5 Tips to Help Your Air Conditioner’s Efficiency

June 19, 2020

It’s summertime, and you know what that means: Sky-high energy bills. But it doesn’t have to be this way! You can perform simple maintenance on your HVAC system to do some of the heavy lifting for your AC, helping it help you stay cool. Here are 5 tips to help your air conditioner’s efficiency.

1.    Replace Your Air Filter on Time

This is the simplest way to help your air conditioner’s efficiency: replace your air filter on time. Your air filter should be replaced every one to three months. If you have a pet, then you should replace your filter every month to ensure the best indoor air quality and to remove as many obstacles for your AC as possible.

2.    Clean Your Air Ducts

In the same way that replacing your air filter can help your air conditioner’s efficiency, so too can cleaning your air ducts. Think about it: Your air ducts are funneling air through your filter. Your filter gets clogged from the debris that comes through the ducts. You can replace your filter as much as you want, but if the ducts aren’t clean, you’re going to have another filthy filter on your hands.

Over time, your air ducts collect dust, pests (both alive and dead), and other debris. These are all creating obstacles for your clean, cool air. Don’t make your AC jump over hurdles to work for you.

3.    Make Sure Your Vents Are Open & Unblocked

You might think that your AC isn’t low enough, so you drop the temperature a few more degrees, and then a few more, to make your home your desired level of cool. The trouble may not be with the external heat or with your AC: It could be that the air vents in each room are closed or blocked.

Go from room to room searching for and inspecting each air vent. Use the lever on the side to open it and point the blades to the middle of the room. If you can’t find an air vent, then it is more than likely being blocked by furniture. Move your furniture away from the walls and floors to find the vent and then rearrange the furniture to ensure the vents are uncovered moving forward.

4.    Get a Smart Thermostat

When you’re constantly raising the temperature when you’re hot and then lowering the temperature for over-correcting, you’re making your AC work that much harder to keep up with your demands.

A programmable or “smart” thermostat can help you regulate the temperature in your home. You can set the program the thermostat to read a certain temperature during the hottest time of the day and then raise it as the temperature outside lowers.

5.    Schedule Annual Maintenance

The best way to help your air conditioner’s efficiency is to schedule annual maintenance with a licensed HVAC professional. Not only will they inspect your air filter, your air ducts, your air vents, but they’ll also make suggestions on new thermostats for you. They’ll also inspect the outside HVAC unit, ensuring that there are no external blockages. The HVAC specialist will also clean the unit, inspect the pilot light, and other parts of your HVAC unit to ensure it’s running smoothly.

Our prices are reasonable to begin with but Crawford Cool Club Members enjoy additional savings. Talk to one of our representatives about signing up and schedule a maintenance appointment today!