Air Conditioning: Your Information To Maintaining Cool

You know the way they are saying it’s not the warmth, it’s the humidity? Right here within the Washington, D.C. metro space, now we have loads of each. For those who’re new to Maryland, Northern Virginia or the nation’s capital, air con goes to be one among your greatest associates.

Whereas the spring and summer time warmth in D.C. will be oppressive, your private home needs to be a cool oasis in opposition to the scorching solar and the heavy, humid air. On the similar time, you don’t need to mortgage your own home to pay your electrical invoice.

So how are you going to shield your private home — and your loved ones — in opposition to the area’s oppressive temperatures and quick-change climate?

We now have the solutions.

Your information to holding cool when it will get sizzling

Summer time air con: Upkeep is a precedence

Air con is your first line of protection in opposition to the D.C. warmth and humidity.  Strolling into a pleasant, chilly home after even a brief stroll open air is nice reduction.

Don’t be the particular person whose air con unit fails on the most inconvenient time — the center of a warmth wave, at a bizarre hour of the evening or on a vacation weekend.

Slightly preventative upkeep can preserve your AC cranking away even on the most popular days:

• • Verify your filters and evaporator coils. Clogged or soiled filters block airflow and cut back effectivity. Cleansing or changing them won’t solely enhance effectivity, it would decrease your unit’s power consumption by 5 to fifteen %.

• • Maintaining particles and leaves from the coils, fan, compressor, and condenser. Take care to clear litter or muddle away out of your system. Clear, unobstructed air con elements preserve the unit working easily. If any of the coils or different elements turn into clogged with particles and don’t perform, the chilly air will construct up inside and freeze the machine. You’ll want to clear these items recurrently. 

• • Verify the fluid ranges. Your air conditioner runs on numerous coolants and different fluids. Guarantee that they’re stuffed to the needed ranges to ensure that the machine to perform correctly. Unsure what you’re on the lookout for? Take a look at our upkeep plans, by way of our Service Companion Program, for some skilled assist. 

• • Pay attention to outside temperatures. This will appear to be an apparent level, however you shouldn’t use your air conditioner if the surface temperature is cool. Don’t activate the air conditioner as a result of you have got a turkey within the oven, for instance! If the air exterior is 60 levels Fahrenheit or decrease, the air conditioner is pointless and needs to be turned off. Crack a window as an alternative. 

• • Your common air conditioner setting needs to be hotter than you could assume. You inform your self that the perfect temperature to maintain an air conditioner is no matter will preserve your private home good and frosty. Perhaps — however that’s solely if you’re prepared to pay for a mean air conditioner setting that retains your private home igloo-cold. The perfect temperature to maintain an air conditioner is 78 levels Fahrenheit, in response to Jeffrey Orloff of The Stability. Orloff notes that turning the common air conditioner setting right down to 72 levels, for instance, can enhance your cooling invoice by practically 50 %! Assume earlier than you reprogram the AC.

My air conditioner broke! Ought to I repair it or purchase a brand new one?

Let’s be actual: even essentially the most well-maintained air conditioner goes to interrupt down finally. When this occurs, it raises an enormous query: restore the unit, or go all-out and have it changed?

Is your air conditioner blowing heat air? Schedule service now.

A serious consideration on this determination is how lengthy you have got owned the machine. An air con unit that you simply’ve owned for a number of months or a few years is extra prone to profit from repairs, whereas a system with a dozen years of onerous labor could also be prepared for the HVAC afterlife.

Listed below are a number of notes to think about when deciding on repairing or changing your air con resolution:

• • Price. Most specialists say {that a} good rule of thumb to observe is whether or not the overall estimated invoice of a restore will value over half of what a brand new unit would. For those who’re paying that a lot cash, you’re in all probability higher off simply investing in a brand new machine.

• • Reliability.  air con unit will do its job with out inflicting you headache after headache. For those who discover that you simply can not depend on the machine to maintain your private home cool, then chances are high it needs to be changed as quickly as potential.

