From Guest Blogger Diana Smith: Five Tips to Spend Less Power on Your AC

When the summer finally arrives, one of the greatest issues on your utility bill becomes your AC unit. This particular problem, however, has many layers to it. Not only is it an additional expense for your household budget but also quite problematic from the ecological standpoint. Still, where there’s will, there’s always a way, so here are a few methods which, when enforced, may help you spend less power on your AC.

Rearrange your furniture

The first thing you can do in order to make your household simpler to cool down is to rearrange your furniture to allow the air to flow freely through the room. For those who find this task too daunting, there’s, of course, another solution, that may not be as effective. We’re talking about plastic additions for your vents, which could force the air in the direction you want it to go. However, your best option still lies in rearranging the layout of your home.

Count in the people in the room

Another thing you need to keep in mind is that a single human body roughly produces 50 W of heat. This is more or less the amount of heat that a single incandescent light bulb produces. Of course, the real diagram goes between 40 W and 100 W, depending on the size of the person, which is why kids, naturally, produce less heat. In other words, if your living room is particularly small and you have some guests over, you might be forced to tune your AC unit a bit. A simple solution to this problem would be to plan outdoor meetups with your friends during the summer.

Switch to LED bulbs

In the previous section, we mentioned that an incandescent bulb produces a significant amount of heat. On the other hand, its LED counterpart produces the same amount of light with only a quarter of the power spent. For instance, in order to produce 600 lm of light in the room, you need to use either a 10 W LED bulb or a 40 W incandescent one. The right choice is more than clear. Additionally, you could try to get the most out of daylight and thus reduce the amount of power you spend on the illumination of your home even further.

Install blinders

The sunrays hitting the window of your home raises the temperature in the room, which is why providing some shade is probably the best way to handle this situation. The standard solution would be to install blinders, but you also have some other options available. For instance, you could install a retractable awning to protect your window and thus also create an outdoor area where you can greet your guests in the summer (something we already discussed previously).

Proper AC maintenance

Finally, you need to keep in mind that servicing your unit properly might save you from a world of trouble. The outside unit may get clogged with dust, dirt or leaves, in which case it will have to work twice as hard to achieve the same level of efficiency. In some areas, due to the local climate and ecological conditions, this is particularly important, which is why air conditioning companies from Five Dock, specialize in maintenance and cleaning, apart from the standard installation and repairs. This is definitely something you need to pay a closer attention to when looking for an AC unit.

As you can see, with enough research on the topic, there is no obstacle that is too difficult to overcome. Furthermore, in the age of the internet, there is no excuse not to do so (other than laziness and lack of curiosity). Needless to say, with these five tips alone you can do both your household budget and your planet a great favor.