Tips for Cooling Your Home

As temperatures soar, so do electric bills for running air conditioning. Here are some tips to help you stay cool at home while saving money on your cooling bills.

Close Your Curtains. Heavy curtains or shades on the windows on the south and west side of your home can help keep your house cooler. Keep the sun out as much as possible.

Keep the Sun Outside. The only problem with blinds and curtains is they stop the sunlight and heat after it's already in the house. This means some of the heat will rise into your room above the curtains.

Wherever possible, it's best to keep the sun from getting through the windows in the first place. Awnings, exterior blinds, and foliage from trees or vines can prevent the sun from coming in at all. This is also true of your west and south facing walls. Despite advances in insulation, heat still gets in through your walls.

Shade your AC Unit. Air conditioning units run more efficiently in the shade. Consider planting some vines or other ways of shading your unit. Make sure you leave at least 18 inches around the unit to allow heat to dissipate.

Use Fans. Even a small amount of air movement can make you feel several degrees cooler. Fans work by moving air to better evaporate your sweat. For this reason, it makes no sense to run a fan in a room you're not in (unless there's another reason to move that air).

Hunt a Hole. Spending more time in the basement during hot days will allow you to turn down the AC and still remain comfortable.

Push Cool Air Up. Consider putting a large fan in an open basement window while cracking a few windows upstairs. The idea is to push the cool air from your basement throughout your house. By blowing air into the basement and allowing it to exhaust upstairs, you can push some of that naturally cool air throughout our house.

Stir the Air. If your basement has a air return vent, it can be helpful to leave your central heat/ac fan on during the day. Your goal is to mix the air from your basement throughout the rest of your house.

Eat Cold. Consider cold cuts instead of warm meals during particularly hot weather.

Turn Out the Lights. Light bulbs and electric appliances create a lot of heat. Be especially careful to turn off any heat producing appliances. This includes the dishwasher.

Cool Showers. A cooler than normal shower can be refreshing in the heat, but it will also save you from having to overcome the hot steam associated with a hot shower and the heat associated with reheating the water in your tank.

Take Advantage of Mother Nature. Even on the hottest days, we typically have cool nights in our area. Take advantage of that cool air by opening your windows at night to take advantage of any breezes. If there's no breeze, you can blow the cool air into your house using a large fan place in a window.

Shut Out the Heat. Be sure to close your windows in the mornings to keep in the cool air you collected the previous night.

Consider a Swamp Cooler. Window mounted swamp coolers can cool your home very efficiently at a third of the cost of air conditioning.

Implementing even a few of these ideas can greatly decrease your energy use and cost.