Residing with out air con

Perhaps your air conditioner wants repairs. You’re attempting to powerful it out till the work is full. Washington, D.C. and the close by Maryland and Northern Virginia areas are identified to have common summer time temperature highs that creep precariously near the 90-degree Fahrenheit mark. Residing in an area with out air con will be practically insufferable.

While you’re ready for the air conditioner to be fastened, there are specific methods you’ll be able to attempt to preserve cool.

• • Preserve your fan by the home windows. As a substitute of pointing your fan at you, place it close to your open home windows. It will enable the small machine to suck the recent air out of your room whereas pulling within the cooler air from exterior.

• • Bathe earlier than mattress. Earlier than hopping into mattress for the evening, take a fast, lukewarm bathe. It will eliminate the additional sweat in your physique and decrease your total physique temperature.

• • Shut the blinds. Guarantee that your entire window blinds or drapes are closed through the day. It will stop the solar’s UV rays from coming into the house.

Whereas these solutions can provide some reduction, they’re no substitute for proudly owning a useful air con unit. If you’re in want of a brand new air conditioner or want a fast air conditioner restore, schedule an appointment at this time with us.

Moveable air conditioners: Not an excellent concept

Desirous about saving some money and investing in a moveable air con? Assume once more.

A examine carried out by Shopper Experiences took a have a look at eight moveable air con fashions from main producers like Honeywell, Frigidaire and Haier. The end result: their analysis confirmed that these smaller items usually are not well worth the cash that you simply spend on them, even when they’re meant to be a cost-cutting measure. 

On Could 3, 2017, Mary H.J. Farrell of Shopper Experiences took a good stronger place. ‘Consider moveable air conditioners because the cooling selection of final resort,’ she wrote. ‘They’re higher than a fan however not a lot. That’s what Shopper Experiences found in its checks of moveable air conditioners that, regardless of their claims, barely acquired a room beneath sweltering not to mention the 78° F that’s thought-about the higher threshold of indoor consolation…getting one is a compromise you could not need to make as a result of they’re usually larger, noisier, costlier, and use extra power. Actually, retailers report that many moveable air conditioners are returned every season by dissatisfied clients.’

Moveable air conditioners are often bought as a reasonable solution to preserve the inside of a house cool through the sizzling spring and summer time months. Moveable air conditioners are, largely, an answer for cooling a room that can’t accommodate a window unit in a house that lacks a central HVAC system.

To measure the effectiveness of those items, Shopper Experiences rigged up a particular testing chamber and set the surface temperature to 90 levels with 70 % humidity. Inside, the common air conditioner setting of the items was 75 levels, and the temperature was taken from a number of spots all through the room through the course of the examine.

Shopper Experiences discovered was that not one of many eight moveable fashions used through the take a look at was in a position to get the chamber beneath 80 levels – a lot hotter than the perfect temperature to maintain an air conditioner – even after practically two hours of working.

The researchers concluded that you simply’re higher off with a window or central air con unit. Both machine will likely be more practical and find yourself costing much less cash in the long term – and also you’ll be much more comfy within the D.C. warmth.

Tips on how to cool it (naturally)

Summer time means longer days, and that may imply larger power payments. Preserve your private home cool and comfy with out taxing your air con. Take some time to regulate how the system runs.

Take into account buying a programmable thermostat. Your AC isn’t working through the day whenever you’re not residence, or at evening when the temperatures get decrease.

Preserve your blinds and curtains closed. Pull the shades on south-facing home windows through the day to scale back photo voltaic warmth acquire.

Get white window shades. Do you know white window shades assist with residence cooling? Darker colours take up extra warmth.

Have ceiling followers? Use them at the side of your air con unit. This one-two punch will increase cool air stream and air circulation. You’ll additionally have the ability to elevate your common air conditioner setting and save power. Altering the course of the spin of the fan to counterclockwise typically means that you can elevate the thermostat setting by about 4°F with no discount in consolation.

It’s OK: Take a break from family chores 

You’ve got our permission to take to a break! Assist preserve the home cool and restrict your use of the oven. Take into account cooking in a microwave or (even higher) on an outside grill as an alternative.

