longer equipment life.
Maintenance Maintains Efficiency
An annual professional inspection, cleaning and tuneup is essential to keeping your A/C or heat pump operating as efficiently as possible. While your HVAC technician is there performing regular maintenance, make sure that he or she covers these efficiency-focused tasks:
- Cleaning the condenser coils to ensure proper airflow.
- Checking and recharging the refrigerant. This alone can improve the system’s efficiency by 20 percent.
- Assessing the airflow rate across the coil. One adjustment to correct an improper airflow issue can boost your energy efficiency by 5 to 10 percent.
- Inspecting the ductwork. If it’s leaky and you seal and insulate the ducts, you’ll not only feel more cool air arriving at the registers, you’ll increase the system’s overall efficiency by 10 to 15 percent.
Efficiency How-Tos for Homeowners
After the technician leaves, you can use following tips to further boost your cooling efficiency:
- Keep exterior doors and windows closed when the heat pump or air conditioner is running.
- Install a programmable thermostat and use it to raise the interior temperature by 10 degrees at night and when no one is home.
- Run the kitchen and bathroom fans when cooking, bathing and showering to keep humidity under control.
- Add a zoning system to customize A/C use and control energy consumption in different areas of your home.
- Use ceiling fans to increase comfort so you can set the thermostat higher. For every one-degree difference, you’ll shave between 3 and 5 percent off your annual energy usage and costs.
- Check and replace/clean the HVAC system air filter once a month to protect the equipment and maximize energy efficiency.
For more expert advice on how to improve cooling efficiency in your home, contact us today at United Air Conditioning.