Before the summer season kicks in, you need to evaluate your home’s air conditioning system and prepare for the hottest season of the year. The goal is to ensure your air conditioning is set in a way that provides you with maximum comfort in a cost-effective way.

Optimal thermostat settings are critical in the summer. It requires knowledge to adjust the thermostat settings that will save you money and keep you refreshed in the summer heat. Here are six cost-effective tips for the best thermostat settings in summer:
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You’ve tried everything and you just don’t know how to keep your house cool. We’ve all spent those summer days, drenched in sweat, wondering how we’re supposed to keep the house cool without spending a fortune on air conditioning. Feeling the heat already? We all know what we’re in for with such hot temperatures. It can be too hot to relax at home, too hot to take a nap, and even too hot to enjoy a cold beverage in comfort. How can we get back to that? 

Ideally, you will want to spend the summer in an air-conditioned room, where you can sit back, relax, and soak in the coolness of your home. But we know that running the AC unit all the time gets pricey. There are a few home hacks that can keep the temperature down during the air conditioner’s down-time.  

If you’re dreading the peak summer temperatures or wondering how you’re going to handle the next heat wave, here’s some seriously helpful tips to help keep the house cool, without spending a small fortune on your electricity bill! 

1. Use an air conditioner

While this might sound like the most obvious solution, installing an air conditioner in your home is your best bet if you don’t have one yet. You don’t need to break the bank on a big fancy AC unit. A small simple air conditioner unit will do wonders in keeping your house cool during the hot summer months, especially in specific rooms. There are many different types of air conditioners with various features available.

Thanks to modern science, there are even portable air conditioners that allow you to walk around your house and remain cool. These portable ACs have wheels that make transportation effortless as you travel from room to room. An advantage of portable air conditioners is that you get to cool only one specific room, instead of investing energy and money into cooling the entire house. 

2. Give your AC unit some TLC

Sometimes, the reason why it is extremely hot in your house may be as simple as an inefficient cooling machine. We can help to maintain your air conditioner and repair it if necessary. You wouldn’t want to find the problem in the middle of the night. 

 3. FAN-tastic tips

Electric fans may not be as effective as an air conditioning system, but they are handy and extremely easy to set up. They’re classic: plug in the machine, turn on the fan, and walk slowly around the front of the fan as it oscillates keeping your face directly in the airstream. We’ve all done it, and it works.

You can get creative with your electric fan and enhance it with a bowl of ice. Sit the bowl in front of the fan, and as the ice evaporates, it creates a cool mist. Immediate arctic breeze! 

4. Get cozy in cotton sheets

Silk sheets are the worst type to sleep in during the hot weather, and we won’t even mention flannel. If you’re looking for a better, more breathable fabric, try good old 100% cotton sheets. Go an extra step and try light coloured cotton sheets, as they absorb less light (and therefore heat) and are a little cooler to sleep in. This works just fine with tip 6 as well! 

5. Draw the shades

During a lovely summer day, the first thing we tend to do is to open the curtains and allow the sunshine to seep in. This is super beautiful, yes, but by doing this, you’re allowing the house to absorb heat. This consequently causes a greenhouse effect right in your home. The heat from windows contributes up to 30% of the heat absorbed into your house.

To keep the heat outside, close your blinds and curtains, or if you have plants or basking-loving cats, lower your blinds. It’s also advisable to use thick, dark curtains with a reflective backing of colours (such as red, orange and yellow) for an even cooler effect. 

6. Fill up the freezer!

Our freezers can be super underappreciated, especially in the summer. While they’re the home of popsicles, freezies and a quick momentary face chiller, they can be used for so much more.

Next time you’re dreading a hot sweaty sleep, try placing your sheets in a plastic bag and put them in a freezer for a few minutes before going to bed! Boom. Easy cool sheets. It may not be a permanent solution, but it will give you a well-deserved break from the heat! 

7. Cook in the great outdoors

Nothing raises temperatures in your house like a hot oven baking some cake, stove slow-roasting poultry or even a toaster oven crisping up some fries. Instead of staying indoors and getting cooked along with your food, use the outdoor spaces you have to dispense some of that heat. Summer means barbeque, and if you don’t have one, tabletop grills are easy to find, and can do just as good a job! 

8. Heads up, insulate your attic 

You might think that insulating anything for the summer would be a bad idea, keeping the heat in and all? A well-insulated attic actually inhibits the transfer of heat between the attic and your living space during summer. It also prevents warm air from getting into your attic during winter. With this type of extra forethought and care can reflect in the value of your home if you sell in the future.  

9. Think outside the house

It’s not something you usually think about, maintaining the outside of our home. Managing certain parts of the house can help immensely with keeping things cool. The roof, walls and other insulating areas protect from weather of all sorts. By using different materials, like sheet metal, you can reflect heat and light away. Easy first step to making your home a cooler place! 

Air conditioners come in various types, models, and features. For most air conditioners, their primary function is to cool the air until it reaches a desired indoor temperature. These cooling systems are especially useful during the summer when temperatures are at the highest. In addition, some air conditioners come equipped with secondary features. They may be used to clean the air, maintain the air quality, or even provide moisture control when needed.

Depending on the type of the air conditioner, the features and functionalities may differ. However, there are certain devices that you expect to find inside every air conditioning unit. These air conditioner parts are essential to the overall cooling mechanisms of the system. In other words, they are the core components that explain how air conditioning works.

