10 Simple Ways to Prepare Your Home for the Summer Heat

Don't Sweat It

The summer heat is unhealthy for you, your family, your pets, and your power bill. Heat exhaustion and heat stroke cause multiple injuries and death each Summer.

The air conditioner accounts for about half of your monthly power costs during the hot months. There are simple things that you can do or have done to ensure that your family stays cool and your power bill stays at a comfortable rate. The following suggestions will help keep you cool during the hottest months of the year.

1. Have your air conditioner cleaned and inspected. A frozen over air conditioned, one with dirty coils, or one that has clogged pipes will not run effectively. Having your air conditioner professionally cleaned and inspected will ensure that your air conditioner runs efficiently throughout the summer.

2. Regularly change your air filters. If you have non disposable filters, wash them once a week. Change out disposable filters weekly. Dirty filters can lead to excess dust clogging up the air conditioner and causing the air conditioner to run poorly and leak.

3. Make sure your cold air return vent is not blocked. This can damage the air conditioner.

4. Schedule a vent cleaning. Dirt can flow through the air vents, and into your home It can make seasonal allergies unbearable and can cause severe respiratory infections. Having the vents in your home cleaned significantly reduces this risk.

5. Have a mold and mildew cleaning done to your air conditioner once a year. This will keep your ducts safe from harmful organisms.

6. Pour beach into your air conditioner tubes via the T joint once a month. This will help keep your pipes clean and gunk free.

7. Keep fans dusted. The dust can get blown into vents when fans are operational. This will allow dust and dirt to spread throughout the air conditioning vents, and the home.

8. Set your thermostat to between 76 and 78 degrees. This will keep the house cool and the power bill low. Lowering the temperature is inviting, but it also eats up electricity.

9. Run fans whenever possible instead of air conditioning. Fans cost less to run and will keep a home reasonably cool on a hot day.

10. Make sure the outside unit is not clogged with leaves and debris. This could break the air conditioner. If there is debris, call a professional to remove it.

Always consult a professional when dealing with air conditioners. This is not something you want to try and DIY.

Don’t let your A/C suck the fun out of summer. Call Colonial Plumbing & Heating Co., Inc. at (804) 526-8415 for greener HVAC services in the Colonial Heights area!