How to SAave Money on Your Air Conditioning?

It is Spring and in many portions of this country it already feels like summer. Out come the shorts, and tee shirts and flip flops. Away go the heavy blankets , swaeaters and ski equipment. We look at the Airconditioner and I can honelytly tell you I see my Baltimore Gas And Electric Bill raising right before my eyes. I have already informed my family that the windows are the only things we are opening until it is absolutely necessary,, there are no ands if or buts about it, if they don’t like my rules they can head for the local Mall or Bar, I don’t care I am just not going to spend $400.00 a month on a BG&E bill.

Anyway I started to look at the Air Conditioner system that we have in our home. You to know that buying a bigger room air-conditioning unit won’t necessarily make you feel more comfortable during the hot summer months. In fact, a room air conditioner that’s too big for the area it is supposed to cool will perform less efficiently and less effectively than a smaller, properly sized unit. This is because room units work better if they run for relatively long periods of time than if they are continually switching off and on. Longer run times allow air conditioners to maintain a more constant room temperature and remove excess humidity.

We have a central air system in your home, we set the fan to shut off at the same time as the cooling unit . In other words, don’t use the system’s central fan to provide circulation, but instead use circulating fans in individual rooms. There are cooling ideas that everyone can use to save dollars and not have your family down your throat because it is too hot in the house. Whole house fans help cool your home by pulling cool air through the house and exhausting warm air through the attic. These are effective when operated at night and when the outside air is cooler than the inside. I set my thermostat as high as comfortably possible in the summer. The less difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the lower your overall cooling bill will be.

If your airconditioner has been off all day, do not be tempted to set the thermosat for the lowest possible degree setting as possible, you will look like my son he does this all the time, thinking that setting it at 50 degrees is going to cool the room faster, it doesn’t it just makes the system work harder and create an unneeded expense.

I have interior fans scattered through out my home, I use these in conjuncgtion with the Airconditioner, the air flows evenly and I do not have to over exert my ac unit. Look around your home, if you have a lamp or television set near your theromastat, the therostat senses the heat from these appliances and causes the air conditioner to run longer than necessary. A bit of rearranging can save you dollars. Go outside of your home and plant some trees or shrubs to shade the airconditioner unit, just don’t block the the airflow. A unit operating in the shade uses as much as 10% less electricity than the same one operating in the sun.
If your air conditioner is old, consider purchasing a new, energy-efficient model. You could save up to 50% on your utility bill for cooling
For other ways of saving energy check out www. energysavers.gov for more information.