Summer Cooling Tips

How to keep your home cool when temperatures rise

During the cold spells of winter, we look forward to the heat of summer, but sometimes, it just gets to darn hot. Like the high costs to heat your home during the long winter months, you can expect high cooling costs during the dog days of summer when air conditioning units, ceiling fans, window fans, and anything else that will cool you down suddenly become your best friends and you start looking for ways to beat the heat without breaking the bank.

There are ways that you can save money by minimizing energy usage. All you have to do is put in place a few environmentally friendly principals that are as easy as one, two, three such as:

• During daylight hours, keep as much sunlight out as possible by keeping windows and doors closed, especially those facing the south and west sides of your home. Keep blinds, shades, and drapes closed and if possible, use white or light colored window dressings to reflect sun rays.
• Open windows at night. This allows cooler night air to flow through the home and helps it stay cooler a little longer when when the temperature starts heating up again in the morning.
• Closed cabinets in the kitchen, bedrooms, and elsewhere in the home can store a lot of heat. Leave them open at night so heat will escape and cool down the insides.
• Replace incandescent light bulbs with cooler burning and more energy efficient fluorescent bulbs and keep all lights turned off as much as possible during the day.
• During hot summer days, you should do your laundry at night or early in the morning. Also, shower during the cooler parts of the day or at night. Keep vents open in the bathroom, kitchen, and laundry room to let hot air and humidity escape. Humidity makes hot air in your home even hotter.
• A fan blowing on ice, in a jug or bucket, makes the air cooler. This is a trick that can cool your home substantially.
• Shut off all heat generating appliances in your home, especially ovens, during the day. If you have to cook, do it in the early morning hours or wait until the temperatures start to fall late in the evening.
• Check your ceiling fans to make sure they are set to for the right season. Ceiling fans have two settings, one for winter months when warm air should be pulled up and one for summer months when hot air should be pushed down. When it gets hot, you should check the setting to make sure your fan is blowing down. It makes a big difference. Ceiling fans are much more cost effective than air conditioning units.

If you work outside your home during the day, before you leave, make sure all nonessential appliances and electronic devices are turned off. If not, they generate unnecessary heat and will help keep the temperature in your home at a higher level all day.

The small things you do can add up to big savings on your energy bill and make your summer cooler and more enjoyable.

More ways to keep your home cool in the summer while saving money.

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