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re: Tips on how to bring down your energy bill during the summer
Posted on 7/14/26 at 7:18 am to Lickitty Split
Posted on 7/14/26 at 7:18 am to Lickitty Split
Dry your clothes on a line
0
Posted on 7/14/26 at 7:18 am to Lickitty Split
Good suggestions already. If your house is under-insulated I'd start there. The radiant barrier for the attic door was a big help for mine too. They're pretty cheap on Amazon and take 2 minutes to install.
Another thing I've been working on is building solar screens for my south and west facing windows. Our living room windows are huge and let a ton of heat in, so I bought some 80% mesh (they sell 90% but it makes it too dark) and the aluminum framing from Home Depot and building them myself. They're better than tint or curtains because they stop the heat before it ever hits the window.
Another thing I've been working on is building solar screens for my south and west facing windows. Our living room windows are huge and let a ton of heat in, so I bought some 80% mesh (they sell 90% but it makes it too dark) and the aluminum framing from Home Depot and building them myself. They're better than tint or curtains because they stop the heat before it ever hits the window.
Posted on 7/14/26 at 7:25 am to The Mick
quote:
This is actually bad for the air flow in the house, supposedly.
Yeah, I wouldn’t recommend it… we leave all vents and doors open- gotta have max air flow.
Posted on 7/14/26 at 7:26 am to Lickitty Split
About 10 solar panels and a basic string inverter on the south facing side of your house will produce more energy than your AC unit will use running full blast through the hottest part of the day.
Posted on 7/14/26 at 7:28 am to SuperSaint
quote:
About 10 solar panels and a basic string inverter on the south facing side of your house will produce more energy than your AC unit will use running full blast through the hottest part of the day.
That Cali way of thinking finally got to you, huh?
Posted on 7/14/26 at 7:31 am to GCTigahs
quote:
for 70° until 2:55, then 78° from 3p-6p
I’ve always wondered if you use more energy cooling down at night (say from 78 down to 70) or if it’s better to keep it a steady temperature all day long.
Posted on 7/14/26 at 7:31 am to Hangit
quote:Sorry, wouldn’t that be aboot 41 cm 0f insulation in Manitoba?
When we had our house built, we had extra insulation in the walls and had them blow in aboot 16" 0f insulation in the attic.
Posted on 7/14/26 at 7:33 am to SallysHuman
quote:
quote:
unless you close vents in unused rooms
This is actually bad for the air flow in the house, supposedly.
Correct. Do not close or cut back on the louvers at the registers as it does screwup the air flow through house AND through the evaporator. More air movement = feels cooler and more air through the evap coils = more cool air for the same amount of run time on the compressor.
Posted on 7/14/26 at 7:34 am to maizegoblue
quote:
Also, shower early or late.
No, if you're pipes are in the attic, then shower at mid day. You don't even have to turn on your hot water cause the water in the cold pipes are hot as hell.
Posted on 7/14/26 at 7:35 am to Lickitty Split
Turn it off and go camping.
Posted on 7/14/26 at 7:36 am to Lickitty Split
We bought a mini split to help with our big living area. Energy bill dropped dramatically.
Posted on 7/14/26 at 7:39 am to Lickitty Split
Black-out curtains everywhere.
All ceiling fans on. Set to medium speed to move air through the hottest part of the day. High speed at night.
Open doors to all rooms to prevent “heat spots.”
If two story, have both a/c’s running and not just one.
Don’t set a/c’s to 80° during the day, keep them at most 20° lower than outside temp.
Limit clothes and dish washing. This uses a ton of electricity.
Use LED bulbs and keep lights off when not in the room
All ceiling fans on. Set to medium speed to move air through the hottest part of the day. High speed at night.
Open doors to all rooms to prevent “heat spots.”
If two story, have both a/c’s running and not just one.
Don’t set a/c’s to 80° during the day, keep them at most 20° lower than outside temp.
Limit clothes and dish washing. This uses a ton of electricity.
Use LED bulbs and keep lights off when not in the room
Posted on 7/14/26 at 7:39 am to Lickitty Split
Shade your AC unit. This has proven to decrease the exterior temp of the unit, thereby making it more efficient. Just ensure you use a method that does not inhibit air flow.
You can try something like this: AC Shade
You can try something like this: AC Shade
Posted on 7/14/26 at 7:43 am to Lickitty Split
Make sure your exteriors doors are sealed. Check the weather stripping.
Do laundry at night. While dryer is running it acts like an exhaust vent. The CFM of air it rejects outside will the the CFM of air pulled in from outside.
