How to Keep your Home Cooler This Summer On a Budget
With the hottest months of the year fast approaching, the urge to stay in a cooler environment increases exponentially. However, doing that by driving the temperatures down on your air conditioning unit, wouldn’t certainly be such a good idea. Air conditioning is a home appliance that consumes a lot of electricity and by depending on it to work more vigorously during the hot summer months, you will certainly see a stark rise in your electricity costs.
However, the air conditioner is not your only salvation when it comes neutralizing the intensive heat during the summer months. With a few clever maintenance tweaks to your home, you can benefit from alternate, cost-effective ways to keep your house cooler during the summer months and ensure that you are not going overboard with your budget this summer:
Get A Dehumidifier:
High humidity levels or the heightened amount of moisture present in the air can substantially make your house feel quite warmer than it really is. If you succeed in keeping the humidity levels around 50% on a hot summer day, you will be able to crank up the air conditioner’s thermostat a few degrees up and save money in electricity costs.
Make sure your roof/attic is insulated:
The roof of any house gets the highest amount of heat from the sun, which it absorbs and then releases into the interior of the home, making it hotter inside. Without a barrier protecting this heat transfer from taking place, even the air conditioner would become quite ineffective at keeping the temperatures low.
Make sure that you get the roof/attic of your house insulated with at least 14 inches of protective materials. Many types of highly heat-absorbent materials are available in the market that will certainly have their effect once in place and even if you can’t insulate the entire roof at once, even doing it in a sporadic manner, would save you up in costs over the summer.
Avoid using appliances that can generate a lot of heat indoors:
Many electrical appliances and accessories give off heat when used and this latent heat can then make your house warmer than it would have been otherwise. Appliances like ovens and stoves should be used the least indoors.
During summers, it’s a great idea to cook outdoors in a backyard, so that the heat escapes while you work without a lot of discomforts.
Sun Protections:
If the Sun’s heat can make the attic go hot and make the house warmer, more direct rays entering through openings like windows will drive the temperatures up indoors.
Have dark colored curtains placed on windows so that the Sun’s light can’t easily come in while planting trees in front of the same windows would also be a great option to achieve the same objective?
Cooling off in the Pool:
Water is immensely endearing to everyone during summers and is a great way to beat the heat, but showering for too long indoors can result in higher water bills while this can also increase the in-house moisture levels.
If you want to enjoy the feeling of being in the water, going to the pool is certainly a great idea. If you don’t have one in your backyard, then go to the community pool near your home as it’s not only an excellent way of cooling yourself off, it results in a more toned body, if done consistently over a period of time.
Give your air conditioner a proper maintenance check:
As air circulates through the air conditioner, the buildup of dust and other foreign particles can make its performance go down significantly. It also needs a proper mechanical inspection to make sure that all the parts are working at max efficiency. Things, like changing the air filter and getting the grille cleaned, are immensely critical to ensure the air conditioner is not working over strenuously, burning up more electricity.
Get the inspections done on a monthly basis, especially during the summer months as this will help it to run in a more efficient manner and ensure that big repairs are not due anytime soon.
The summer months are a chance for you to take respite after the freezing winters season subsidies, and make the most of the activities on offer, but by applying a bit of proactive-ness mixed with smart thinking, you can ensure that your summer is not affected by higher costs but is rather, a happier and much more desirable affair each year round.
Today’s guest writer is James Smith.
