Don’t you love when people say “is it hot enough for ya?” What are you supposed to say? “Nah, I like it when it’s about 104 or 105 and why don’t you throw in some 100% humidity and I’ll be just swell.” Well, as the title implied it sure gets hot down here in sunny Florida. There are certain things that can be done to make us as comfortable as possible during this time of year. With the miracles of modern machinery we have air conditioning. Just imagine for a moment where we would be in the state of Florida without air conditioning. Would we be here? I wouldn’t. We rely on air conditioning to keep us cool and dry. As with all mechanical equipment it requires a certain amount of up keep. Besides A/C there are other ways to keep cool and save money at the same time. Here are some tips that should help.
- Have your system checked at the very least once a year by a state certified air conditioning contractor.
The money spent for this check almost always is saved in energy bills and even more so it prevents a great deal of troubles down the road. Little hint here, A/C systems all seem to break down at the same time, when it is hot, stay ahead of the curve and get your system checked before it’s unbearable to be without. - Keep your ceiling fans going twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
The amount of energy that is required to run your air conditioning for one hour can run all of the ceiling fans in your home for the same amount of time. This is not to say that you can turn your air conditioning off, please don’t, you’ll put me out of business, but you may be able to run you’re A/C a little warmer because of the evaporative effect created by the air movement created by the ceiling fans. - Prevent that sunshine from coming in.
Natural light is a wonderful thing, but it is one of the major contributing heat sources infiltrating your home. So close the blinds on the sunny side of the house. - Keep that fridge coil clean.
This may sound like a strange suggestion but your fridge coil is the part that distributes the heat out of your refrigerator. If the coil is dirty the system has to run longer, doing two things: raising your electric bills to run the fridge longer and adding more heat to the conditioned space that needs to be removed. A fridge brush can usually be obtained at a hardware store, If they don’t have them in stock, I bet they’ll order one for you. - While taking showers and baths run your bathroom exhausts.
The heat and moisture created by bathing really adds to the load of you’re A/C system. Let the exhaust fan run for at least 10 minutes after you are done. Better yet, have a timer/switch installed on your bathroom exhaust. - Get out of the kitchen.
Cooking adds a tremendous amount of heat that needs to be removed. Cook on the grill or better yet go out to dinner more often and help our local economy. - Drink plenty of water.
Our bodies have its own cooling system that requires a tremendous amount of fluid to work at peak performance. Not to mention its good for you!
As always thank you and stay cool.
Sincerely, Bryan Hayes
Bryan is a Sanibel Air Conditioning contractor and along with his partner and brother Todd own a local electrical service business as well.
