air conditioning

How to Save Energy with Air Conditioner

‘Big’, this word often frustrates women when it comes to electric bills. Electricity is in a business deal with your appliances. Electricity will keep them running for you to be more convenient and depend on them. Now, appliances depend upon the availability of electricity that you will pay for. Everyone gets what they need, appliances get their juice, users get their convenience and electricity is just happy with the thought of being needed and that you would pay anything for it so just not to ruin that cool feeling while watching your favorite show and re-heating a pizza at the same time.

White air conditioner

So with everyone’s wants and need fulfilled, everyone must be happy right? Well, not really because when the electric bill comes, that big smile of yours will slowly turn to a frown while our eyebrows forcefully meet each other. Each day, people activate several appliances and gadgets – TVs, radios, home theaters, computers, ovens, fans, refrigerators, air conditioners and many more. Even just by a turning these appliances on and off, you are already given consuming much power. One of the appliances that eat up too much electricity –thus contributing greatly to your bill- is the air conditioner. But even if the with the huge bills, you still would not want to replace your air-conditioner with a hand fan. With all these taken into consideration, we strongly suggest that you utilize these cool tips on how to maintain and save energy with air conditioners:
Proper use of the air conditioner remote control

• First thing to consider make sure that there are no leaks and that the air conditioner ducts in the system is fully insulated and sealed properly. Leaks cause around 30-40 percent of the energy to be wasted.
• Automate your air conditioner. If your machine does not have this feature, try to install an electronic setback thermostat. This allows you to program when the air conditioner should start. Hence, you do not have to turn it all day until you go back home.
• If it is possible, try to find a proper spot for the air conditioner without exposing it to too much sunlight. This insures that less energy would be needed in running it.
• In winter, set the room temperature between 18-21oC while in summer, put it at around 23-26 oC. Due to lack of humidity in summer, 23-26o C should feel cooler. And try to close the curtains on a hot summer day or cold winter nights.
• Pre-cool the room by turning the air conditioner before the day turns hot.
• Close the windows and doors when using the air conditioner.
• On summer days, adjust the air flow towards the ceiling. It would be the other way around if it is winter. Note that hot air rises while cool air subsides lower.
• Make a habit of cleaning your air conditioner. Refer to the manufacturers’ manual.
• If you have the budget, replace your old air conditioner with a new and more efficient unit. This is a long term investment in which you can save tons of money from your bills.

Read More
air conditioning, Cooling systems

How to clean your air conditioning duct

Air conditioning ducts are simple metal sheets or tubes that transport hot and cold air through all parts of your home. Some these air ducts spread through all parts of the house in order to give appropriate ventilation. Hence, when your portable air conditioning ducts are experiencing problems, it can produce health hazards the result to major problems concerning your complete air conditioning.

As part of routine maintenance for air conditioners, its air ducts should also be cleaned. When you have a residential system of air conditioning, it is always you how cleans all the air ducts. Nonetheless, air conditioning filters of businesses or large-scale places, ductwork is very complex along with a maze of air pipes. It is appropriate to hire an air conditioning duct cleaning service for the prevention of future problems. These entities all have air conditioning duct cleaning materials to clean the whole ductwork. This commonly costs from $400 up to $1,500 and depends on the size of ventilation you have with air conditioning systems. Cleaning air ducts pertain to air conditioner cleaning involving the fan, filter, and air conditioning ducts inside a simple unit.

Commercial and residential areas with cooling systems use mazes of pipes that results to a large hassle when cleaning your own air conditioning unit. This makes hiring an air duct cleaning service very wise that will maintain the good working condition of your air ducts.

Here are some of the aspects you need to observe in order to determine if your air conditioner needs cleaning:
• When you observe for any molds or when you recently discovered a mold growth from past cases, which has not yet disappeared.
• When these is an insect or rodent present already infesting your air conditioner outside or inside air ducts.
• When you air conditioning system is clogged because of dust buildup when you haven’t cleaned your ductwork or air conditioning filters for a long period.

Considerably, you can have your air conditioning ducts cleaned because it is logical to think that it will accumulate dust and other particles. This means occasional cleaning. During the debate on the importance of regular duct cleaning, no evidence says of such cleaning to be dangerous or detrimental when cleaned properly.

