Air Conditioning

Dallas, Texas, has hot summers. If you’re braving the sweltering heat and
Dallas temperatures, any way to keep cool is worth a try. Thankfully, theOn Time Experts has 22 home cooling tips to help you freeze that Texas heat.

The first set of home cooling tips is more traditional in nature, pertaining more to your HVAC system and common methods of staying cool:

  1. Install a programmable thermostat. Preset temperatures for different times of the day. This way, your AC unit only runs while you’re home, saving you up to 20 percent on energy costs.
  2. Set your thermostat to 78 degrees or higher. For every degree above 78, you save five to eight percent on cooling costs. Set your thermostat to 85-90 degrees when you leave, and adjust it when you come home. It only takes 15 minutes to cool back down.
  3. Try the Texas Method: At night, open your windows to let the cool air in, and use window or house fans. When the heat rises with the sun, close your windows, lower your shades and keep your doors closed – because if the temperature is more than 77 degrees outside, that hot outdoor air is drawn to your cooler indoor air.
  4. Tighten up your air ducts to increase air-conditioning efficiency.
  5. Because hot air is drawn in through air leaks, make sure they’re sealed.
  6. Cool down your attic. Temperatures in the attic drive cooling costs up by 40 percent. Additional insulation helps to keep the heat out.
  7. Clean or replace your air filters roughly once per month during the summer.
  8. Set your air conditioner at a higher temperature and use a fan. The AC removes the humidity from the air, while the fan moves heat away from your body.
  9. Switch your lights off, or use compact fluorescent bulbs to produce about 70 percent less heat.
  10. Give the dryer a break. Hang a clothesline outside and let your laundry dry with the breeze.
  11. Stay hydrated. As you sweat more, it’s important to replenish your body’s lost water with healthy fluids. Eating fruits high in water content, like watermelon, helps as well. The second set of home cooling tips includes more creative, fast and easy ways to keep cool in Dallas this summer:
  12. Hang a damp sheet in an open window. This lets incoming breezes through and cools them with the evaporating water.
  13. Hang white (sun-deflecting) curtains outside your windows, reducing the heat that passes into your home by as much as 45 percent.
  14. Put a bowl of ice in front of a fan to create a colder breeze.
  15. Keep your fireplace damper shut. An open damper pulls hot air into your home – not the other way around.
  16. Use your vent fan when you shower. It helps sticky moisture escape.
  17. Limit use of your oven. Cook via stovetop, microwave or barbecue to reduce the amount of extra heat in your home.
  18. Shut down your computer. Running computers emit heat. If you aren’t using your machine, shut it down to eliminate unnecessary heat waves.
  19. Air-dry your dishes and skip your dishwasher’s drying cycle. Or, wait to run the drying cycle in the evening, when it is naturally cooler.
  20. Wear sandals. As sweat from your feet evaporates, it cools your skin, which cools your blood – and, eventually, your entire body.
  21. Eat spicy foods. Hot foods cause you to sweat. When your sweat evaporates, it cools your body down.
  22. Fill a sock with rice and freeze it. Rice retains coldness for a longer period of time than water. It’s a longer-lasting cold compress.

    23. Want to learn more about staying comfortable in the heat of summer? Contact the On Time Experts! Your very own Comfort Consultant is standing by to help keep your family comfortable year-round.

    Meet the Author
    Randy Kelley
    Randy Kelley

    Owner

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