Air Conditioning Efficiency

NEW CONCORD, Ohio – Each year, moderate spring temperatures advance into oppressive summer heat and the cost of keeping your home comfortable can become just as miserable.  

Guernsey Muskingum Electric Cooperative Energy Advisor Ray Crock explains how air conditioner upkeep and maintenance can maximize its efficiency and slow the electric meter’s spin. 

“Air conditioners are often a very neglected appliance. They really should be serviced every year and checked. But even going out yourself and looking at the outside unit, making sure that there’s not a bunch of, seed pods, attached to the coil, grass clippings blown up against it, weeds growing up around it, anything that blocks the airflow through that. Because if it can’t get air through it, it can’t get rid of the heat out of your house,” Crock said.

The airflow around the outside unit helps how efficiently the system operates but changing the inside filter and keeping the inside coil clean maximizes the interior airflow and can prevent mold from building inside the assembly. 

“The air conditioner can cool your house down more efficiently at night than it can during the day. A. the house isn’t gaining as much heat from outside and B. it’s got cooler air to pull through the air conditioner. Which means it can get rid of the heat easier. So it actually works pretty efficiently to turn your air down a little bit at night and cool the house down a little cooler. And then maybe during those peak hours of the day, go ahead and bump the thermostat back up. And you may get 2,3,6,8 hours that the air conditioner doesn’t run at all,” Crock said.

For additional tips and recommendations for summertime energy conservation, you can visit gmenergy.com, or energy.gov.