With the summer beginning and temperatures rising, so do your cooling bills. Enjoy the season without the pain of rising bills by checking out these 7 tips to stay comfortable without breaking the bank this summer.
1. Keep your unit serviced!!!!
Routine maintenance is vital to ensure that your system’s lifetime remains long and its efficiency is high. The longer your system lasts, and the more efficiently it runs, the less you have to pay to keep your home comfortable. Be sure to change your filter at least once every three months and schedule routine maintenance twice a year. Explore Top Notch’s VIP Plan options to secure these twice yearly maintenance checks along with several other benefits here!
2. Keep windows covered
Keeping you windows covered not only ensures your privacy, but helps save you money. According to the Department of Energy, about 76% of sunlight that enters through windows becomes heat in your home. Utilizing external window mesh to intercept energy, along with blinds or curtains to capture heat energy as it enters your windows, keeps your home cooler and gives your system less of a deficit to correct.
3. Use your ceiling fans
This seems like a pretty obvious one, but utilizing ceiling fans and other forms of independent fans helps to circulate the air in your home, increasing your comfort without needing to push your unit. Its circulation also helps to evaporate sweat more quickly, cooling your body on its own accord.
4. Watch your temperatures
Oftentimes, adjusting your thermostat by just a few degrees can create major effects on your monthly bill. It doesn’t even have to be a sacrifice — think of all the time you spend away from home or asleep. By raising your temperatures by just two or three degrees in all of this downtime where you wouldn’t even notice a difference, you can make a major dent in your cooling bills.
5. Check and seal leaks
Drafts in your home undo everything that your HVAC system works to accomplish. Do an inspection of not only your windows, but anywhere in your home where outside air may be slipping through the gaps.
6. Zone your cooling
Consider alternate ways of cooling outside of a central HVAC system! Top Notch currently offers a wide range of ductless mini-splits, with the potential to provide highly efficient, zoned cooling with a minor footprint in wherever you decide to install. Utilize these alternative systems in hotter rooms that you utilize more often, rather than over-cooling or under-cooling certain areas of your home with your central system, spending more while not even attaining the comfort you desire. If interested in our range of ductless mini-splits, schedule a bid appointment and see what these systems can do for you!
7. Upgrade your system
Perhaps the clearest option, if your circumstances are appropriate, is to replace your system entirely. Even with regular maintenance, time takes its inevitable toll on your HVAC system, and a new unit will always operate more efficiently than an old one, particularly if it’s been in use for over 10 years. A fresh unit is an investment that pays off in dividends as it keeps your home comfortable more quickly, consistently, and efficiently. If upgrading your system is a potential solution you’d like to explore, schedule a quote by using the form on our homepage or calling Top Notch at (913) 535-8002!
