During the peak temperatures, any sort of advice to keep your home cool is warranted advice. But between social media, youtube “hacks”, and sometimes questionable advice from your uncle’s cousin’s dog’s hairdresser, there are a lot of home cooling myths out there. Best case, some of these ideas are no harm no foul. However, some of the so-called cooling hacks are detrimental and might be heating your home and costing you more money. By dispelling some of the bad advice the internet has to offer, we hope to help keep you cool and save your wallet. Everyone wants to stay cool and not spend exorbitant amounts to do so. On top of dispelling the bad information, we added some advice on things to do instead. For more information regarding best HVAC practices, or to get quality services yourself the Innovative Air Conditioning and Heating team is proud to serve the greater Phoenix area and beyond.
Turning off your air conditioning on the surface seems like a good way to save money when you aren’t around. If no one is around, why use the energy to cool an empty home? The problem lies in when you need to turn the air conditioner back on due to how much power is required. If the home is going to be unoccupied for the better part of the day, it probably makes more sense to just run at a higher temp and use less energy as a result. Turning off your air conditioner can also pose a few risks. Without circulating air, moisture can get too built up which allows mold to grow and could potentially attract pests. Instead of turning off your HVAC system, turn up the thermostat to reduce its work and save money that way.
Another myth that appears to offer helpful advice when it comes to cooling a specific area of the home, but actually does the opposite. The idea is that your AC cools the air that is then circulated through the ducts and out the vents, but if you were to close certain vents that cool air is then directed into the desired room and lets in more cool air without using any more power from the air conditioning unit. However, what people do not properly account for is how HVAC systems operate so much on air pressure throughout the duct system and in the rooms themselves. By closing the vents, the pressure imbalances confuse and lead to your air conditioner to overly exert itself, costing more in energy costs and stresses it out. If you are concerned about cooling a specific area, consider checking the insulation or adding a fan that can circulate air throughout the room.
Seems like the larger of an AC system you have, the more power it would have that would lead to faster and more efficient cooling. The alternative is easy enough to visualize, a smaller AC unit lacks the power to efficiently cool a large space. So why is a larger air conditioning system worse? What it boils down to, the compressor, which is like the brain of the air conditioner, will get confused by the pressure and will constantly turn the AC on and off. This leads to a flurry of problems that will prove costly.
Upgrading to a new air conditioner can be an exciting, albeit an expensive endeavor. One thing we always try to caution people with their new air conditioner is to not neglect maintaining it just like you would an older system. Even with a new system, be sure to replace air filters every 30 days to get best results. On top of that, make sure you clean the external piece every few months to remove dust, debris, and whatever else can get stuck in the fan blades and the greater system itself. Taking care of your HVAC set up can get overwhelming, that’s why having reliable and dependable help is so important.
