When it comes to staying comfortable in your home throughout the summer, having a reliable air conditioner is an absolute must. One thing to keep in mind is that both high heat and humidity levels can affect the overall performance of your system. Below, we’ll go into more detail about how these factors can influence AC performance and what you can do to minimize their impact.
Longer Run Times
One of the most obvious ways that high outdoor heat can impact the performance of your air conditioner is by causing it to run longer. This is the natural effect of your system having to remove more heat from the air inside your home when the weather outside is hotter.
Higher Energy Bills
This excessive runtime leads to more energy consumption. The longer your system runs, the more costly your energy bills will be. No homeowner wants to be blindsided by an excessively high energy bill because of a heat wave.
Excessive Wear and Tear
When your AC unit is running constantly to combat the high heat and humidity levels, it will experience more wear and tear on its internal components, like its compressor pump and the blower fan. This can drastically shorten their lifespan and even lead to unfortunate breakdowns. In fact, most AC breakdowns happen during heat waves where the internal components are fully stressed to their operational limits.
Humidity Causes Stuffiness
One of the biggest effects of humidity during summer is its impact on your comfort. When humidity levels are high, your body struggles to cool itself efficiently. That’s because sweat doesn’t evaporate as easily in humid air, which will cause you to feel hot, sticky, and uncomfortable. As a result, you may lower the thermostat to compensate, which increases strain on your air conditioning system and drives up energy use.
Preventing AC Issues During Summer
There’s no doubt that both high humidity levels and high heat can have a big impact on the performance of your home air conditioning system. Fortunately, there are a number of different things you can do to help reduce system strain and extend overall longevity.
Get Routine Maintenance Service
One of the absolute best ways to prepare your air conditioning system for the upcoming summer season is to get routine maintenance service. This is where one of our professionals will come out to assess, clean, and test every internal component of your AC unit to ensure that it’s working properly. This will not only maintain the warranty coverage on your system but will also ensure it’s operating as efficiently as possible.
Keep Up With Filter Changes
Your air conditioner has a filter that’s responsible for removing airborne toxins before they enter the internal components of your indoor air handler unit. This is great for protecting the unit from grime and for increasing the quality of air inside your home. It’s important that you routinely check the air filter at least once a month and replace it when necessary. Most homeowners find they need to replace their AC filters every two to three months.
Filter changes may need to happen more often under certain conditions. For instance, if a household has several pets or people residing there, then it is a good idea to conduct filter changes every month to preserve air quality and system efficiency.
Use a Whole-Home Dehumidifier
One of the best investments you can make for your home to help better control humidity levels is a whole-home dehumidification system. This gets installed right inside your return ducting and helps remove excess humidity from the air as it travels throughout your ductwork to the indoor air handler unit.
This reduces the strain on your air conditioning system to remove excess humidity and provides you the benefit of having a lower humidity level in your home. When indoor humidity levels are in check, you’re likely to leave your thermostat at a higher temperature and still be comfortable in your home.
Expert AC Repair Service
Dog House provides expert air conditioner repair service for the Brunswick, ME community. We can also help with all your cooling system replacement, installation, and HVAC maintenance needs. Call us today to book your next service appointment with one of our very knowledgeable AC repair technicians.
