June 12, 2020
With summer heat and sweltering humidity rolling in to the New Jersey area, people everywhere are rushing to fire up their air conditioners. However, with electricity prices continually rising, many people are always looking for ways to save money and keep their bills down. After all, nobody likes having to open an electric bill demanding hundreds or even thousands of dollars in service.
For many people, that means turning to old tricks that they may have learned long ago to keep their home more comfortable. However, what you may not realize is that many of these tricks that are often passed around through word of mouth or uneducated internet posts don’t actually help you. In fact, some of these tricks do quite the opposite and actually can cost you more money or cause additional wear and tear on your home. In this blog, we’ll take a look at two common AC habits that don’t actually save you any money and give you the low-down on some things that actually will help you.
This is a common mistake we see, often from people who have read something on the internet about how to save money on their air conditioning. The logic usually talks about how heat rises while cold air falls and thus running only your upstairs air conditioner actually cools your entire home. I’m sure we don’t have to tell you that this isn’t even close to how things work. For starters, your upstairs air conditioner is exactly that: your upstairs air conditioner. It isn’t designed to cool both the upstairs and downstairs areas—it doesn’t have the capacity to handle that, so in reality you’re just overworking it, which places a lot of additional strain and wear and tear on it. Plus it can’t keep up, so that means it will run indefinitely, and that means you’ll be uncomfortable, and you’ll spend more energy doing so.
Here’s how we recommend setting your air conditioners if you have a multi-story home: set your upstairs thermostat to the temperature you want, and then set your downstairs thermostat to two degrees warmer than that. This creates a cascading effect where the cooler air does continue to sink, and thus you can take advantage of that with how you set your downstairs thermostat. Your upstairs unit will still have to operate more, but that’s natural due to the nature of multi-story homes. In any case, this will help you save money and save wear and tear on both your upstairs and downstairs systems.
We see this happen pretty often: a homeowner closes off the vent in a room they rarely use, such as a spare bedroom or an office that’s rarely occupied. The logic here is that by blocking off these rooms, your air conditioner will force more air to go to the other vents around your home, and thus they’ll cool off quicker. This is also not true, and in fact, could be damaging your air conditioner even further.
Here’s how: have you ever tried to breathe through a straw? If you have a straw with a wide diameter, such as big milkshake straw, then it’s fairly easy. However, if you have a small-diameter straw like a coffee stir stick, then both inhaling and exhaling are significantly more difficult. This is because the straw itself has an extremely limited capacity. Your air duct network is the same way: it has a limited amount of air it can hold, and it’s designed for maximum airflow with your vents all open. When you close off vents, this increases the air pressure inside your ducts, making it harder for your blower fan to continue cycling air. In turn, you waste money, your home doesn’t cool off any faster, and you’ll find yourself having to fix a broken blower fan far faster than you would otherwise.
Instead, leave the vents in these rooms open and simply close the door and shut the blinds. This will keep the air in these rooms cooler, thus allowing it to continue to cycle throughout your home. Likewise, make sure these vents and registers are not blocked by things like furniture. It’s not uncommon for people to place things like a desk or chest of drawers over a vent in your floor—this also blocks airflow and creates the same problem as shutting the register.
Stay cooler and more comfortable this summer by scheduling an air conditioning tune-up with the team at EnviroSafe Plumbing, Heating, Air Conditioning, Water Treatment! Dial (856) 208-5108 to request your appointment now!
