07/07/2023
Wow! Is it hot outside? When the heat seeps into your home, it’s hard to find the motivation to do just about anything. You can always turn down the A/C and create a nice wintry environment for yourself, but you may be unnecessarily running up your utility bill. Fortunately, there are other ways to help cool your house down and be comfortable.
Open windows at night. In places, and during times of year where the temperature substantially cools at night (overnight temps in the mid-70s or lower), pop the windows open when the sun goes down. You’ll be amazed at how quickly the warm air is replaced with cool, refreshing air.
Utilize fans (or a whole house fan if you have one) to create tunnels of cool air coming into your home. To get the most out of your efforts with this method, crack a window on the main floor of the house, then open a window on the second floor on the opposite side of the home and place a fan in it that will draw the air out. Since heat rises, you’ll more quickly get the hot air out and the cool air in.
Keep blinds closed during the day. Up to 30% of unwanted heat in your home is coming through your windows via the greenhouse effect; sunlight and heat enter, but cannot escape. The remedy is to keep your blinds closed during the day. If this makes your home feel too much like a cave, focus especially on the windows of your home that face west and south. Doing this can actually lower the mid-day temperature of your home by almost 20 degrees. To make this action even more efficient, get light-colored blinds that will reflect rather than absorb the sun’s heat, and open them again at night when it’s cool.
Do chores at night. Laundry machines throw off a lot of heat, and you don’t need them heating your home during the hottest parts of the day. The washer is running hot water, and driers are obviously using heated air which inevitably escapes and radiates out from the machine. Doing your laundry loads at night will keep things cooler. Also, regularly clean the dryer vent for a quicker cycle.
Your dishwasher also puts out a lot of heat. Like with laundry, run it at night to minimize the heating effect. If you have a quiet model, start it before you go to bed and you’ll wake up with clean dishes!
Skip the oven/stove; grill more. Any usage of the oven or even the stove-top is going to heat your home. Dust off the grill and get comfortable with it! You can grill many of the things that you normally cook in an oven or on the stovetop. If you do use the stove, make sure to turn the fan on, especially if it vents to the exterior. If it just recirculates the air, it won’t cool things much, but it will at least improve airflow.
Keep the furnace fan on. Most thermostats allow you to manually turn the fan on that blows hot air through your home in the winter. In the summer, that fan can be run on its own to circulate and more evenly distribute the cooler air from the basement or main level. It also acts as another way to keep the air flowing and moving, which makes you feel cooler.
Maximize your air conditioner. The smoother and more efficiently you’re A/C runs, the better it will cool your house when called upon. Installing a programmable thermostat can help this process, rather than you fiddling with the temperature every morning and evening. Summer temperature recommendations are as follows:
• 75 degrees, +/- 1-2 degrees, during the hours that you’re home
• 80 degrees, +/- 1-2, during hours you’re away
• Sleeping: it’s well-researched that people sleep better when it’s cooler. If there’s a time to crank the A/C a little bit, the overnight hours might surprisingly offer the most bang for the buck. Experiment with a few different temp settings to see how you feel in the morning, and go from there.
These temperatures will feel very warm at first, but after a week or two, your body will adjust and you’ll get comfortable again. Don’t deviate too much from these recommendations until you’ve tried it out for a full week or so.
Change you’re A/C filters regularly. Every 4-6 weeks, especially during the months of heaviest use, change out the filter on you’re A/C. A dirty filter not only reduces air quality, but it also reduces air flow and makes your system work harder.
Keep doors inside the home open. While in the winter, closing doors helps keep heat in specific rooms, doing so in the hot summer months is detrimental to your cause. You want air to flow freely through rooms and through the entire house. Great airflow means a cooler home, so keep inside doors open unless you want those rooms to become stifling hotboxes.
Turn on bathroom exhaust fans. While you should be turning on the fan anytime you shower, in the hot summer months, leave it on for a while longer than you normally would. Hot showers obviously heat up bathrooms quite a bit, and that heat can easily leak out into surrounding areas. Leave the bath fan on for an extra 20 or 30 minutes so it can really pull the hot air out. No need to worry about your energy costs; bathroom fans are simple devices that run at a very low cost.
Turn off/replace light bulbs. While the soft yellow glow of incandescent or CFL light bulbs creates a nice ambiance in the home, they also give off a lot of heat. One or two lamps won’t make your house unbearable, but you will save energy and create less heat using LED bulbs.
