Ways to Reduce the High Cost of Home Cooling

Cooling your home in hot weather is a vital part of being comfortable and in some cases can be essential to survival. Because of the need to conserve energy and keep cooling cost down, finding ways to cool you house without or with less use of your air conditioning system is important. Anything that you do that will lower the temperature inside your house or outside of your house will be beneficial. Using active and passive means to reduce the temperature of your home as a combined attack will give you the maximum heat reduction and savings on the cooling costs.

Start with the easy things first. Seal up all areas where your cold air can escape from your house. Make sure that all of the filters in your cooling system are clean so that air can flow freely through them. Have your air conditioning unit serviced once per year or so to make sure that it is leak free and full of coolant. It will run more efficiently if the cooling tower is clean. Keep the radiator on the outside portion of the system clean of debris.

You can usually keep your thermostat a few degrees higher in hotter weather. Your home will feel cool if the humidity is kept low so that your body can cool itself easier. When it is hotter outside, your air conditioner will run enough at higher settings to keep the air dry inside your house.

Get good shades or blinds to reduce the amount of sunlight that comes into your home. This is most effective when you can shield the south side of your house in the northern hemisphere and vice versa in the southern hemisphere. Installing glass that filters out the warming rays can be effective also, but the cost is more initially.

Use fans that can be moved from room to room to add extra punch to the cooling in the areas where you are going to be. The lower power requirements of the fans will be negligible compared to your cooling system. Even ceiling fans can make a big difference. If you want a big return, install an attic fan that can be used on cool evenings and nights to draw cooler outside air into your home. This can cost a bit to install, but it will pay for itself within a season or two.