5 Cheap Ways to Reduce Your Home Cooling Costs
With the already expensive costs of living going up lately, many families are struggling to find efficient ways to save money. One of the biggest expenses faced by American households today is the electric bill. When the scorching summer heat strikes, air conditioning a home can mean huge spikes in electricity use, leading to unexpected financial obligations and burdens to cover. Whether it be PTAC Units or another type of air conditioning system, many folks wonder what they can do to reduce their home cooling bill. To help you figure out a proper solution to keep your air conditioning expenses to a minimum this year, we’ve rounded up five cheap and easy ways to reduce your home cooling costs.
5 Cheap Ways to Reduce Your Cooling Costs
Sometimes reducing your home cooling costs requires only a simple solution that you can do yourself in an afternoon. Other times, it might mean calling in the professionals to get the job done right. Here are five ways you can lower your electric bill by helping your air conditioning run more efficiently.
1. Keep Windows And Doors Shut
One of the simplest yet most effective ways to reduce your home cooling cost during the summer time is to keep your windows and doors shut. You may recall from childhood being scolded by your mother about this, and she was not wrong. Keeping everything shut tight helps to prevent warm air from sneaking its way into your home and assists in keeping the cool air from escaping. This is especially helpful for upper level rooms because cold air seeks the lowest point while hot air seeks the highest point. Additionally, this will help make other cost-saving measures such as using fans and dehumidifiers australia much more effective.
2. Use Fans To Help Recirculate Cool Air
If you have a central air conditioning system, the ductwork delivers air to rooms using a blower unit, helping keep things cool in an efficient manner. But if you’re using a through the wall air conditioner that only blows cool air from a single point, it will have to work extra-hard to keep the whole house comfortable. One simple way to help reduce the workload on wall AC units or window AC units is to use fans to help recirculate the cool air they produce.
3. Use A Dehumidifier
Dehumidifiers are a relatively inexpensive device that can significantly help your air conditioner keep up when it’s sweltering hot outside and you live in a humid climate. A major part of an air conditioner’s job is removing excess humidity from the air, so anything you can do to aid this function can help reduce your cooling costs. Depending on the size of your home, you might want to place more than one dehumidifier throughout the space. Checking the square footage capacity of the dehumidifiers you’re considering will inform you of how many you’ll need.
4. Don’t Use Your Oven
A gas oven can put off a tremendous amount of heat into the kitchen it’s placed in. This heat emanates throughout the home, especially to second story rooms, creating extra work for your air conditioning system. Instead, consider grilling outside in the sunny weather and eating al fresco, or making dishes that don’t require an oven to prepare. If you have an electric oven, you’ll save even more on your electric bill by not using it.
5. Install Blackout Curtains
A significant source of heat inside a home comes from the sunlight that comes through the windows, an effect known as solar gain. Similar to how a greenhouse works, the more sun that enters the living space, the hotter it becomes. Solar energy-blocking blackout curtains help keep the sun’s heat at bay so your air conditioning has an easier time doing its job.
Cooling Costs Still Too High?
Once you’ve taken the inexpensive steps we’ve listed here, you may also simply consider an air conditioning system that’s more energy efficient. Before going all-in, though, try replacing your thermostat with a programmable model that automatically turns the air temperature up when nobody is home. Whichever methods you choose, we hope we’ve helped you save money on your cooling costs so you can relax comfortably!
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