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28 Aug, 2020
With the summer upon us, we experience longer days, relaxing vacations, and, unfortunately, the summer heat. You're probably ready to crank up the AC, in an attempt at keeping your house cool. However, this is quickly going to run up your electric bill.
To help you out, we’re going to show you how to keep a house cool in summer. Here are some of the best tips to cool your house and lower your monthly bill.
One of the quickest ways to cool your room in summer is to simply shut the blinds. By drawing the shades and preventing the summer sun from seeping into your home, you can reduce indoor temperatures by up to 20 degrees.
This is an excellent way of cooling your house down during summer, especially if you have floors that act as thermal mass. If your flooring is constructed from concrete, tiles, bricks, or stone, they can absorb solar heat quickly, and raise the temperature in the room throughout the day.
If you want to really reduce sunlight from filtering into your home, you might consider investing in blackout curtains.
An easy solution when it comes to insulating your home for the summer is to apply a reflective, heat-reducing window film. Since, as much as 30 percent of heat seeps into your home from open windows, having heat-reducing film layered onto your windows is an effective way to keep your home cool in summer. The best part is, it also works to insulate your home during the winter.
“It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity” is a common saying amongst complaining families during a sweltering summer day. In these cases, the best way to keep your apartment cool during a particularly sticky day is to turn on a dehumidifier. A humid day lets heavy excess water vapor linger in the air, making it difficult for your own body’s natural cooling system, sweat, to leave your body.
Not that it would be difficult to convince you to put off chores until the evening during hot summer days, but there’s a practical reason for it as well. As you can probably assume, using hot water in a washing machine and hot air in a dryer will build up heat. Unless you have your appliances situated outside, that ambient heat is going to spread throughout your home.
This concept also applies to dishwashers. If you can stand to let the dishes pile up until the evening, you can prevent additional heat by running the machine at night.
Conveniently, if you’re searching for how to keep your house cool during the summer, a great way is to procrastinate until the sun has set.
If you have a roof with an attic, you’re probably already using cross ventilation. However, the same principle can be applied to the living space. Cross ventilation is a cooling method that doesn’t require any mechanical moving parts. It is also, quite literally, the cheapest solution when it comes to how to keep your house cool in extreme heat.
To allow cross ventilation to cool down your house, you just need to open a window (or door) on one side of the house and open a window on the other side. Cooler, exterior air will force out the warmer interior air. If you have screens covering your windows to protect you from insects, you may even consider leaving the windows open overnight and letting in the fresh evening air.
On your regular house maintenance checklist, changing your AC filters should definitely already be included. However, if you’re looking at how to keep a house cool in summer, then you might want to update your list to change out the AC filters every month or two. Letting dust and grime build-up on the filters not only reduces the airflow coming from the unit, but it can also cause poorer air quality.
A simple tool to include in your colling arsenal is a fan in front of a bowl of ice. Fabricating it is an effective way to circulate a chilly breeze. To do so, place a bowl filled with ice or a frozen ice pack in front of where the fan is directed, and let the fan carry a refreshing gust across the room.
While the adage “If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen” isn’t supposed to be taken literally, in the summer heat it might be best to do just that. Instead of spending your summer days cooking in a hot kitchen, why not move the scene outside by firing up the grill? You might be surprised to see how satisfying it is to cook alfresco.
It’s nearly impossible to escape a hot summer without using an AC unit. If you need a reliable, professional installer, you’re in luck, as Valley Service is here to help. When you contact us, you have a dedicated team of experts that puts your family’s comfort first.
To find out more about how to keep your house cool in summer with the help of Valley Service, call today at (701) 293-5701 or use our contact form to learn more about our Fargo HVAC services.