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Summertime and the livin' is easy… (if you know how)

Summer is upon us and all the glory that it brings wraps around you like a hammock on a lazy afternoon. Butterflies, bees, birds chirping. You mow the grass and the sweat drips off your brow.

The problem is, the sweat is dripping off your brow in your living room. You mowed the grass hours ago. There is no difference between outside and inside as far as your parched brow is concerned. What do you do?

Perhaps you have an air conditioner, but you've been trying not to use it because it costs a fortune to run it. Even then, it doesn't seem to work well. Here are some tips for your predicament:

  • Have your air conditioner serviced by a reputable dealer. Dirty coils and the wrong charge have a dramatic effect on efficiency and performance. You may see up to a 30% improvement.
  • Change your furnace filter every month. This is important whenever the system is running, winter or summer. A dirty filter slows down the airflow through the system and creates many performance problems.
  • Inspect the duct system for problems. Leaky ducts reduce the performance of your system, possibly more than any other issue. Colorado is notorious for bad ductwork. Unfortunately, care must be taken when sealing ducts. Without guidance, we recommend only sealing the return side of the system.
  • Use fans, ceiling or standing. However, use them only when you are in the room with them. Fans give you the feeling of being cooler without actually changing the temperature of the air. When you run a fan in a room that you don't occupy, you simply add the heat from the motor to the room. Buy EnergyStar® fans for the best performance. Fans that are controlled by the temperature of the room make no sense, as explained above.
  • Change light bulbs to compact fluorescents, which burn cooler. You will be ahead of the game all the way around. You save year-round, over the life of the bulb, and in the summer you'll add less heat to a room.
  • Use evaporative coolers and whole-house fans. Both are cost-effective methods of keeping a house cool without spending a lot. Evaporative coolers have improved in recent years and, with proper maintenance. are a great choice.
  • Do not install powered attic ventilators of any kind. The right answer is to install proper attic insulation (R-38). If that is done, there is no benefit in having a power ventilator. It would only use energy and still potentially cause other problems.