Nonetheless, when the service provider fails to observe proper procedures for duct cleaning, this can multiply indoor air complications. For instance, insufficient vacuum system of collection can release more dirt, dust, and other pollutants that damages cooling, heating, and duct capacity. More likely, this increases heating and costs for air conditioner repair or it may even become difficult and costly for replacements and repairs.

Read More
air conditioning, Cooling systems

Portable air conditioning tips, maintenance and equipment

No matter where you are or where you live, portable air conditioning provides the answers to your desire of efficient air circulation and cooling and heating system for your home. It can be carried from one place to another without the need of too much effort on your part. It can also be used as an ornament to cover up for oddly–shaped windows. It also offers the wonderful solution for people who don’t want to go through the trouble of putting up holes or nails as required in the set–up of outside air conditioning component.

Portable air conditioning for homes

They also assure people that unusually–shaped windows at their homes will obtain adequate air circulation. An air conditioning system is similar to a portable air conditioning in the sense that they both provide the same air conditioning and heating, however the amount or the region it cools or heats is lesser and targeted. Ideal rooms could be transformed office space, basements, attics and even your garage. Portable air condition is also ideal for maintaining a suitable temperature for your computer hardware. Its easy-to-change carbon air condition filters also make it ideal for individuals who have allergies. These filters help in the removal of common allergens such as bacteria, animal dander, pollen and dust.

Portable conditioners are mostly mistaken with a portable air cooler. While the portable air cooler utilizes water and the process of evaporation to chill, portable air conditioners utilize Freon to chill. Portable air conditioners are more efficient in cooling rooms while maintaining the humidity at a minimal level. They are more expensive than window fans or evaporative swamp coolers; however portable air conditioning provides the atmosphere of central air conditioning with the benefit of generally minimal air conditioning maintenance.

Removing dirt from the air conditioner filter is very simple and effortless. You just have to use a supple, damp cloth in wiping the filter clean and you just have to do it every two weeks. Using a portable air conditioner does not just provide us the advantage of its feature of being moveable, but it also allows us to save money. We do not have to spend on its installation unlike an air conditioning system that needs to be attached to our homes.

Portable air conditioning cooling and heating

When choosing the type of air conditioner to use at your homes, you also need to consider a few factors such as room size and power consumption. Although portable air conditioners do have a lot of advantages, it also has disadvantages. They produce more sound than fixed air conditioners since a portable air conditioner’s condenser is just inside your home unlike the fixed air conditioner which has its condenser outside. Some portable air conditioners also necessitate the manual removal of water from its drain bucket, instead of automatically trickling the eater outdoors.

Read More
Cooling systems

Advice in home air conditioning filters

Air conditioning filters are the single best source for keeping your cooling system clean. There are filters that are made up from many materials. There are filters that use spun fiberglass (least effective) polyester and blends that will capture more particulates. All filters use terms called arrestance, and MERV ratings. The general rule the higher the number, the better the filtering qualities will be. The first question is what the main purpose of an air conditioning filter is in your air conditioning system.

Air conditioning equipment

Air conditioning filter was first installed in a central air conditioning system to keep the equipment clean and to reduce the maintenance on the system. When air flows through the system the dust and dirt that is in the air deposits on the blower and coil of the air handling unit. The dirt that is build up can cause the blower and coil to become restricted and not move the proper amount of air. The gas or an electric heat system where there is the dirt and lint can build up on the heater and when it goes into the heat mode, it can smoke or burn off.

The solution is to filter the air before it goes into the system; thus, the home air conditioning filters exist. First, filters that were utilized were basic low density filters called Furnace Filters because they were made for heat only systems. If there is no cooling coil on a system they did not need a very efficient filter. The fiberglass filters are very loosely woven and are very inefficient. As the number of central air conditioning systems increases, a better filter is installed and had to be used to keep the inside cooling coils from plugging up with dirt. It catches the big stuffs and some of the smaller stuffs and will keep the equipment cleaner.

Air conditioning filters

If the coils get saturated with water in the cooling process, they become very efficient filters, much more efficient than standard filters. It catches the smaller particles of dirt and dust that the filters do not. With this, the main problem is that the coils catch and hold this dirt and then become restricted and cause cooling problems. These air conditioning filters need to have increased surface area because of their increase in density of the material. They then went to thicker filters so that they could increase the density of the material even more and catch smaller particles. The very important thing you can do to keep your air conditioning and heating system working efficiently is to make sure the air conditioning filters are always clean and are matched to the unit. That way, filters will perform well according to your expectations.

Read More