HOUSTON – The keys to keeping your Houston-area home cool all summer and especially during the next few, hot weeks is to focus on blocking out the intense heat of the sun, improving the ventilation and the output of your air conditioning system and reducing the indoor heat that is filtering down from your attic, which is hot, into your home, which you want to keep cool.
I have five ways to keep your home cooler, save money on your energy bill and also keep your A/C system running better for years to come, which will also save you thousands of dollars.
Number 1
You have to keep as much heat from the sun out of your home as possible and the answer is controlling your window shades and blinds.
Make sure your blinds are angle up. Blinds that are angled down let tons of light into your home because the sun is pointed down on your home and if your blinds are pointed down the sun just floods into your home making it hotter.
Instead, angle the blinds up. Flip them up to block more sun.
Step Two
Make sure your ceiling fans are spinning in the right direction.
Yes, there is a difference, and it is huge.
Make sure your ceiling fans are all spinning in a counter-clockwise direction.
Why is this important?
It’s important because when the blades are spinning counter-clockwise, they are pushing the air down on you and cooling you better.
Next, keep your thermostat as high as you can and still be comfortable, but whenever you leave your house, raise the temperature by four degrees and no more than four degrees.
That’s because for every degree you go up, you save 3% on your energy costs, but when you go past four degrees you lose money paying for your system to work harder when you finally come home and want to make it cooler.
Next. make sure you install an attic tent in your home attic.
This is a device that costs about $450 and has a zipper opening, that goes right over the opening to your attic and keeps tremendous amounts of heat from going from your attic into your living space.
Finally, you need to check your A/C units filter every four to six months to see if it’s clogged up.
If it is, you need to install a new A/C filter into the unit, which is probably located inside your attic.
That will allow much more efficient air flow and a much cooler temperature inside your home.
