This Summer brings a lot of enjoyable things to Houston residents—baseball, clear water in Galveston, and of course Independence Day celebrations. At Airteam, we are thankful for the many opportunities we are afforded in this country because of the sacrifices of our founders and of those that give their lives to keep us free. It is not something we take for granted and above business, above being the best in Houston AC Repair, above everything—we are grateful to live in this wonderful country and be surrounded by the people that make this nation what it is.
That being said, there is, however, one thing that summer brings that we hate as much as anyone—no, we don’t mean the love bugs. We mean high utility bills from trying to keep cool in the scorching Texas heat of summer. Summer heatwaves can put a real damper on your budget for summer fun and let’s be honest—your fireworks slush fund.
Yes, what would the great city of Houston be without neighborhood showdowns on who can put on the biggest and baddest fireworks display for 4th of July? Well, we want you to keep more money in the bank for your summer fun days, vacations and those fireworks— so here are 5 hot tips to declare your independence from high energy costs this summer:
• Keep An Eye On Your Thermostat
• Be A Fan Of Fans
• Use Vents, Doors & Windows
• Maximize Off-Peak Energy Usage
• Schedule Regular AC Maintenance
Those are the top 5 tips that will show you a significant boost in energy savings, so let’s dig a little deeper into each one.
Keep An Eye On Your Thermostat
If you work outside of the home and no one is there during the day, it might seem like cooling an empty house as if you were there would be counterproductive and wasteful. The truth is exactly the opposite because newer systems do a better job at maintaining a steady temperature throughout the day. This uses less energy and still keeps the house cool, simply set your thermostat at a reasonably comfortable temperature and leave it alone. For most Houston homes, 76° is a good, comfortable temperature—but use whatever works best for your comfort level.
Be A Fan Of Fans
Ok, if you are like most people reading this you were probably balking at our suggestion of 78° as a comfortable temperature setting—but hear us out ok? Yes, 78° is still pretty warm, especially in summer. The problem is that if you lower your thermostat more, your bills go up and that’s what we’re trying to break away from. Enter—the fan. Yes, the little fans that could—whether portable or ceiling, can and will save the day by circulating the air in your home. This creates a wind chill effect which makes your body think it is cooler than it actually is. In fact, when using a ceiling fan, you can increase the temperature 4° above your preferred setting and not notice a difference.
Sure, fans still use electricity but compared to most Houston air conditioning systems—the difference is staggering:
• Typical Central AC Energy Usage – 3 kilowatts and costs around 36 cents per hour
• Typical Ceiling Fan Energy Usage – Just 30 watts and costs only around 1 cent per hour
It may seem like pennies, but it breaks down monthly to nearly $130.00 for an AC unit and a mere $1.20 for a single fan. That is over a 99% difference in cost. Could you use that extra savings every month?
So, while using fans alone won’t cool your home sufficiently— in a supporting role, they are perfect for significantly reducing your monthly energy costs.
Use Vents, Doors & Windows
It sounds too easy to be true but it is—merely opening your vents or drawing the blinds or curtains can save you money every month. In addition, when it happens to be a bit cooler, using your windows and screen doors can benefit at night too:
Keep These OPEN
• Your Supply Vents (Always): Being one of the most requested Houston air conditioning repair companies—we see customers believe many HVAC myths. None is more prevalent than shutting vents in rooms that aren’t being used, to save money. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, it actually has the opposite effect. Closing vents make your AC work harder because a closed vent increases pressure in the ducts. The harder your AC works, the harder you work to have more money to pay the higher bill that comes with that bad practice. Remember, open vents open savings and closed vents open wallets.
• Room Doors (Often As Possible): Your HVAC system works on a principle of circulative air flow. Your A/C system pulls air from within your home, cools it and redistributes it to cool the home. Similar to supply vents, when you close too many doors in the house, your AC has to work even harder to pull that air into the system. This taxes your system which wears it out faster and costs you more money every month.
Keep These CLOSED
• Windows, External Doors, Blinds & Curtains (During The Day): Blinds, drapes and other window treatments that block the sun are a great helper towards cooling your home. But what works even better is keeping external doors and windows closed too. Avoid going in and outside multiple times as each time you do, cold is sucked out by the heat outside. Closed doors keep it cool and comfortable and saves money!
Maximize Off-Peak Energy Usage
With many energy providers, there are plans that charge you more for energy during pre-defined peak times and much less during off-peak times. Typically summer afternoons cost more than the evenings with most providers.
While we know this is Texas and the AC runs 24/7 during the summer, there are other appliances you can avoid using during peak times and use them during the off-peak instead. Appliances such as washer and dryer, dishwasher and other big drain appliances whose usage can be moved around to less expensive rate periods throughout the day.
Schedule Regular AC Maintenance
Signing up with the leader in Houston air conditioning, Airteam and our MVP program—you can save a bunch on costly repairs from undetected issues. Our planned maintenance program maintains your system and can make adjustments or detect problems early. Problems that could cause a complete system failure or affect efficiency.
Think of Houston AC maintenance like a vehicle maintenance plan. If you don’t change the oil every 5,000 miles, your gas mileage will suffer and you wear down parts prematurely. The same goes for HVAC systems if it is properly maintained you shouldn’t have many issues and can get over a decade usage at the very least.
Bring In The Best In Houston Air Conditioning For Backup
At Airteam, we want you to be able to declare your independence from these high summer energy costs. Let us come by and evaluate your system for optimal efficiency and show you the benefits of our planned maintenance plan, the MVP program. Contact the champions of Houston AC today!