Washing machines, dryers, and dishwashers additionally generate a substantial quantity of sizzling air. Keep away from working them through the day at any time when potential – watch for the cooler night hours at any time when you’ll be able to.

Incandescent mild bulbs give off warmth. Putting in environment friendly lighting that wants much less power can assist preserve your indoor temperature cooler, too. Use energy-efficient lighting like LEDs or CFLs as an alternative.

Is warmth sneaking by way of your home windows?

Usually, you’d assume that leaks and seals are window points for the colder months. Whilst you’ll discover a problem rather a lot sooner when chilly air is breezing into your private home, it’s necessary to maintain the summer time climate exterior, too.

One of many worst culprits for air trade is broken window sealants. Gaps in and across the sealants enable sizzling air to return in and funky air to exit. Take a detailed have a look at your entire home windows and change any rubber seals which are worn out. Whilst you’re at it, double-check the insulation round air ducts within the basement, attic and even your hearth — if it’s not hermetic, it could be letting outside warmth sneak inside, as nicely.

Landscaping is a part of your D.C. warmth protection plan

A well-designed panorama may cut back your heating and cooling prices. Bushes positioned to shade the home, often on the jap and western sides, can save as much as 25% of the power a typical family makes use of. Even small bushes generate breezes, so you’ll expertise some warmth reduction as quickly as you plant them!

Preserve Fluffy cool: Summer time take care of pets

Whereas we frequently concentrate on ourselves and our household relating to the intense warmth, many people have furry associates in the home who’re simply as inclined to its risks.

Whether or not you’re on Crew Fido or Fluffy, there are fundamental precautions it’s essential to take to maintain the little guys protected. As Washington, D.C. enters into the warmest months of the yr, the hazards introduced to our animal associates are solely going to extend.

Listed below are a number of tricks to preserve your pets cool within the warmth:

• • Have water obtainable. One of many essential issues that may plague a pet through the summer time is dehydration. It is best to prime off their water bowl recurrently to ensure your cat or canine has an satisfactory quantity of contemporary and clear water to drink.

• • Preserve them inside. Whereas your little furball could need to run round exterior, it’s best to restrict playtime to the hours of the day when the solar shouldn’t be going to be as robust. Early within the morning or later within the night are the optimum instances.

• • Flip up the AC. Preserve the air conditioner working even whenever you depart your private home to make sure that your residing house stays at a cushty temperature on your pet. They are going to probably discover a spot on the tile to maintain their complete our bodies cool, however the air round them needs to be bearable, too.

Don’t be fooled: House cooling misconceptions

Through the spring and summer time, most individuals are on the lookout for methods to maintain their properties cool and comfy with out spending a fortune. It’s inevitable that you will note a slight rise in your month-to-month utility payments since you are extra dependent in your air con unit and followers to remain cool.

If you’re pondering of constructing any modifications round your home — putting in a central HVAC unit, for instance — otherwise you simply need to know tips on how to use your cooling system extra effectively, there are specific myths that it’s best to keep away from.

Listed below are a number of widespread residence cooling misconceptions:

• • Greater is healthier. Simply because a machine is bigger doesn’t imply it would produce higher outcomes on your residence. In the case of an AC unit, an important issue for peak efficiency is common upkeep. So long as the traces are clear and the filter is clear, an air conditioner of any measurement will work nicely to maintain your own home cool.

• • Air conditioners merely cool the air. Certain, chilling your private home is the principle perform of your air conditioner, however give the equipment a bit of extra credit score! The perfect air conditioners convey down the temperature and cut back the humidity within the air with a specialised drying perform. Guarantee that your AC has this setting.

• • Leaving the AC on all day is extra environment friendly. Having a programmable thermostat is an effective way so that you can use much less power. Set the machine so it could regulate the temperature accordingly for if you end up residence and never residence.

Air con in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland

Have questions, feedback or considerations about your air con state of affairs? Contact us to search out out extra about tips on how to keep cool when it will get sizzling within the DMV.  You probably have air con restore wants, name us at this time!