Keep your home cooler this summer. Does your home get hot in the summer months? Would you like to lower your cooling bills this summer so you have more money for the fun stuff? There are a lot of simple things you can do to make your home feel cooler in the summer without running up your power bill by turning your AC to full blast all summer long.
While each of these tricks can help they all work best when you combine them with others to cover as many bases as possible.
How to keep your home cooler this summer.
Provide shade.
If you do not have shade over your home you can add shade sails over large windows, walls that are hit with the hot sun all day, and other areas that tend to heat up from the sun. The shade will help keep the sun off these areas allowing you to be more comfortable all summer long. Even better if your shaded areas are large enough they can even make a great place to relax outside as well.
Use vinyl window film.
Vinyl window film is great for giving yourself privacy when your curtains are open but it is also amazing for helping keep your home cool in the summer. The vinyl acts as insulation from the heat that would normally radiate through the glass and can help block some of the sun’s rays that can leave your home feeling warmer.
Darken windows.
The less sunlight comes in through your windows the cooler your home will be. Thermal blackout curtains can go a long way for helping keep your home cooler in the summer and these same curtains can be used come winter to help keep cold from radiating into your home helping to keep you warmer over the long cold winter.
Be sure to keep blinds closed during the hottest part of the day.
Turn on ceiling fans.
Turn on your ceiling fans to help keep your home cooler and air flowing. If you ran them over the winter be sure to switch them back to the counterclockwise direction to help push the air down creating a breeze to help keep the room cooler. If you do not use your fans year-round it can be easy to forget to flip them on.
Use attic fans.
Use attic fans to blow hot air out and cool the entire home. Hot air rises meaning our attack can get very hot. By running fans to push that heat out you set your home up to pull the hot air out leaving you with a cooler home. If you have two areas you can place fans in the attack you can place one facing in and the other facing out to create a cross breeze across the top of your home helping to pull heat out very quickly.
Create a cross breeze.
The same cross breeze trick can work in any area that has enough windows to set up fans. Placing a fan on the north side of your home where the shade cools the air before it comes in and a window facing the south side to pull hot air out is a great way to take advantage of your windows and fans to make your home a few degrees cooler.
Shut down the upstairs part of your home in heatwaves.
While it can suck to have everyone come downstairs for a camp out in the living room during a heatwave it is a great way to keep your family cooler and more comfortable. Shutting down the upstairs rooms from use and placing fans facing out can help cool your home and when you close the AC vents leading to the upstairs rooms it forces the air to cool the downstairs where everyone is a bit better.
Use your air conditioner colder at night.
By giving your air conditioner time to cool your home more at night it won’t have to work so hard come day to keep your home at your preferred temperature. Depending on your electric plan running your air conditioner colder at night can help you save on your power bill as well by using that extra power when the cost is lower.
Using wind tunnel fans is an amazing investment.
While traditional box fans are best for placing in windows, wind tunnel fans are the best tool for helping to cool a room down faster or for giving your air conditioner a bit of help to cover a larger space. During a heatwave, they can make a big difference in how hot your home feels and even be used to help cool an outdoor seating area.
Place a frozen gallon of water behind your fans.
This trick is a great way to cool the air before blowing it around your house. For those that do not have an air conditioner or find themselves in need of giving their air conditioner a little help, this is a great way to cool things down a bit. Keeping a couple of gallons of water in the deep freezer also helps keep it cold reducing how much it has to run on a hot summer day to maintain temperature.
Do your laundry and run your dishwasher at night.
Things like your dishwasher and dryer tend to add heat to your home when in use. Even with proper venting heat still radiates off these devices. By choosing to run these devices at night you prevent adding that extra heat into your home during the heat of the day. Even better yet when you have the option opt to skip the dryer altogether and hang your laundry out on the laundry line in the morning.
Get everyone out of the house.
The more time you spend in your home the warmer it will get. This can be counterproductive if you are trying to keep the home cooler during a summer heatwave or power outage. Get the family outside in the fresh air as much as possible. A great option is to find some water activities to enjoy outside in the warm weather. The water activities will help keep everyone cool while outside and when you come inside the house will feel colder after you adjust to the summer heat.
How to keep your home cooler this summer.
How to do help keep your house cooler in the summer and save energy costs? Leave your tips in the comments
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