Call the experienced HVAC professionals at Air Unlimited today for prompt and friendly AC repairs and maintenance!
Your air conditioner makes up over half of your monthly energy bill. During the heat of summer, it usually costs more. Even with an energy-efficient AC unit, summer weather can have you digging for ways to save money.
During the summer, your AC needs all the help it can get. You need to know how to make an AC more efficient before it wears out entirely. If your AC isn’t running at peak efficiency, it might turn on more often, freeze the condenser coils, or even make strange clicking or hissing sounds.
Here are a few tips to help make your AC more efficient over the summer from our experienced air conditioning professionals in Leawood from Air Unlimited.
1) Clean and Clear All Your Vents
While air filters try to catch all the debris running through your air system, they don’t capture everything. Taking off the registers and cleaning out the vents helps clear the ducts from any debris that might build up. Make sure to vacuum those vents as far as you can reach to help clear out any dirt and dust you might not see.
If your vents are on the floor, make sure to keep furniture off of them. This keeps the cool air flowing freely into your home. If the air doesn’t flow properly, it won’t cool any rooms adequately.
2) Draw Shades and Close Doors
Blinds and curtains do more than keep out prying eyes. They act as an excellent barrier to heat if you close them before the hottest part of the day. Make sure you tilt the blinds up to reflect light out instead of letting the light and heat in the house.
Keeping the blinds down during the hottest part of the day keeps the heat from entering through the windows. Also, drawing curtains over closed blinds adds an extra layer of insulation from the scorching heat of the sun’s rays.
Keeping your doors closed during the hottest part of the day also helps keep the cold air inside your home.
3) Clean the Outside Unit
When people ask how to make an AC more efficient, this is one of the most common pieces of advice they get. That’s because this is one of the most overlooked forms of maintenance for an air conditioner.
Airflow is key to the operation of an air conditioner. If debris clutters the outside unit, it can’t pull in air. If it has poor airflow, the AC has to work harder trying to pull in air.
Clearing grass, branches, and debris around the unit restores the airflow and keeps your AC unit working efficiently.
4) Shade the Outside Unit
The outside unit of your air conditioner is responsible for dispersing heat from inside your home. Residual heat stays in the system if the unit sits in direct sunlight. With heat lingering in the system, the AC unit must work harder to cool down the air in your home.
Providing shade to the outside unit helps cool it off. Cooling the unit disperses excess heat and keeps residual heat from building up inside the system.
5) Fix Duct Leaks and Insulate Ductwork
Sometimes animals get into your crawlspaces or attic and chew holes in the ductwork, or contractors cause tears when working in the attic. Regardless of how they appear, rips and tears in the ductwork cause major efficiency problems for your air conditioner. As the cool, conditioned air escapes through them, hot air enters your home.
Fixing the leaks in the ductwork keeps your attic cool and helps your AC push the cold air where it’s supposed to go. Also, insulating the ductwork protects it from animals and accidents and keeps the air cool as it travels inside.
6) Change the Filter
A dirty air filter that stays in the unit for too long reduces the air quality and airflow in your home. Your air conditioner must work harder to push the air through a dirty filter. When you change your air filter regularly, you keep debris out of the ductwork and improve the indoor air quality.
Changing the air filter is another of the most common pieces of advice we give when people ask us how to make their AC more efficient.
7) Keep Heat Away from Your Thermostat
Putting a thermostat near a heat source makes your air conditioner run so much longer than it needs to. It’s trying to cool a house that is already cool. Keep your thermostats away from hot appliances or direct sunlight so they don’t force your air conditioner to work harder.
8) Use a Smart Thermostat
A smart thermostat is a great way to help your air conditioner run efficiently. Smart thermostats have energy-saving features, preference trackers, and efficiency boosters that help save money. You can even set timers for your air conditioner to cool your home at the most critical times.
9) Regularly Service Your AC Unit
Running an air conditioner that isn’t regularly serviced is like sitting on a ticking time bomb. Eventually, that air conditioner is going to break or fail, and it will do it at the most inconvenient time.
Servicing your air conditioner is the best way to keep it running at peak efficiency. Scheduling maintenance twice a year allows us to find problems quickly and helps you ensure that it runs smoothly throughout the summer.
Keeping Your Home Comfortable
Now that you know how to make an AC more efficient, you can help your air conditioner beat the summer heat. You should also change your temperature every season to keep your AC running at peak efficiency. If you want to know about the comfortable indoor temperature for each season, keep reading on our blog.
At Air Unlimited, we work to help your AC cool your home and keep you comfortable no matter what season it is. Call us at (816) 286-7258 to schedule your air conditioning service in Leawood, KS.