10 Uncommon Tips for Keeping Your Family Cool with a Wrong Sized A/C

Posted by Fredda on April 4th, 2021

We went through a record-setting heat wave just recently in the United States. Here in Atlanta, we set an all-time record of 106 F. Homes with properly-sized air conditioning system are sized for a temperature of 92 ° F and probably didn't stay so cool. I'm sure many homes with ac system that seem significantly extra-large didn't stay cool enough either.

Every summer season you can find lots and great deals of pointers on how to conserve energy and keep cool in the house: Wear cooler clothes, utilize your ceiling fans, keep the sun out, go to a movie, get your air conditioner serviced, caulk your windows, and so on. I will discuss a couple of typical ideas in this post, however I'm also going to talk about some that you might never ever have seen in a short article like this before.

Before we enter the actual ideas, though, it might be helpful to keep in mind how the entire cooling thing works. Previously this year, I heard a fantastic expression on the radio: Your air conditioner is the faucet; the building envelope of your home is the cup. If you have a dripping cup, your a/c has to work harder. If your AC is already doing all it can, you might need to take a look at your structure envelope. Likewise, to return to the metaphor, a leakage in your pipes may make it impossible to fill the cup, even it's not dripping much.

Here are 3 concerns to ask as you try to keep cool with an air conditioning system that has a hard time on those truly hot days:

- What can I do to reduce the amount of heat getting in?

- What can I do to make my a/c more efficient?

- What else can I do to keep one's cool?

Let's dive into the tips now. I'm focusing here on existing homes. Whether it's a brand name new home you just moved into or a hundred years old, the home is already there, so some style choices are off the table.

Tips for keeping heat out

1. Keep the sun out. Windows can be the largest factors to your heat gain. When the sun shines straight into the home, it usually brings a great deal of heat, too, unless you have truly good windows (with low solar heat gain coefficients). Solar screens on the outside of the window are terrific for keeping heat out. You might also think about some momentary shading for the east- and west-facing windows on those very hot days.

2. Seal the strange air leaks. Most of the standard energy-saving advice tells you to caulk your windows and weatherstrip your doors. The problem with that is you're overlooking some of the much larger leakages, like, say, crawl space vents that open into conditioned area or a hole in the kitchen area ceiling that acts as a refrigerator vent. Look around in your attic, crawl area, or basement, and you'll find the worst culprits.

3. Reduce the surface area temperatures. Some parts of your home may air conditioning maintenance edmonton be hotter than others. For instance, you might have a bonus room that's seldom comfy. Attic kneewalls with inadequate insulation are often the culprit there. Get the insulation in the cavities and put sheathing on the attic side of the kneewalls.

Tips for assisting your ac system

4. Modification your filter. The majority of individuals let them get too unclean, and this is one of the most common reasons for poor performance in a/c unit. A dirty filter adds resistance and reduces air flow. Proceed and check it now. I'll wait till you return.

5. Enhance air flow. In addition to the air filter, your AC may have other kinds of air circulation issues. If the evaporator coil is unclean, not adequate air moves across it and your house does not cool down in addition to it should. If the condenser coil is dirty, it won't dump enough heat to the outside. If your condenser coil is crowded with plant life or other barriers, clear it out. You can cut the bushes yourself, however you should probably call a professional to clean up the coils.

6. Search for disconnected ducts. If your ducts are beyond the conditioned area in your home, check to see if anything has come loose. Fixing a supply duct that's sending out all its cool air to the attic or crawl space (as shown below) can have an immediate impact on your comfort. This problem is more common than you might believe.

Other ideas for keeping one's cool

7. Use fans. OK, I understand this one's not unusual, but if your air conditioning system is doing all it can however your home still isn't quite cool enough on those actually hot days, moving the air over your skin may be just what you require to stay comfy. Keep in mind, though, that fans do not cool the air; they cool you. Shut off ones that are in empty rooms since they're using energy and including more heat to your house. Need to purchase a brand-new ceiling fan? They now feature energy effectiveness labels revealing how energy effective they are.

8. Use a window a/c unit. If you've done whatever above and your house is still uncomfortably hot, installing a window system AC might give you simply enough extra cooling to help you make it through the heat wave. I understand. I know. They're awful and loud and might be against the rules where you live. They use more power, which adds to the strain on the electrical energy grid, and may contribute more to global warming. Still, if you have actually got an energy effective home with a right-sized air conditioning unit, this could be the very best method to manage those heat waves when temperature levels work out above what your central air conditioning conditioner was designed for. It's a better option than installing an extra-large system so you have sufficient capability to manage the extreme heat events. A more costly and permanent alternative to the window unit would be a ductless mini-split heatpump.

9. Get a house energy assessment. Trained house energy auditors can find the issues I noted above and more and recommend solutions. They likewise have equipment to determine how leaky your ducts are, for instance, as well as the surface area temperature levels of your floorings, walls, and ceilings.

10. Turn off your power attic ventilators. If you have power attic ventilators in the attic, have them disconnected so they don't run. They might well be robbing cool air from your home.

If your air conditioning system repair business recommends replacing your system with a larger one to handle heat waves, beware. Air conditioning system don't dehumidify well if they do not have long term times, and keep in mind that heat waves do not last forever and we do not have bad ones every year. If your AC can't keep up when it's hotter than regular outdoors, use the guidance above to make it through. Your house will be more comfortable and efficient for it even when the temperature levels go back to regular.