Learning how to save money on your air conditioning bill is quite honestly a life skill, especially here in Australia.
As expected, this La Niña summer that we’ve been experiencing has certainly come with its fair share of challenges. Alongside combating more humidity than we Melburnians are typically used to, the summer has also seen residents of Australia’s wider east coast contend with fluctuating temperatures and weather conditions. Temperatures have been observed to climb to a sweltering peak, only to drop swiftly down the very next day, with fluctuations also bringing about plenty of rain, thunderstorms, and sometimes even unseasonably chilly nights amidst all the sweaty summer evenings.
Staying comfortable in such temperamental weather is of course, no easy or expense-free feat. So how do you save money on your air conditioning bill this summer, whilst still making sure that your home stays nice and comfortable throughout the season?
Today, our HVAC specialists here at Jacob Refrigeration will be sharing their favourite AC hacks to help you save electricity as well as some serious household funds. Read on to help your household stay cooler without breaking the bank this summer:
How To Save Money On Your Air Conditioning Bill
- Upgrade to a split system
- Clean your filters and condenser
- Close doors and windows when running your AC
1. Upgrade to a split system unit
If you live in a smaller, inner city home, scheduling a wall mounted split system installation is perhaps one of the best steps you can take to help beat the heat this summer. Why?
Using outdated or unsuitable HVAC systems is a guaranteed method of running up your household’s utility bills unnecessarily. And it makes sense when you think about it. A heating or cooling unit that’s too powerful for a small space can just end up drying out the air in your home. Contrastingly, using a system that’s too small for a larger space isn’t likely to do much when it comes to temperature regulation.
With all this considered, one of the best AC hacks to save electricity just so happens to be investing in an AC unit that’s actually perfectly designed to suit your home’s interiors. For smaller homes like units, townhouses, and apartments, you’ll find that split system units offer the perfect mix of performance and energy-efficiency. Modern units are also more likely to boost higher energy star ratings, allowing you to keep both your household energy consumption and heating and cooling costs down both in summer as well as year-round.
Our industry experts also assert that split systems offer another lesser known AC hack to save electricity and reduces your carbon footprint as well. The enclosed design of these particular units actually offers superior temperature retention capabilities over ducted units, as cool air can easily escape through the grates of your ducts. This is also the reason why many ducted cooling systems install vents higher up on walls or ceilings.
2. Clean your filters and condenser
Even if you have the right AC unit installed in your home, you can still waste a fair chunk of money and energy if that unit is having to work twice as hard due to a lack of HVAC unit maintenance. This is why it’s so important to clean out your system filters and outdoor condensing units on a routine basis, but especially so in the lead-up to summer, particularly if you’re living in a coastal home.
Thankfully, cleaning the filters and other components of your HVAC unit shouldn’t be too difficult a task to add to your household maintenance checklist. Simply remove the outer cover of your internal unit and wipe down your filters every two weeks to greatly reduce the risks of experiencing blockages. For a more heavy-duty clean, we recommend removing the filter and running it under cold water or leaving it to soak if you’re looking to clear more stubborn debris.
Keep in mind that blockages or even dust build-ups in your filters can also result in cold air being trapped in your AC unit. If this continues, it can be possible for your system’s coils to be exposed to excess moisture or even ice, in the event that your system is left running for long periods of time. In these circumstances, it’s best that you seek expert HVAC services to assess the health of your home’s AC unit and conduct any necessary repairs.
Another lesser known AC hack to save electricity and prolong the life of your AC unit: try to keep your preferred interior temperature as close to the outside temperature as possible. This doesn’t mean that you have to set your temperature to 30 degrees on a 35 degree day! But setting your temperature to 25 degrees rather than 18 degrees will ensure that your unit won’t have to work extra hard in order to maintain a lower temperature on a hotter day. In other words, you can still keep cool indoors without having to spend an arm and a leg on your next AC bill!
3. Close doors and windows when running your AC
If your parents taught you how to save money on your air conditioning bill, then chances are this is already a standard practice for you in your own home. As AC units use electricity to produce and circulate cooled air in your home, it’s imperative that you do what you can to retain that cooled air.
Keeping the cold air firmly in your home can truly be just as simple as making sure that all doorways and windows are closed when your AC unit is running. And we’re not just talking about exterior doorways here either. For example, you’re more likely to sleep comfortably on a summer night if your bedroom door is closed, as your bedroom AC unit will be able to quickly and efficiently fill that interior space with plenty of cooled air.
To take this particular summer AC hack to save electricity one step further, our specialists recommend setting your HVAC system to a timer so that you can feel free to fall asleep without the fear of leaving your AC on all through the night.
Why it’s important to save money on your air conditioning bill this summer
As we Aussies are estimated to spend around $4.6 billion on cooling our homes every year, it’s fair to say that our AC units take up a fair chunk of our overall utilities budget. But just because the mercury’s rising, it doesn’t mean that your AC bill has to too.
By using all the AC hacks to save electricity that we’ve outlined above, your family can well and truly beat the heat this summer without having to spend big or increase your carbon footprint in the process.
See Also: How To Keep Your Home Cool This Coming La Nina Summer
