How to Prepare Your Home for the Hot Summer Months Ahead
Some years it seems as if winter lasts forever, but time flies and the summer heat will be here before you know it. If you plan ahead and start preparing your home now, you can beat the heat and high cooling bills with just a few simple steps. Here are a few preparations that will help you keep your cool when the humid days of summer arrive.
Show Some Love
Your air conditioning unit has been waiting for its time to shine all winter long, and the wait can be brutal. Replace your air conditioner’s filter every spring and take a look at the outdoor condenser to ensure that leaves and overgrown landscaping aren’t blocking airflow to the unit. If your system has passed its prime, consider replacing it with a high-efficiency air conditioner for better cooling power with lower energy bills. A high-efficiency air conditioner will reduce your carbon footprint as well.
Stay Frosty
Ice buildup inside your freezer makes the unit less efficient. The combination of frost buildup and warm summer weather will have your freezer working overtime to maintain the proper temperature. You can help the situation by defrosting your freezer in the spring. While you’re in there, it’s an excellent time to throw away old food and stock up on popsicles, ice cream, and other summer treats.
Get Decked Out
Spring is the perfect time to clean and redecorate your outdoor deck or patio. The best way to forget about the heat of a summer day is to enjoy the light crispness of summer nights from the comfort of your outdoor living space. If you haven’t been home all day, your deck is a perfect place to relax when you’re opening windows and waiting for your home to cool down. A comfortable deck increases your home’s living space and can provide a calm sanctuary on summer evenings.
Add Some Fanfare
If you have ceiling fans in your home, remember to check them all before summer hits. By changing your blade setting and turning the fan counter-clockwise, you’ll push fresh air down into the room. Sometimes the fan is enough to let you wait out a few more days before turning the air conditioner on. Fans also help circulate the cool air around your house so that your air conditioner doesn’t have to work as hard.
Window Shop
Take a minute to think about your windows this spring. Are they energy efficient? Do they contain gasses that help limit heat transfer? If not, you may want to get them tinted. Direct sunlight looks beautiful as it pours through large windows but will heat the room and counteract the efforts of your air conditioner.
Consider new drapes that can be drawn during the hot part of the day or a professional tinting job. Many tints are available that can’t be seen by the human eye but can still effectively block the sun’s rays. Tints allow you to enjoy the beauty of your windows without sacrificing a room’s appearance or digging into your annual budget for replacement windows.
Get to Bed Early
Spring nights often have a bit of a chill in the air, but don’t wait too long before replacing flannel sheets and thick comforters with light linens and thinner blankets. If you wait too long to change your bed into its summer clothes you’re much more likely to overheat at night and risk turning on the air conditioner or bedroom fans earlier in the season than necessary. To help you feel a little more like summer, choose fabrics in light, solid colors for your bed clothes.
Take a Stroll Through the Great Outdoors
Take a day to tour your kingdom and walk your property to make sure everything is in order. Make sure sprinkler systems are in good working order, remove early weeds and treat your lawn and garden with preemptive weed products.
If you have a pool, organize your pool supplies, verify that you have the chemicals you need and check filters and pumps. The more prepared you are in the spring the less time you’ll have to spend on sweaty outdoor chores when the summer heat is in its full glory. Put up some new clothesline too, and give your dryer a break.
Hug a Tree
Trees are excellent sources of natural shade and help keep houses cool in the summer, so plant a few if your yard is lacking. While it takes several years for a sapling to grow into a shade tree, in a few years your planting will pay off and be well worth the effort. While saplings tend to be less expensive, larger trees can be purchased and transplanted to your lawn, which will shave a few years off your shade wait time.
Remember that the Little Things Matter
Household appliances like televisions and computers throw off heat when they are running and can increase indoor temperatures. Turn off appliances when you aren’t using them and do a spring cleaning to remove any dust from appliance fans and vents.
Get rid of any incandescent light bulbs still lingering in lamps and fixtures and replace them with CFL bulbs. CFL’s use less energy and generate much less heat. Here are a few appliances that people frequently forget to turn off in the summer that will generate additional heat:
• Computers and computer peripherals
• Humidifiers and dehumidifiers
• Stereos
• Coffee makers
• Dishwasher drying cycles
• Televisions
All of these tricks for a cooler home are simple and most take only a few minutes to do. They’ll also help your air conditioner – the true star of home cooling – shine a little brighter while working slightly less.
If you discover that your air conditioner isn’t working or decide it’s time for an upgrade in Albuquerque, NM, call Daniels Heating and Air Conditioning, LLC today at (505) 913-7075 and be ready to beat the heat.
