As summer temperatures start to climb into the 90s in Naperville, your first reaction may be to run into your home and crank the A/C.
But there are many steps you can take to keep your house cool without inflating your A/C bill.
“One of the things a homeowner can do themselves is keeping up with a furnace filter, making sure that doesn’t get too dirty because a dirty filter can not only impede performance, but it can also cause it to break down if it gets bad enough,” said Mike Bakker, owner of Dutchman Heating and Cooling.
According to the Department of Energy, air conditioning accounts for up to 25 percent of all home electricity. On the other hand, a ceiling fan will cost you around a nickel a day.
Larger fan systems like whole home fans, and attic fans can also be tremendously useful.
“If you don’t have an attic fan, your attic can easily get 150 degrees or even higher when it’s this hot outside. So that heat will be stuck in your attic trying to penetrate into your home,” said Bakker.
Bakker also recommends making sure your home is properly insulated and ventilated, which helps in not overworking your A/C when you do want to use it.
Just a few of these tips can go a long way to keeping your A/C bill low along with temperature in your home. And as for cooking in the heat, Bakker has another tip:
“Grilling out.”
Naperville News 17’s Peter Medlin reports.
