Optimizing the Cool: Accenting Your HVAC Equipment During the Hot Summer Months

You know by now that Suburban Companies is in the business of comfort and making sure that our customers’ home and business environment is at an optimal degree. (See what we did there?)

Since we’re smack dab in the middle of summer, we’re going to focus on cooling for a moment. Keeping cool is essential during these long, sunshiny days, and there are ways to further exploit cooler temperatures indoors that help maximize the work that your HVAC unit is doing.

You ready?

Here we go:

Keep the shades drawn

Yeah, we know, it’s nice out, we like to look around at all the lush green grass and vegetation (flowers) that are coming to life and adding a whole bunch of natural beauty to the landscape outside our windows. And while we’re not trying to suggest you shouldn’t take in those sights, we are here to tell you that keeping the blinds/curtains pulled back is heating up the interior of your home or office. We all know that when we’re outside and looking to shave off a degree or two of oppressive heat hitting us from the sun, we seek shade. The same sentiment is true indoors. Creating shade by drawing the, well, shades, is going to drop the internal temperature naturally.

Check the location of your thermostat

If you had your system installed by one of our certified and trusted professionals, you need not worry about this one, but, reality is, this is not the case with everyone reading this… (but hey, contact us if you need information on a new system or need to schedule routine maintenance/service).

Make sure your thermostat isn’t located directly next to a window. Why? Well, quite simply, if you don’t have those (aforementioned) shades drawn (or even if you do), the heat that permeates from your window is going to trigger a warmer response within the operative makeup of your thermostat and “tell it” to turn on and cool things down. Your house may not actually be as warm as what is being read by your thermostat if it’s directly next to the window. Pick a wall that’s at a more centralized position within the room. It’ll make a big difference.

Don’t toss the fan

Listen, we know you’re excited. You’ve got an HVAC system that’s slated to cool the whole house and/or office. And, for all intents and purposes, it will. Some of us get so excited that we ditch the fan (or, let’s be honest, fans – plural) for good. “What do I need it for?” Hey, we get it. It seems like a useless appliance. But that fan, be it a window fan, an standing oscillating unit, or a ceiling fan, can actually accentuate the work your HVAC is doing. If you’ve got a fan circulating on low, it’s going to make the environment around you feel a solid 10 degrees cooler, and, to be completely transparent, a fan uses about 10% of the energy an HVAC unit is going to use. So don’t treat the fan like an inferior part of the family – let it do its thing. The benefits are vast.

The lower the temp, the higher the price

Again, we know you’re excited. So are we. We love installing a new HVAC system for a customer and seeing the look on their face when the initial “fire up” phase kicks in and their home or office is all of a sudden the most comfortable place on earth. We know the feeling. We thrive off of that feeling and reaction. As we mentioned at the start, we take great pride in delivering ultimate comfort. Here’s the skinny, don’t just set the thing on arctic temperatures and assume your going to save a trunkful of cash. There’s saving to be had, for sure, but listen, the lower you set the thermostat the more it’s going to cost you. Keep that in mind. We’re not telling you that you shouldn’t, we’re just merely stating that you’ll save more the higher you get up the ticker on the thermostat (when it comes to cooling – heating is an entirely different subject).

In short: set your thermostat to the highest temperature you can stand in the summer months to keep the most coin in your wallet. You can save around 10% (we know, we keep dropping the 10-figure everywhere in this thing…) a year by setting your thermostat 10-15 degrees higher for approximately 8 hours each day. If you’ve got a smart thermostat, you can automatically adjust the temperature of your home or office depending on what time of day it is and how much use a space gets as it pertains to those specific times. Keep that in mind. And if you’re interested in learning more about different thermostats that are available, here’s some light reading material for you.

We’re here when you need us. And if we don’t hear from you, stay cool and take comfort this summer!