How To Protect Your Home From Extreme Heat

The summer months are typically a welcome time for most people. The warmer temperatures and sunny days are a welcome reprieve from the cold winter months. There are times, however, when the heat can become unbearable. How can you protect your home from the extreme heat without burning out your air conditioner? There are some ways to keep your home cooler and protect your AC unit from damage.

Unplug Electronics

Everything you own that uses electricity for power gives off a certain amount of heat. This includes all appliances, TVs, and even cell phone chargers. Instead of leaving unused pieces of electronics plugged into their sockets and letting them heat your rooms up, unplug them until you are actually using them. You might think that turning off each item will be enough to prevent heat from escaping into your house, but it's not; if it's still pulling energy, it's still giving out heat.

Cover Windows

One way to prevent your home from getting overheated is to cover your windows with heavy blinds, drapes or shutters during the heat of the day. You might think this will make your home too dark, but in the blistering heat of midday, your home will gather a lot of heat and it will take your AC a while to cool it off and potentially have to work overtime to do so. You can get blinds or shutters that do let in light so they need not be blackout blinds, but covering your windows will go a long way to cooling your home.

If you don't want to cover your windows and make your house darker, then you can place a shade or awning on the windows in rooms you use the most. This will help to keep the sun from overheating your room and will help your AC keep the house cooler.

Use Fans

Along with your air conditioner, place fans throughout your home in strategic places to allow better airflow throughout the house. If you have ceiling fans, then they should be blowing the air downwards but not at the fastest speeds. The other fans should be on medium and placed where the airflow can circulate around the hallways and rooms effortlessly.

Close Off Rooms

You might find you don't use every room in your house at all times. You can cool your home off faster and with much less stress on your AC if you close off rooms you don't use that often. This way you don't have to worry about cooling them and wasting energy on rooms you aren't using. There are ways to block and redirect the air your AC unit blows into each room by closing off the vents to those rooms for the duration of the heat wave.

Contact an AC repair service for more information.

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