Ways to Prune Summer Cooling Bills

by George Karonis

During the hot temperatures of summer, heavy use of your air conditioner, refrigerator, humidifiers, and other home appliances can increase your electric bills exponentially. Power companies, in many regions, charge you on a tiered basis for electrical usage.

And, the more electricity you use, the more you’re going to pay. The cost of extra power can almost triple during any given month when you have used up your allocated amount of electricity. One top strategy to save money is to eliminate this excess usage.

The U.S. News and World Reports list a number of ways you can lower your electric bills for cooling including:

  1. Use Your Air Conditioning in a Smart Way
    Your air conditioning is a huge culprit of what spikes your electric bills in the summer. Just by using less AC, you can cut back on your power usage significantly. You can save money simply by keeping your thermostat set at 78 degrees Fahrenheit or higher. If this seems like you’ll end up living in a hot home, there are a few other things you can do.

For instance, don’t cool your home when you’re not there. Install a programmable thermostat if you don’t already have one. This helps to eliminate wasted energy when you’re not there. Set the thermostat so that while you’re away or sleeping it kicks the AC up a few degrees automatically to room temperature. When you’re home and moving around, you can keep it a little cooler.

Also, don’t chill rooms that you’re not using. In unused guest rooms or other areas of your home you’re not using, close the registers. Just make sure you close the doors to these rooms unless your thermostat is located in one of them; keep the door open to that room.

  1. Install Attic Fans to Ventilate Super-Heated Air from the Attic
    Installing an attic fan will help you cool your home more efficiently. Hot air from your attic transfers to your ceiling below and this raises the temperature in the other rooms of your home significantly. An attic fan draws in the cooler air from the outdoors through the vents of your attic (gable and soffit) and pushes the indoor hot air outdoors.
  1. Reduce Humidity
    Your air will feel warmer when high humidity hits. By lowering the humidity, your home will feel cooler. A big part of the job of your AC unit is to eliminate the humidity from your indoor air which makes it feel cooler. Minimize humidity-creating activities like cooking and washing and drying your clothes to cut back on the work of your AC unit. When cooking or showering, run ventilation fans, but refrain from overusing them. After you use them, turn them off to prevent the AC-cooled air from expelling from your home.
  1. Install a Whole House Fan
    If you don’t have an air conditioner or you want to give it a break, consider installing a whole-house fan, like the QC ES-6000 Energy Saver Whole House Fan, that draws in the outdoor cool air and exhausts the hotter air from your home. Whole house fans exhaust the hot air through your windows or attic soffits which cools your home. By eliminating the hot air in your home with a whole house fan, you also create air circulation that helps to prevent indoor allergies and air pollution that can occur from air filled with stagnant pollen.

If you’re looking to cut your summer cooling bills this year, contact us here at WholeHouseFan to learn out how an attic fan or whole house fan can help.

Call toll-free at 1.888.229.5757 or direct at 1-661-775-5979.

Back to Whole House Fan Blog