Missouri experiences very long and humid summers. This puts a lot of strain on your HVAC system to keep up with your comfort needs. Fortunately, there are many things that you can do to ensure your HVAC system is operating efficiently and keep your cooling costs in check. From HVAC maintenance to ideal thermostat settings and duct sealing, we can help you with it all.
Schedule Professional Maintenance Service
One of the very first things that you want to do is schedule summer HVAC maintenance service. This is where one of our technicians will come out to thoroughly inspect, clean, and test all the different components of your air conditioning system. We ensure that your system’s evaporator coil is clean so that it can adequately absorb heat. We’ll ensure that your refrigerant level is properly charged and that all your electrical connections are tight.
This professional summer HVAC maintenance service is great for preparing your system to operate efficiently throughout the summer. It’s also necessary to maintain the warranty coverage on your unit, which goes a long way in greatly reducing your breakdown risk.
Keep Up With Routine Air Filter Changes
Apart from professional maintenance, there are things you need to do as a homeowner to maintain that operating efficiency throughout the entire summer season. One of the most important things is routinely changing your system’s air filter. Most homeowners find the need to replace their air filter about every 60 to 90 days. However, the frequency for your home may differ depending on the number of pets you have, how frequently you clean, and so forth.
We recommend inspecting your filter every month by pulling it out of the housing and holding it up to a light. If you can’t see through the filter, it’s time to replace it with a new one. If you or another member of your household suffers from asthma or allergies, you may want to consider getting a filter with a MERV rating of 11 to 13. This offers the best filtering capabilities for most residential cooling systems.
Program Your Thermostat Effectively
One of the absolute best ways to have the biggest impact on lowering cooling costs in Missouri is to use a programmable or smart thermostat. These give you the capabilities of automatically altering your temperature settings each day to maximize energy savings. You can turn the temperature up at times when you know you won’t be home to reduce how often your system runs.
Many smart thermostats come with geofencing technology. This is technology that uses the GPS on your smartphone to determine your location. Whenever you leave your home, it will automatically turn up the temperature to prevent your system from running excessively. It will then turn the temperature back down when it senses your GPS location is close to your home to ensure it’s comfortable when you arrive.
Consider Ductwork Sealing Every 10 Years
If you rely on a heat pump or central air conditioning system, then you have ducting that delivers cold air throughout the different rooms in your home. While your air conditioning system may be operating efficiently, any leaks in your ductwork could be allowing that cold air to escape into your walls and floors. This can make your home feel uncomfortable even though your air conditioning system is operating properly. The EPA estimates that homeowners can be losing between 30 and 40% of their treated air through leaks in their ducting.
When it comes to lowering cooling costs in Missouri, sealing up your ductwork could be the solution. If your ductwork is over 10 years old, it likely has multiple leaks and gaps that are allowing your cold air to escape. Ductwork sealing service is where one of our technicians applies a specialized resin to your ductwork. This resin will harden and create an airtight seal. This will ensure that all the cold air your air conditioning system is producing makes it to the rooms of your home.
Insulation
Insulation acts as a barrier between the temperature of the air outside and inside your home. The better the insulation you have, the less the outside temperature can affect your inside temperature. If you have little or no insulation, the outside heat could be easily seeping into your home and raising your indoor temperature.
If you’re looking for energy-saving air conditioning, one of the best things to do is ensure your insulation either meets or exceeds the local building recommendations. Adding more insulation to an underinsulated home can have a tremendous impact and is one of the hidden HVAC efficiency tips that many homeowners overlook.
Upgrading Outdated Systems
One of the simplest ways to reduce AC bills throughout the summer is to invest in a newer high-efficiency air conditioning system. If your existing air conditioning system is over 10 to 15 years old, it’s likely operating very inefficiently. You may notice that it struggles to remove excess humidity from your home, and your energy bills seem to be on the rise year after year. Newer systems come with modernized features that boost operating efficiency. These include things like variable-speed blowers, which can operate at varying capacities to reduce energy consumption.
Use Ceiling Fans
While a new energy saving air conditioning unit can be the most effective when it comes to lowering cooling costs in Missouri, a cheaper way to also have a big impact is to use ceiling fans. We recommend placing ceiling fans in all the main rooms of your home, like your bedroom, kitchen, and living room. Be sure that they’re spinning in a counterclockwise direction. This creates downward airflow that produces a windchill effect on your body by essentially absorbing sweat. Simply running your ceiling fans is one of the best ways to make each room feel colder than the ambient temperature actually is.
Consider a Whole-Home Dehumidifier
Missouri is well known to have very long and humid summers. Humidity affects your comfort in many different ways. One of the most crucial things to realize is that it makes it harder for your body to naturally cool itself down through the perspiration process. When your body is unable to cool itself as usual, your temperature stays high, and it makes the air around you feel hot. Many homeowners will resort to turning the temperature down on their thermostat to attempt to feel more comfortable.
Unfortunately, this causes your air conditioning system to run overtime trying to maintain a bigger temperature difference between the air outside and the air in your home. This can actually increase your AC bills instead of lowering them. One of the best ways to combat indoor humidity is with a whole-home dehumidification system.
This works alongside your traditional HVAC unit to remove excess moisture from the air. You simply set your desired indoor relative humidity level on your thermostat, and your dehumidifier will kick on whenever necessary. By removing excess moisture from the air, you can feel more comfortable at higher temperatures.
Expert AC Maintenance Services in Kansas City, MO
First Mate Heating & Cooling offers expert AC maintenance service for Kansas City, MO and the surrounding communities. We can also assist with all your AC replacement, installation, and repair needs. Contact our office to schedule an appointment for AC maintenance in Kansas City today.
