Hello, my name is Iggy and I live in Perth, Australia. Last month, I was out in my garden enjoying the sunshine when I noticed that there was something strange on my roof. I climbed up onto the roof of my home and discovered some damage. While I was up on the roof, I took a long look down at my garden. Seeing it from such a strange angle made me realise how overgrown it looked. The next day I called in some contractors to fix the problems. While they worked, they taught me plenty of cool tips and tricks.
Australian summers can be unbearably hot and humid. In the summer months, air conditioning is not a choice but a necessity so that you can feel comfortable, and so you can prevent yourself from becoming fatigued or even suffering from heat exhaustion. However essential air conditioning in the home might be, it still represents a huge portion of any energy bill. But fortunately, if you wish to reduce the cost of pumping cool air throughout your home, there are some actions you can take.
Switch to a split aircon system. Although centralised air conditioning is the standard, you could save big bucks by saving to a mini-split (otherwise known as ductless) air conditioning system. The difference with this kind of system is that the compressor is located outside the house and separate (often multiple) evaporators are located in various rooms of the home.
There are cost saving benefits with this kind of system for two reasons. Firstly, ducts can develop leakages over time, making them inefficient for pumping air into your home. Secondly, because the air gets pumped out of separate units in the home, you can isolate units so that AC is only present in certain rooms. So if you need a cool environment in your study to get some work done but you don't want to cool the whole house, this is an option with a split aircon system.
Take a trip to the garden centre. Houses heat up when sunlight enters the house through windows. This means that you can keep your house naturally cooler and prevent your AC unit from being put under so much stress by simply stopping that sun getting through the windows. How can you do it? Take a drive to your nearest garden centre and invest in some big trees that you can plant in your front and back garden. They will look great and they will stop sunlight from getting into your home.
Invest in an annual AC check-up. Air conditioning units can deteriorate, lose efficiency, and get dirty over time. As they do so, you'll be paying the same amount for a less efficient system that doesn't cool your house as well. For this reason, it's a good idea to have an AC professional like ACSIS Airconditioning Warehouse to come into your home once a year to assess how your air conditioner is holding up and what can be done to make it work better for you.
Share26 May 2015
