Helpful Hints for People Getting a Central Air Conditioner
Owning a central air conditioner in your home is different than just experiencing it in a store or office. No matter how familiar you are with using air conditioning to cool down, actually being responsible for maintaining one is a whole new world. If you’re new to owning a central air conditioner, keep reading to learn about some helpful tips.
Be Careful About Leaving the HVAC on While You're Away
When you get back from being away, the house may be very stuffy and uncomfortable. Leaving windows open while you're gone is not a good idea safety-wise, so you may be tempted to leave the air conditioning on while you’re gone. But if you do this, you're spending energy cooling a home that's unoccupied.
A good middle ground to follow is if you'll be gone for a few hours, you may as well leave it on, just with the thermostat at a higher temperature. This is especially true if humidity is a problem in your area. But if you'll be gone for days, turn it off.
Don't Close the Air Vents
Closing vents in unused rooms seems like a good way to conserve energy. The logic here is that blocking cooled or warmed air from entering unused rooms sends the air elsewhere where it can be useful. While closing vents does force the air to go elsewhere, it's not exactly useful and can be harmful.
All the air in that duct ends up circling back after finding the closed vent, and it ends up traveling to other parts of the house. But that creates pressure imbalances where one room might have more air flowing in than the room on the other side of the door. That can make the door between those rooms harder to open as air pushes against one side (or harder to keep closed as air pushes on the other side).
The pressure imbalances can also happen inside the ducts. That only leads to damage, and then you may get air leaks in the ducts. Instead, leave the vents open so that air pressure throughout the house is even.
Check for Air Return Capacity
While closing air vents in rooms can lead to temporary pressure imbalances, poor vent placement can lead to continued pressure imbalances. This is fairly common because many homes have only a vent in each room with air returns in common areas like hallways. Air comes into a bedroom with a vent, for example, but if there's no return vent in the room, pressure can build slightly.
That increased pressure can lead to doors being harder to pull open and make it harder for odors to leave the room. To fix this issue, you will have to make a few changes. The easiest is to make the space under the door a little bigger, but in some situations this isn't always enough.
You can also have an HVAC company install a jump duct. This is when two new grills are installed, one in the bedroom and one outside, with a separate duct connecting the two. This creates a pathway for air to flow out of the bedroom instead of increasing the pressure in the room. You can also go all the way and install complete returns in each room. This may be the more expensive option, however.
If you are ready to have a central air conditioning unit installed in your home after years of not having one, call Malone Heat and Air. With our team, you can have the system installed professionally and correctly from the start and enjoy a comfortable home year-round.
