College Station AC Repair – How to Reduce Potential AC Repair Costs

Yes, indeed, it is summertime. If you ever forget, just step outside for a few minutes and you will notice the heat and humidity immediately. For the next few months, your air conditioner and you will fight a battle, with heat, humidity, and solar gain. You heard that right—you contribute to reducing summertime discomfort. Here is how:

Enjoy the sun, but enjoy it early and late, not during the heat of the day.

• Locate the south side of the house—it is probably quite evident.
• The windows and glass doors on the south side should have blinds and/or drapes that block the sun and heat.
• Open these window treatments until about 9 am and close them until after 4 pm.

The heat that enters your home directly from sunlight is called “solar gain.” Leaving these window treatments open can raise the temperature in the home by 10 degrees, requiring the thermostat to call for cooling several times more per day.

Stay dry inside as much as possible.

• Hot, steamy showers are not as beneficial during the summer months.
• Use bathroom exhaust fans during and immediately after a shower, but don’t run them for long. As the fan pushes air out, it is drawing humid air in at the same time.

A healthy relative humidity indoors is between 40% and 60% while the outdoor humidity rises above 90%. Keep windows and doors closed as much as possible when the humidity is high.

Mix the air with ceiling fans. From elementary school science, we know hot air rises, which is also true indoors.

• Indoor air tends to layer, with the hot air staying high and the cooler air dropping low.
• Humid air also tends to layer, with heavy, moist air dropping low and dryer air rising.
• Ceiling fans blend the air, allowing the air conditioner to cool and dehumidify all of the air in the home.

Change the ceiling fan rotation to counterclockwise and set it to slow. This pushes air down gently and mixes it thoroughly. It is a good idea to keep ceiling fans running on low, even when the house is unoccupied since the ceiling fan uses very little energy.

Learn to program the thermostat for enhanced comfort and energy savings.

• Most thermostats are programmable, all but the very old ones. It only takes a few minutes to learn how to schedule temperature changes.
• The body temperature drops while we sleep, so the temp could be raised while the family sleeps with no loss in comfort.
• It is a good savings practice to raise the temperature during the day if the home is unoccupied.
• Experiment in a temperature range of between 5 and 8 degrees. Program normal cooling about 30 minutes before everyone arises or arrives home.

Eight hours per day of this range difference will be noticeable on the energy bill.

Take care of the air conditioner inside and out with annual maintenance cleaning and inspection. Three major components provide air conditioning function, and they all need service.

• The condenser, the outdoor portion of the air conditioner, collects dust, grass clippings, and leaves, which need to be cleaned away.
• The evaporator coil on the inside collects moisture from the air and lets it fall into a drain. Ignoring this part can leave a leaky mess.
• The blower motor draws a tremendous volume of air from the house and recirculates it back into the house. This is the only moving part of the system and needs to be serviced regularly.

Of course, you also have the responsibility for changing the air filter regularly—every three months is good for most homes.

College Station AC Repair – Call RM Mullinix

For more information about R.M. Mullinix and our College Station AC Repair services, schedule an appointment or visit our HVAC maintenance information page.