Here are the seven different air conditioner parts that you will find in a typical unit:

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The summer season is fast approaching. As the temperature begins to rise, you should make sure your air conditioner is functioning properly in the upcoming weeks. It would be rather unfortunate if you turn on the cooling system during the hot and torrid summer, only to find out that your air conditioning unit doesn’t even work.

Doing regular air conditioner maintenance will reduce the risk of your unit breaking down frequently. It is also advisable to have professional HVAC companies perform the routine check-ups on your behalf. While you may conduct some of these inspections on your own, there are more technical tasks that require the expertise of an air conditioner maintenance crew.

The best time to perform air conditioner maintenance is before the summer season arrives. Summer is naturally the busiest time for HVAC companies, so the air conditioner maintenance and service prices may peak based on the high customer demand. Besides, you want to identify any potential malfunctions as early as possible. By conducting the check-ups earlier, you can fix the problems quickly and settle into the summer season without any worries.

Here are seven air conditioner maintenance tips to ensure your unit is working optimally for the summer:

Tip #1: Cleaning and Repairing the Air Filters

One of the most crucial air conditioner maintenance check-ups is cleaning or changing the damaged air filters. When damaged, the air filter may compromise its ability to filter the air and separate unwanted particles effectively. If the evaporator coil is exposed to dust or dirt particles, its ability to absorb heat is hindered. As such, a faulty air filter could make the entire air conditioner unit lose its functionality.

In some cases, cleaning the air filters can be an easy fix to this problem. However, there could be potential complications that necessitate replacing the air filters altogether. The decision between repairing and replacing the air filters depends on its current physical condition. You can do these checks on your own if you are familiar with the inspection process. Otherwise, hire a professional air conditioning maintenance company if the situation is too complicated for a DIY attempt.

You should fix your damaged air filters as soon as possible. If this is left unattended, the problem can affect other areas of the air conditioning unit, which may complicate repair work. The longer you leave a damaged air filter in the system, the more debris it will accumulate over time. At a certain point, the damage could become so severe that you have no choice but to replace the entire air conditioner.

Tip #2: Cleaning the Air Conditioner Coils

A good air filter keeps the evaporator coil of your air conditioning unit clean. However, these will still accumulate dirt and dust over time. The collected debris will then insulate the condenser coils, which could lower their ability to absorb heat. As a result, the entire air conditioning unit works inefficiently and uses more power to get the desired results.

As you are cleaning the air filters, go the extra mile and clean the condenser coils as well. This will unclog the entire air conditioning system and leave your unit working at optimum levels. As a result, you will avoid extra power costs and future replacement costs.

Tip #3: Clear Debris from the Air Conditioning Unit

During summer, there is a tendency for leaves and dirt to accumulate on the outside of the air conditioning unit. The debris eventually finds its way into the air conditioner, which compromises the efficient function of the internal components.

When this happens, you should clear the debris on the outside of the unit. Since some of the debris may have seeped into condenser, you should also gently clean the air conditioner’s fins. Cleaning the fins at a 45-degree angle with a water hose is the recommended method. You should avoid cleaning the fins with a power hose, since the impact may cause damage to the delicate interiors of the unit.

To minimize the amount of debris from accumulating, you should trim and prune any shrubs growing near the air conditioner. If possible, avoid placing the air conditioner unit near any trees so that the leaves are less likely to fall into the system.

Tip #4: Straightening the Coil Fins

The condenser coils and evaporator’s aluminum fins can easily get bent over time. This restricts the flow of air through the air conditioner and may eventually block the system. If left unattended, this could become a costly neglect because the bent coil fins will render the air conditioner unit useless.

Straightening the coil fins is a practical solution to this problem. It’s a simple enough procedure with the help of a condenser fin comb. However, you should still be gentle in applying a moderate amount of pressure on the coil fins.

Tip #5: Clear the Drains

The optimal functionality of your air conditioner is affected by clogged drains. Congested pipelines compromise the ability of the air conditioning unit to effectively remove humidity from the air. This may cause staining on floors and carpets if the problem persists for too long.

You should work to unclog the drain lines in your air conditioner. This can be done by passing a stiff wire through the drains or blowing out the drain with pressurized air, which decongests the pipes and allows air to flow freely through the air conditioner system.

Tip #6: Checking the Coolant Lines

The pipes that run from the air handler to the evaporator are mainly covered with insulating material, which allows them to retain as much energy through the pipes as possible. Checking the pipes for vulnerabilities could result in substantial savings in energy costs.

You can quickly address the sections of the pipes where the insulating material has deteriorated by installing foam insulation sleeves on the affected areas. The insulation helps to ensure the temperature in the lines are maintained and the humidity around the lines will not condense and create water damage. This is essential for the entire air conditioning system to work efficiently.

Tip #7: Checking the Thermostat

In some instances, you may assume the air conditioner isn’t working optimally, but the actual issue could just be a broken thermostat. Just in case, you should examine the thermostat and ensure that it is working correctly. If you are using the old mechanical gadgets, you are better off upgrading to a newer programmable model.

The modern thermostats allow you to input pre-set room temperatures, which automatically change depending on whether people are inside or outside the room. The thermostat can also be pre-set in such a way that it starts cooling the house for a couple of minutes before you arrive home. This way, you get to go home to a cool environment customized to your preference.