It is summer in the northern hemisphere, and in many places it is hot and going to get hotter before the season ends. Air conditioning is a must, not only for the physical health and comfort of a household but for their mental health as well. People who are forced to live in a home that’s hot and muggy tend to be unpleasant around the people they live with. Even a small air conditioning unit in a living or dining room not only cools the air but cools tempers. Here are some tips to keep the air conditioning unit working and your home more harmonious.
Change the Filters
It is easy to overlook the air filters in an AC unit, but they can accumulate so much dirt and dust that they cause your AC to struggle. Eventually, this can lead to breakdowns and a shortening of the unit’s working life. Make sure that the air filters are changed at least once a month. They should be changed even more often if there’s a smoker or someone with allergies in the household.
Take It Easy
It’s tempting to let your AC go full blast during a stretch of really hot and humid days, but letting the unit run and run without a break shortens its working life. It is also not good for keeping your energy bills down. There are several ways to keep your AC from working too hard. You can close up air leaks around your windows with caulking, use blackout curtains, especially over windows with a southern exposure, and ask your HVAC technician about installing a smart thermostat. These thermostats can be controlled from your smartphone, and you can program them to turn the AC off when no one’s at home. Another tip is to run your ceiling fans counterclockwise, which cools down a room.
Schedule Seasonal Maintenance
HVAC technicians such as those at Heroes Heating and Cooling can’t stress this enough. Having an HVAC pro come in just before the cooling season to check out and troubleshoot the AC can save massive amounts of trouble. Air conditioners tend to conk out just when they’re most needed, and this is often because they simply haven’t been checked beforehand to make sure that components such as electrical connections, filters, coils and fans are in working order. Enduring even a weekend without AC in a hot house is ghastly, and calling for emergency service is expensive.
The things you can do to keep your air conditioner in good working order and your family’s nerves from fraying in the heat are simple. Make sure to do them, and you’ll benefit from years of the air conditioner’s cool and soothing air. Your family will thank you too.
Author Bio
Anita is a freelance writer from Denver, CO. She studied at Colorado State University, and now writes articles about health, business, family and finance. A mother of two, she enjoys traveling with her family whenever she isn’t writing. You can follow her on Twitter @anitaginsburg.