HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Staying cool this summer could be costly. "As temperatures increase, we're going to try and keep our homes and businesses cool and comfortable," Joe Holmes with Decatur Utilities shares. "Most heat pumps are designed to overcome about 20 degrees between the outside and the inside. So, when it's 80 degrees outside, that's not too hard being such a heat pump on whatever but you get up in the nineties and you try to keep it at 68 or 67 or 65 or even 72 that can put a lot of strain on the heat pump and cause it to work harder. and when it's working harder, it uses more energy.
With a few adjustments, you can help keep those cost down starting with temperature control. "The Department of Energy actually recommends, if you can stand it, set your heat pump to 78 degrees, and that will save you both energy and money ultimately on your bill," Holmes explains. "People throw things at me when I say that and I understand that that can seem a little warm, but there are some things you can do to kind of offset that.
Holmes explains what should do when not at home. "The other thing is, if you're going to be gone all day, don't cool the home to 70 degrees all day. you're going to be going to work for 8 or 10 hours. go ahead. but put up five or seven more degrees."
If that's still too warm. "One is to turn your ceiling fan counterclockwise, if you like. Most ceiling fans have a little switch, and you can change the way the fans rotate so if you're looking up at it, you want it to go counterclockwise during the summer," Holmes explains. "What that does is create a wind chill, wear off of me with windshields in the winter because it could be 20 degrees outside and feel like a zero."
When it comes to your windows. "What you want to remember is solar heat is something you do not want in the house or in the summer in the winter, we want that because that's free heating in the summer," Holmes shares. "We want to keep it out so, close those blinds, close those curtains, keep that solar heat out. You can open them up at night. They kind of let some of that into your heat dissipate."
For you cooks out there. "We also say, don't use your huge appliances, don't use your oven dry clothes, don't dry dishes during the hottest brother day," Holmes explains. "Wait till after dinner,7:00, 8:00, that's a cooler part of the day," Holmes shares. "So, you're not adding that heat into the house and asking your air conditioner to offset it."
Lastly make sure to get your heat pump serviced. "You need to get your people serviced annually, change that filter once a month, set some kind of a reminder," Holmes shares. "You want to change those monthly, but once a year, preferably in the spring or the fall, before we really put a lot of stress on that hip hop, you want to get it service that has a technician."