Air Conditioning Tips To Help You Stay Cool During a Heat Wave

The unrelenting heat can put undue stress on your HVAC unit. Taking a few preventative measures can help your air conditioning run smoothly and avoid costly repairs.

Mind Your Thermostat

To stay comfortable and save money, the U.S. Department of Energy recommends setting your thermostat to 78°F (26°C) when you are home. While 72 degrees is generally considered to be the most comfortable for most people in the summer, cooling your home to 78 degrees rather than 72 degrees can cut your electricity bill by more than 25%. If that might seem much too high, setting your thermostat to 75 might be a good compromise between comfort and cost.

And since ideally, you don’t want your home temperature to stay constant, consider using a programmable thermostat to automatically lower the temperature when you sleep or when you are away.

Finally, using fans when you are in the room takes less energy than running your air conditioning constantly and can help you feel more comfortable. But don’t forget to turn off your fan when you leave the room. While a fan helps people and pets feel more comfortable, they do not cool the air or reduce your home’s temperature.

Stay On Top Of Your HVAC Maintenance

You can keep your HVAC unit running smoothly by changing your filters more often than you might the rest of the year. During a heat wave, it makes sense to change your filters every 30 days instead of 60 days to avoid extra strain on your air conditioning.

Making sure that your outdoor units are thoroughly clean is another easy step that you can take to not add to the load put on your air conditioning

More Summer Air Conditioning Tips

For more tips on beating the heat this summer, check out our interviews on ABC11: https://abc11.com/air-conditioning-tips-to-stay-cool-hvac-maintenance-replace-filters/12059261/ and https://abc11.com/nc-heat-wave-hvac-repair-maintenance-air-conditioner/13457207/