“Cool Cash” Tips from Climatic
During the summer (cooling season to us), we see a lot of folks in the Northern Virginia area improperly operating their air conditioners and wasting a lot of money. Here are a few tips that should help you save some real cash on your Utility and AC bills this summer.
Tip One – Change your air filter.
This tip is like telling someone the best way to stay cool is to stay in the shade and drinks lots of water; it seems obvious. We talk about filters all the time but most of the time when we visit clients, their filter is dirty. You can go to your local home improvement store and buy a standard pack of filters for about $30.00. Then change your filter every one to two months during the summer and you are covered. To remind yourself mark it on your calendar or program your smart phone. Changing a filter takes less than 2 minutes. Not changing your air filter is equivalent to your AC system trying to breathe with a pillow covering the mouth and can lead to costly repairs.
Tip Two – Think carefully about setting your thermostat temperature.
Let’s say you come home from work and your home feels warm. Someone left the thermostat on 88 so you now you turn it down to 65 thinking this will get it cool real fast. It won’t. Once you set the temperature lower than 88, your air conditioner will click on and start cooling at the same rate whether you set it to 80 or 70. The air conditioner does not change speed based on how many degrees it needs to cool. It only understands two words: go and stop. It’s just that simple. So, when you turn it down to 65, the air conditioner will run until the thermostat senses the temperature in the house is 65. It will then tell the air conditioner “stop.” To save money on your utility bill why not simply set it to 75 and let it turn off at 74 and then check how your home feels to you at that time. Plus, if you turn on a ceiling fan 75 can feel like 70. This leads me to my next tip.
Tip Three – Turn on Fans.
If you are not sure of the benefit than let me explain. When the winter is here and the temperature is 37 degrees outside, sure it’s cold but certainly bearable. Now mix in a 15 mph wind and you can’t stand it and in fact this wind has a name; “wind chill factor”. The same works for fans blowing 78 degree air. With fans, it can feel like the low 70’s and you save money on your utility bills. Ceiling fans consume less energy than the AC Unit. This leads me to my bonus tip.
Bonus Tip – Call Climatic to service your unit(s).
We can provide annual maintenance plans to perform preventative services to keep your unit running in top economical shape. If your unit isn’t running, we are there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and are proud of our Same Day response time to your service calls. Call Climatic for all your Cooling needs this summer; we are there for you 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
