Survival Guide: How To Beat The HEAT

05/02/2024

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Welcome to your ultimate guide to staying cool and comfortable all summer long! Whether its refreshing tips and tricks or cooling hacks on energy-saving advice to keeping your cool when temperatures soar. The most asked question our ALL STARS get from customers is how to keep their homes comfortable during hotter temperatures; how to beat the heat. This guide will cover all your basics: how do you beat the summer temperatures, what precautions to use during yard work, what can you easily do yourself for maintenances, and how to store your air conditioning systems for the winter.

How to Beat the Heat:

The best way to ‘beat the heat’ with your air conditioning systems is by being strategic with how and when you turn it on. For example, during those spring months when the temperature is just starting to rise and get warm; use ceiling fans or open windows to get a cooler room. The reason we recommend this for the decent temperature days is because technically the outside temp needs to be at a minimum of 60 degrees before you can run the A/C. Another way to beat the heat of summer is to keep your curtains and blinds close, while yes it is nice to have that fresh sunlight shining into your rooms.

It actually causes the temperature in your home to rise, making the outdoor unit think it needs to be on. There are also programmable thermostats that you can control form your phones, making it easy to have your air conditioning systems on a schedule. Like not being as low temp as when you would be home, compared to when your away from home.

Precautions to use:

With the spring temperatures rising, the grass is also going to start growing. While mowing around the unit is fine, just be extremely cautious if you go to weed wack. There are copper lines that come from the back side of the air conditioner, the best bet for those sections may be to go extremely slow or just use your hands and get the grass as low as possible. Shown in the pictures above, grass shavings can also get stuck in the inside of the system. The best way to remedy that is to try and ensure that when you are mowing that the grass shavings are not getting thrown directly at the unit. While it may be impossible to completely keep it free of grass, the least amount of grass is always helpful.

Do it Yourself!:

While we recommend letting a professional do more of the intense parts of keeping your air conditioning system running, there are some easy thing you can do yourself that will save you in the long run.

1. Change your filters regularly
2. Inspect your unit for bent coil fins
3. Check thermostat settings
4. Keep area around the unit clean and clear of debris
5. Schedule professional annual maintenance
6. Lightly spray the system with the hose (downward angle) in a sweeping motion

Store for the Winter:

While it may seem beneficial to cover your air conditioning systems for those colder months, it actually can do more harm. The systems are built to withstand all seasons, so when you cover the unit moisture can get stuck under the cover; causing it to rust. Another reason covering the system can do harm is if you forget to take the cover off and turn your A/C on, it can cost you in the future for repairs.

If you are ever unsure on if something with your systems should be a certain why, call a professional for them to come out and check for you.