How to Adjust Air Conditioning in Your Home

Home air conditioning units are a priceless commodity during sweltering hot summer months. Your air conditioning unit can run your power costs sky high during these times. Properly adjusting your home air conditioning can greatly reduce your power consumption, and correspondingly can lower your power bill during peak operating seasons. Knowing the basics of adjusting your air flow and setting the thermostat properly is essential to maintaining an affordable energy bill, and properly cooling your home.

Instructions

1. Close off air vents to rooms of the house that are unoccupied for large amounts of time. Close the doors to these rooms as well. This will prevent the air conditioner from running harder to cool these rooms, and allow more mass of air flow in occupied rooms.

2. Adjust the thermostat to a sufficient cooling temperature. Typically a thermostat can be set between 70F and 78F to maintain a comfortable temperate climate. You can set the thermostat by lowering the control arm on the side of the thermostat, turning the dial counter-clockwise on dial thermostats, or typing in a specific temperature on digital thermostats. Read the temperature gauge as you change the settings.

3. Adjust the direction of air vents in the occupied rooms of the home. Use the lever on the side of the air vents to change the direction of air flow from straight down to an angle. Angled air vents provide for a radiational cooling effect inside the home. This disperses the air over a wider area, keeping the home cooler and using less power to run the air conditioner.

Tips & Warnings

• Take steps to ensure that your home stays cool without using the air conditioner constantly. Add drapes and blinds to windows facing the sun for long periods. Apply weather stripping to windows and doors to keep the cool air inside the home instead of leaking out. Set the thermostat to off or a higher temperature when you leave for extended periods of time. Use ceiling fans to circulate cool air, and turn them off when you leave a room.

References

• Air conditioning cooling techniques
• Air conditioning repairs
• Choosing air conditioning