10 Ways to Improve the efficiency of your Air Conditioner

With the rising fuel and electricity rates, it seems like the least you hope for is to get the maximum efficiency possible from all our appliances.There are a number of fancy equipments and add-ons in the market which promise to have your air conditioner efficiency shoot through the roof.

But on the downside, most of these equipments are very expensive, and there is no guarantee about their performance. But  don’t worry, there are a few fail safe methods that not only improve the life time of your appliance, but also have it’s efficiency shoot through the roof.

Do we require professional assistance to follow these procedures?

Not at all. These can be followed by anybody, and requires no special knowledge about the working of an air conditioning unit whatsoever. Here are some fail safe ways to improve the efficiency of your air conditioner.

1. Have your air conditioner serviced by a professional at-least once every six months. A professional can check the direction of air flow, inspect the coils and assess its efficiency.

2. Do not use appliances that produce heat a lot.

3. Keep the artificial lightning as minimum as possible.

4. Make sure the registers are not covered. This includes window curtains and hanging plants too.

5. Set the temperature level to average and not too low, when you are not going to be around for several hours. An increased temperature setting of about 5 degrees saves reduces your bills by almost 15%.

6. Have your walls and furniture cleaned at-least once every 6 weeks.

7. Use curtains to block the heat and sunlight into the room during the hottest part of the day. This not only prevents unnecessary heat accumulation in your room, but also keeps your appliance clean.

8. Make sure the coils of your unit remain clean. Dusty coils block the airflow and reduce the efficiency to start with, and might cause short circuit fires when unchecked for a long duration.

9. Set the fan to run every time you are away or the temperature is set higher than usual.

10. Check your walls for any air leaks that might affect the proper working of the air conditioner. A properly closed residence can save up to 8% of their electricity bills through a year.