You don’t want to pay more for your energy bills than what you absolutely have to, but if you believe some myths about cooling your home, you might be falling victim to some common misnomers. If you’re trying to find a way to get the most out of your air conditioner, you should find out which tips about cooling savings are myths. These are some of the most common misnomers floating around the internet and amongst your family, friends, and neighbors.
Air Conditioners Manufacture Cold Air
Knowing the basic concepts around how your air conditioner works will help you better understand the maintenance and repairs that you have done throughout the years. One of the biggest general misconceptions that people have is that an air conditioner manufactures cold air. Cold air is the absence of heat, or energy, in the air. Before you feel cool air blowing out of the registers in your home, the air conditioner is pulling the warm air out of your home. It then uses refrigerant to cool the air and pull humidity out of it. Finally, it pushes the air back into your home once it’s cooled off. Your air conditioner cools warm air, but it doesn’t manufacture cold air.
Turning the AC Way Down Will Make Your House Cool Faster
It’s common to think that turning the temperature on your thermostat way down will help your house cool off more quickly, but that’s not the way that your air conditioner works. The house will cool off at the same rate, whether you set your thermostat for 50 degrees or 70 degrees. The only difference is that your air conditioner will continue to run for longer if you set it lower. Your AC has to run longer so that it can reach the temperature you chose.
You Should Buy an Air Conditioner That’s Larger Than What’s Recommended for Your Home’s Size
It’s tempting to think that bigger is better, but that’s not the case when it comes to air conditioners, which come in varying sizes to accommodate size houses. When you have an air conditioner that’s too big for your house, the air will cool down more quickly, which sounds ideal. Unfortunately, an air conditioner does more than simply cool off the air in your home. It’s also responsible for pulling the moisture out of the air and filtering out contaminants. So, if the air is cool but there are still high levels of moisture, you’ll experience cold and clammy air, which most people don’t like.
Windows and Doors Are Where Your Home Experiences the Greatest Amount of Heat Transfer
Windows and doors are common places where heat transfer occurs, but it’s actually not the place where most of it happens in a wooden house. While brick houses offer a lot more insulation, most of the heat transfer in a house with wood or vinyl siding will happen through the walls. You always hear about the importance of making sure that you have weather stripping on your windows and doors because those are the places that are easy to identify. But if you want to find the largest sources of heat transfer, you should have a professional visit your house and provide an assessment. More than likely, there are some things that you can do about electrical outlets and pipes where heat is seeping into the house.
You Should Leave Your Air Conditioner Completely Off While You’re Away at Work
Lots of people try to cut down on their energy costs in the summer by completely turning their air conditioners off, but this doesn’t work as well as you might think. Because you go home to a sweltering house, your air conditioner has to expend that much more energy to cool the house down from such a high temperature. A better thing to try is to keep your house at a temperature that’s about five to eight degrees hotter than what you like it so that you don’t have to pay to have your house perfectly cooled while you’re away at work. In doing so, you also won’t have to put so much energy into cooling down a sweltering hothouse.
It can be difficult to stay within budget on your cooling costs, but busting these myths can help. If you’re looking for even more helpful tips and some excellent service on your air conditioner, furnace, and other HVAC system components, contact Grasshopper Heating & Cooling in Albany, NY.
