Tips for Getting Your AC to Run Proficiently

Funding your summertime air conditioning shouldn’t have to cost you your entire paycheck. When your air conditioning system is running proficiently, you’re getting the best bang for your buck. We’re going to share with you some of our best tips for ensuring that your air conditioning system is running as proficiently as possible throughout the entire summer season.

It Starts With Efficient Settings

You can have your air conditioning system set up perfectly so that you’re getting the most bang for your buck for every dollar spent. However, if you don’t have efficient settings on your thermostat, you’re still going to be dealing with high power bills.

You should have a programmable thermostat that is set based on your normal weekly schedule. At times when you’re at home, your thermostat should be set around 78 degrees. When you’re away from home, your thermostat should be set 10 degrees higher. This will help to ensure that your air conditioning system isn’t constantly running when you’re not at home. That’s just a waste of energy and your hard-earned money.

Frequently Check Your Air Filter

Your air conditioning system has an air filter that is responsible for enhancing the quality of your indoor air. Whenever your filter reaches the end of its life span, it becomes clogged with too much debris. This forces your air conditioning system to work harder than it actually needs to in order to circulate air throughout your entire home.

You want to frequently check your air filter every couple of weeks during the summertime to see if it needs to be replaced. When you hold the air filter up to a light source, you’ll know you need to replace the filter if you can no longer see through it. You should have a couple of replacement air filters on hand so that you can regularly change out filters when it’s necessary.

Keep Your Outdoor Unit Clean

Another common killer of proficiency for your air conditioning system is having debris clogging up the area around your outdoor condenser unit. Your outside unit depends on having adequate airflow in order to disperse the heat from the inside of your home. Whenever the outside of the condenser unit is clogged up with debris, the system is unable to disperse the heat as it doesn’t have adequate airflow.

You want to check your outdoor condenser unit after every major storm and at least a couple of times a month. You’ll likely find leaves, tree limbs, and even overgrown shrubs that are blocking the openings of the condenser cover. You can prevent a lot of airflow restrictions by ensuring that any close shrubbery or tree limbs are trimmed back appropriately.

Keep Vents Open

To circulate air throughout all the rooms of your home, there are various vents that you’ll see on the bottom of the walls or on the floor. Each one of these vents needs to have adequate airflow around it so that it can move the air proficiently throughout your air conditioning system.

Any items that are in front of these vents can obstruct airflow and reduce the overall proficiency of your system. You should make it a habit to walk around all the rooms in your home once a month and look at all the vents to ensure that nothing has gotten pushed in front of them.

Examine Your Thermostat Placement

The placement of your thermostat is a massively important aspect of whether or not your air conditioning system is capable of running proficiently. Your thermostat ideally needs to be located somewhere near the middle of your home and free from any variables that could cause it to provide false temperature readings.

Having your thermostat placed next to an appliance like a light, television, or even a video game console can cause your thermostat to read the temperature as being warmer than it actually is. Also, a thermostat that receives direct sunlight during any portion throughout the day will provide a high false temperature reading. When your thermostat has false high readings, it tells your air conditioning system to turn on when it actually doesn’t need to. This will cost you money on your energy bills.

Unparalleled AC Services

Puyallup Heating & Air Conditioning offers unparalleled air conditioning system services for the entire Puyallup area. We’re also here for all of your heating replacements, cooling installations, preventative maintenance, and emergency heating repairs, and cooling repairs. Just give our office a call today to schedule your next service appointment.