Change to LED lights. They put out 1/3 the heat as incandescent light bulbs and still less heat then compact fluorescent bulbs
Tint on exterior south facing windows will help reflect the radiant heat gain on the house. Close blinds curtains held as well
Most importantly, make sure the wife and kids do not touch the t-stat. They don’t know how it operates.
EDIT: drop stairwells leak as well and are usually un-insulated. they make a box enclosure (or you can make you own) to help seal and insulate them. especially bad if near your return air grill. drop stair are usually close to A/C unit fer serviceability and "readily accessible" code requirement
Change your filter. dirty filter causes more static pressure drop and more fan energy
clean you condensing coil (outdoor unit coil) grass, dirt, ants, leaves will clog the coil and lower heat transfer. unit will run longer to reject heat. best to do from inside unit ot as that is opposite the air flow direction. pull unit disconnect by outdoor unit. remove 4 screws holding the fan and fan guard an use a hose with sprayer to jet the coil clean
best, most energy efficient A/C unit is one that doesn't run as often. sealing the building envelope and not allowing infiltration goes along way in doing that.
Do laundry at night. While dryer is running it acts like an exhaust vent. The CFM of air it rejects outside will the the CFM of air pulled in from outside.
Change to LED lights. They put out 1/3 the heat as incandescent light bulbs and still less heat then compact fluorescent bulbs
Tint on exterior south facing windows will help reflect the radiant heat gain on the house. Close blinds curtains held as well
Most importantly, make sure the wife and kids do not touch the t-stat. They don’t know how it operates.
EDIT: drop stairwells leak as well and are usually un-insulated. they make a box enclosure (or you can make you own) to help seal and insulate them. especially bad if near your return air grill. drop stair are usually close to A/C unit fer serviceability and "readily accessible" code requirement
Change your filter. dirty filter causes more static pressure drop and more fan energy
clean you condensing coil (outdoor unit coil) grass, dirt, ants, leaves will clog the coil and lower heat transfer. unit will run longer to reject heat. best to do from inside unit ot as that is opposite the air flow direction. pull unit disconnect by outdoor unit. remove 4 screws holding the fan and fan guard an use a hose with sprayer to jet the coil clean
best, most energy efficient A/C unit is one that doesn't run as often. sealing the building envelope and not allowing infiltration goes along way in doing that.
This post was edited on 7/14/26 at 7:56 am
Posted on 7/14/26 at 7:51 am to Lickitty Split
Here's what we have done.
• raise the thermostat during the day to 80°
• close the blinds
• cut off the vents in unused rooms such as spare bedrooms
• turn lights off that you don't need
• use ceiling fans in occupied rooms
Fortunately, we don't have a lot of windows on the south side and our home is very well insulated.
Our electric bill is never above $150 per month here in south Louisiana
• raise the thermostat during the day to 80°
• close the blinds
• cut off the vents in unused rooms such as spare bedrooms
• turn lights off that you don't need
• use ceiling fans in occupied rooms
Fortunately, we don't have a lot of windows on the south side and our home is very well insulated.
Our electric bill is never above $150 per month here in south Louisiana
Posted on 7/14/26 at 7:57 am to Lickitty Split
quote:
Tips on how to bring down your energy bill during the summer
How old is your AC unit?
Most don't want to hear this but if you're unit is older than say 20 years, it's likely very inefficient compared to new systems. I bit the bullet and changed my whole system, out 2 years ago and my electric bill wend down by over $200/month.
Not only that, but in the hottest part of the summer it has no problem driving the temp inside down in the 60's, So much for the old AC mans BS line that systems will only drop the temp ~20 degrees from the outside temp.
Posted on 7/14/26 at 8:00 am to HillabeeBaw
quote:
I cant imagine paying a $600 power bill. If your power bill is that much, something is extremely wrong imo.
Try a 5k+ sq foot house with a lot of windows that faced South and West. Tinted the whole house for $2k, and the power bill was never over $250 again.
Posted on 7/14/26 at 8:02 am to Lickitty Split
Not sure how much it actually saves, but I've always heard that unplugging unused electronics reduces the vampire effect. Google says that's about $10 month going towards turned off/standby appliances.
Posted on 7/14/26 at 8:04 am to Hangit
quote:
People around here complain about $4-800 monthly bills
Co-worker's bill is always $600-700 every month. The highest mine's ever been was under $250. My tips are don't use your dryer and try not to use your oven.
Posted on 7/14/26 at 8:26 am to Lickitty Split
Use less electricity
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