As the warmer months set in and temperatures rise, homeowners must balance staying comfortable with paying a reasonable amount for cooling their houses. Both of these concerns have led many people to notions that may seem intuitive on the surface but don’t actually work. Consider the following three common cooling system myths.
1. Lower Your Thermostat for Faster Cooling
You arrive home and the temperature isn’t as cool as you like, so you drop the thermostat to 60 degrees, even though what you really want is 68 degrees. As a leading provider of cooling services in Eureka and Humboldt County, we encounter this misconception often. The idea is that lowering the temperature even further will make the system work harder and achieve the cooler temperature sooner. A central AC unit, however, can’t actually cool faster, so this approach actually has no effect.
2. Close Registers in Unused Rooms for Better Performance
The idea here is that if you close vents in unused rooms, then the AC won’t work as hard and will actually get the cooled air to your desired rooms faster. What actually happens is that pressure in the system is increased so that energy efficiency and airflow are decreased. This means less evenly distributed cooling throughout the home.
3. Turning the AC Off Wastes Energy
Turning your AC off suddenly and repeatedly is certainly wasteful, but turning your AC off while you’re away at work, for instance, isn’t. Your system won’t have to work any harder when you return. An even better approach is to invest in a programmable thermostat that can keep your system at an ideal temperature throughout the day.
Know Your Cooling System
At Evans Mechanical, we provide many cooling services and would love to help you optimize your system. We’re also here to help you with heating systems, water heaters, indoor air quality, solar energy, and more. Call us today to schedule your initial consultation.
