Guidelines For Keeping Your Home Cool At Little to No Cost
Keeping your home cool is a highly complicated matter when your ac breaks or another crucial piece of machinery fails, and for these scenarios A-1 American will be there for you 24/7 and during holidays and weekends for all emergency and non-emergency situations. However, there are measures you and your family can take for keeping your home cool without paying a dime!
1) Regular inspections by heating and air conditioning Virginia Beach professionals are key to keeping your home cool. The cost of regular inspection will almost always pay off in the long run, because HVAC Virginia Beach technicians can make tiny adjustments to existing systems in order to prevent total breakdown of the system, which would require the installation of a costly new system.
1 A) Many times the installation of a new system, while costly, will pay for itself over time because of advances in energy-saving technology. This option should be considered when the homeowner plans to stay in his or her home for the next five to ten years. Not only will the homeowner save money by using this new energy-efficient technology, but he or she will also be lessening their “environmental footprint,” and in doing so you will be joining the fight against global warming. A-1 American’s trained heating and air conditioning Virginia Beach experts will guide you step-by-step through your new purchase of an energy-saving system (an advanced air conditioner system, programmable thermostat, etc.) designed for keeping your home cool while saving you money; in other words…a win-win situation!
2) Regular replacement of air filters every 30 days is crucial for keeping your home cool. To the newcomer to HVAC and the do-it-yourself mentality in general, air filters are those blue 2′ by 2′ things (dimensions may vary) that are crisscrossed by metal meshing. Replacement of the filters is quite easy: just remove the existing ones (located inside your air vents) and replace them with new ones. The typical cost of an air filter is about 7-10 dollars, and can be purchased at any local (large or small) hardware store. The old air filter will be gray with all the sediment, hair, dirt, etc. that it has caught (and prevented from going into your family’s lungs)! Clean air filters are an important part of keeping your home cool, because clogged or dirty air filters allow less cool air to pass through themselves.
3) A clean chimney provides much more air-flow and “draft” effect than most people realize. For in-depth information on how to clean your own chimney, pay attention to this helpful video. Warning: this is only for the extreme do-it-yourselfer, as this is considered highly dangerous work for many reasons. You may feel more comfortable simply calling a local chimney cleaning company.
4) Regular cleaning of gutters and drains can also provides for the same “air-flow” effect. As opposed to chimney cleaning, cleaning of drains and gutters is a relatively simple task. All that’s required is a pair of gloves, because some objects like broken wood may be sharp, and some insects poisonous, as well as a ladder to reach the gutters. Use your hands to remove the debris (consisting usually of dirt, leaves, and twigs) and simply toss it to the ground. Later, use a broom to sweep up the material. This is one often neglected aspect of keeping your home cool; it takes less time than most people think, and it provides the added benefit of allowing water to flow through your home’s gutters rather than pooling around your house, which can over time ruin the foundations of the house.
5) Regularly clean baseboard heaters and vents. This is important for the same reason replacing your air filters regularly is important (to remove dirt, hair etc.). It’s important to ensure maximum efficiency of those vents to allow for the best possible air-flow throughout the home. As common sense dictates, it will be important for as much cool air to flow throughout the home as possible in the warmer months for keeping your home cool, just as warm air circulation will be important in cooler months.
6) Seal all leaks in the crawl spaces, the attic and the basement, as these are places where cool air can and will escape. Areas around windows and doors also deserve attention. Once again, these are places where cold air (and warm air in winter) will escape, so “patching” these gaps and holes will greatly help with keeping your home cool. Solutions to these kinds of problems may require the replacement of certain elements of the home (for example a window with a golf-ball or larger sized hole should most likely be replaced), but in many cases solutions to these types of problems can be done by the homeowner his or herself while keeping costs to a minimum. “Sweeps,” for example, are devices that are installed under your door(s) to prevent the draft which is caused by the gap between the bottom of the door and the floor. For step-by-step directions on how to prevent drafts caused by these gaps, refer to this article.
7) Check your attic and basement for proper insulation. A non-insulated attic or basement will allow outside temperatures to effect the climate inside your home, while a well-insulated attic and basement will help sustain the desired temperature within a home. For example, a well-insulated attic and basement will allow your air conditioner to help with keeping your home cool and allow it to stay that way!
7 A) Another important matter to keep in mind is that, during colder months, the main water lines in your home may freeze over and burst, causing severe flooding and water damage throughout the home. Water damage companies charge an arm and a leg for their services, so have our trained plumbers in Virginia Beach examine your pipes for proper insulation at a fraction of the cost that water restoration companies will charge once your water pipes do in fact bust, break, or even badly leak.
8) Keep shades, curtains and blinds drawn during especially sunny days. This one is the simplest tips on this list for keeping your home cool, but perhaps also the most important! Sunlight is a heavy contributor to unwanted heat inside the home during warm months. The opposite advice holds true during colder months, when allowing sunlight to enter the home can lower heating costs. Another benefit of keeping your shades, curtains and blinds drawn is that it prevents unwanted glare on T.V. screens, computer monitors, and other electronic devices.
A-1 American provides air conditioning, heating and plumbing services, like Air Conditioning Repair & New Equipment Installation to homes and businesses in the Hampton Roads Virginia cities of Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Newport News and Hampton and north into Williamsburg. A-1 American provides emergency service and repair, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including weekends and holidays. A-1 American charges by the job, not by the hour. A-1 American prides itself on immediate response, punctuality, courtesy and customer satisfaction. Call today 757-425-2400
