After working hard throughout the year, it’s finally time for your summer vacation. Before you head out the door for some much needed rest and relaxation though, you might want to think about giving your cooling system the break that it deserves, too. Here’s some useful information on how to maximize savings and conserve energy while on vacation this summer.
Turn the A/C Down, Not Off
Too many homeowners make the mistake of shutting their air conditioners down completely when they leave town. Although this will certainly mean that you won’t spend a dime on cooling while you’re gone, you could end up paying more in the long run. Not only will more energy be required to restore home comfort levels upon your return, but the significant increase in heat may wreak havoc on woodwork and other items throughout your home.
It’s best to turn your cooling system up by a few degrees to cut cooling costs without throwing your house’s regular temperature settings completely off.
Set the Programmable Thermostat
If you have a programmable thermostat, you’re golden! Programmable thermostats are the perfect way to maintain ideal conditions within your home to allow you to conserve energy while on vacation. You’ll have the ability to tell your A/C to kick on at a higher-than-normal temperature while you’re away and set the thermostat back to your regular settings just before your return so you’ll walk back into a nice, cool home.
Tips for Manual Thermostats
If you have a manual thermostat, it’s still smart to turn down your A/C, and 4 degrees is the magic number here. For example, if you typically keep your thermostat set to 74 degrees, you’ll want to change the setting to 78 degrees throughout the duration of your time away from home. This will allow you to conserve energy on vacation without coming home to a sauna that will demand a lot of energy to re-cool.
Learn more about how to conserve energy while on vacation by contacting Ace Hardware Home Services. We’re proud to provide superior home comfort solutions to residents of Dayton and surrounding areas.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Dayton, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).
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