Summer is here, and your air conditioning system is working overtime to keep your home comfortable. But if you’re making these common mistakes, you could be driving up your energy bills while shortening your AC’s lifespan. We spoke with HVAC professionals to identify the seven most costly summer mistakes homeowners make – and how to fix them.
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1. Cooling Empty Rooms
The Problem: Leaving doors open throughout your home forces your AC to cool unused spaces, making your system work harder than necessary.
The Fix: Focus your cooling efforts where they matter most. Close doors to guest rooms, home offices, and other rarely used spaces during peak cooling hours. This simple step creates a smaller zone for your HVAC system to manage, improving efficiency without spending a dime.
Pro tip: In open floor plans, consider using temporary barriers like sheets to section off areas and concentrate cooling where your family spends the most time.
2. Ignoring Heat Sources
The Problem: Many homeowners focus only on cooling without addressing what’s heating their home in the first place. Open curtains and blinds allow sunlight to significantly raise indoor temperatures.
The Solution: Block heat before it enters your home by closing blinds and curtains during peak sun hours (typically 10 AM to 4 PM). Consider investing in blackout or thermal curtains for maximum effectiveness – they’ll also help with heating costs in winter.
For long-term savings, strategic landscaping with shade trees and shrubs can naturally cool your home while adding curb appeal and privacy.
3. Skipping Regular Maintenance
The Problem: Neglected HVAC systems are the number one cause of poor air conditioning performance and high energy bills. Dirty filters, clogged coils, and low refrigerant levels force your system to work harder and consume more energy.
The Solution: Schedule annual professional tune-ups before summer hits. Regular maintenance includes cleaning condenser coils, replacing air filters, checking refrigerant levels, and ensuring all components function properly.
Between professional visits, change your air filters every 1-3 months depending on usage, and keep the area around your outdoor unit clear of debris and vegetation.
4. Overlooking Insulation and Air Leaks
The Problem: Poor insulation and air leaks allow hot air to infiltrate your home and cool air to escape, forcing your AC to run longer and more frequently.
The Impact: In older homes especially, inadequate insulation and loose construction create an ongoing battle between your cooling system and Mother Nature – a battle that shows up on your energy bill.
Quick Fixes:
Long-term Solutions:
5. Relying Only on Your AC
The Problem: Depending solely on your HVAC system for cooling is inefficient and expensive.
The Smart Approach: Supplement your air conditioning with fans to create a wind chill effect that makes you feel up to 4 degrees cooler. This allows you to raise your thermostat setting while maintaining comfort, significantly reducing energy consumption.
Strategic fan placement can also help circulate cool air more effectively throughout your home. Just remember to set ceiling fans to rotate counterclockwise in summer to push air down and create that cooling breeze.
6. Playing Thermostat Ping-Pong
The Problem: Constantly adjusting your thermostat – especially cranking it down when you return to a warm house – creates energy spikes that drive up costs.
Why It Backfires: When you let your home get too warm and then demand rapid cooling, your system has to work twice as hard to reach your target temperature, consuming significantly more energy in the process.
The Better Way: Set a consistent temperature and stick with it. Consider a programmable or smart thermostat that can make gradual adjustments based on your schedule, maintaining efficiency while ensuring comfort when you need it.
7. Adding Heat During Peak Hours
The Problem: Using heat-generating appliances during the hottest parts of the day forces your AC to work against additional heat sources inside your home.
The Solution: Time your use of ovens, stovetops, dryers, and other heat-producing appliances for early morning or evening hours when outdoor temperatures are cooler. This simple scheduling change reduces the heat load on your cooling system during peak demand periods.
Consider alternatives like:
Important Steps to Rent Your Home Out from A to Z
Step by step checklist for getting a home rented, and link to the full property management guide
1 Consider strengths and weaknesses for your home and location and consider special strategies to utilize them. Is it a college area? If so, you’ll likely handle a lot differently from low income, or a suburb.
2 Get the property in show-ready condition by handling repairs, but also low-cost aesthetic fixes like spray painting rusted AC grates, and other things that really stand out. A sure way to attract sub-par tenants and repel the rest is to show a home with unrepaired issues.
3 Decide whether you’re going to allow pets or not. Before you decide, know that for most landlords it’s the single best thing you can do to increase your “bottom line” profit over the long term. More on this subject here
4 Set a rental rate that will balance a minor amount of time on market hassle, with monthly rate. Whether in the form of owner-occupied showings, stress, or vacancy. Most owners fail to properly account for these subtle but real costs, especially vacancy. Vacant homes are much more costly than most account for. We can provide a free rental rate estimate compiled by people, not an algorithm, here
The Bottom Line
Small changes in how you use and maintain your HVAC system can lead to significant savings on your energy bills while extending your equipment’s lifespan. Start with the no-cost solutions like closing doors and curtains, then gradually implement the other strategies based on your budget and priorities.
Remember, your HVAC system is a significant investment in your home’s comfort and value. Taking care of it properly ensures it will take care of you through many summers to come.
To read more from this article, visit Summer HVAC mistakes: 7 essential tips to reduce bills | Homes and Gardens.