I highly recommend !! Andrew was very professional, respectful, and knowledgeable. He explained what needed to be done and even took pictures to show me and then provided me with the cost. He took his time and made sure everything was done properly. Andrew is a fantastic… Read more
I used envirosafe two years ago when I bought my house, they have been excellent from the moment I called them. Gage and Micheal were the technicians that came to my house to service my water softener system and these guys were awesome. They answered every question and… Read more
Andrew was absolutely professional and worked diligently to find a balance with the boiler system. It is very difficult system because one boiler heats four apartments. Andrew and his helper put new air pressure gauges on the radiators and made sure that all the radiators were… Read more
Andrew and Shawn were friendly, knowledgeable, informative and very genuine. Air was in the lines they needed bleeding and maintenance so that my heat could be properly working for the winter season. It was a pleasure having these gentlemen service my boiler so that me and my… Read more
I had a great experience with them today! Yesterday I realized our water heater wasn’t working. The trouble shooting was beyond my experience. I called them and the dispatch was helpful and had two technicians arrive within a couple of hours. The technician(s) were very… Read more
EnviorSafe came out to my home to repair a busted water pipe due to the cold weather within 3 hours of me calling them. Andrew, the technician who came to my home was very professional, knowledgeable and friendly and did a great job at a very reasonable cost. I highly… Read more
We have a well and our resin tank is over 16 years old. We thought the resin tank was failing. Fred and Sean showed up on time and were great. after inspecting the resin tank in only need maintenance, they did an amazing job. They were honest, very personable and the price was… Read more
I was referred to this company by my sister who had service done at her home for the first time. I called to get a repair/replacement (plumbing:overflow panel) tub wouldn’t drain out.One thing I love about the company, they were initially more concerned to fix the less cost… Read more
Jake and Marquan are excellent, and if you get either of them to provide service to your home, they’re both very professional, as well as great to converse with. The work done was handled properly, and I now have an all electric water heater with a tank, that is going to save… Read more
Avery was the technician that came out to service my softener system. super polite, very informative, and very quick. super friendly and made my first experience well worth it. will definitely be repeating business!
This is my second time using this company. I found them by luck (googling for someone that works with water softeners). Both times Gage our technician came to the house and repaired our water softener, replaced the pipe going from our well to the bladder and also fixed a leaky… Read more
I had Mike and Avery install a water softener and an RO system on my water system. From the very first visit I’ve been impressed with their knowledge, experience, professionalism and disposition. It’s been a long time since I’ve been impressed with any home service people. But… Read more
We used Envirosafe for several different projects from HVAC and a new boiler/hot water heater to replacing almost all of our plumbing lines. We did a few projects at a time over several months and the whole time Envirosafe was great to deal with. They made the process so easy,… Read more
Jake was very thorough, communicated and explained everything throughout the service process and was very professional. Even offered to clean around ac unit outside of service, all of this in the rain! Would definitely recommend Envirosafe to a friend.. ask for Jake! He’s great!
Avery stopped out to conduct our yearly maintenance on our water treatment system. He is a phenomenal employee. Not only was he training a newer employee, but he took the time to show me some things about our system that I did not know. His customer service and both guys over… Read more
We have always had a good experience with EnviroSafe. Bryan provided excellent service with our air conditioning repair. He was extremely knowledgeable and responsive to our needs.
Our relationship with EnviroSafe began in July, from installing a brand new unit, to a challenge with our dishwasher and more recently a hot water tank issue. Each and every representative we have dealt with has been professional, knowledgeable, timely and accommodating… Read more
I have used Envirosafe on several different occasions. Most recently I used them to tune up my boiler prior to the winter season. He discovered some leaks in a few other pipes related to my heating system and was able to fix it the same day. Would recommend for anyone who is… Read more
Envirosafe meets all our water and plumbing needs. They respond promptly and arrive prepared. Fred Perry is one their friendly hard working knowledgeable technicians who gets the job done with a smile and thoroughly explains the service. Envirosafe is our go to company for… Read more
From the original phone call where we were provided same day service, to Jeff and CJ arriving when they said they would. The whole experience was excellent. Jeff and CJ diagnosed and repaired the problem quickly and efficiently. We would use Enviro Safe again.
First, Emma was the greatest assistance in guiding me regarding service, scheduling and follow-up regarding addressing my problem with my heater. Next, Nate came the same day and diagnosed and repaired the problem quickly and efficient. Lastly, both individuals were so… Read more
Fred and Calvin showed up on time, were great communicators regarding our plumbing issue, possible options, the state of our repair during the job, and how much it would cost. They were friendly, conversive, and efficient in completing the job. Can’t recommend them highly enough.
Pleasant experience. Everything went as planned. All employees were courteous and professional especially Chris, Jake, Devin and the first technician whose name I can’t recall. Job well done
My technician was Jeff H. from Envirosafe. He was terrific. He fixed my problem and also spent time checking everything out. He was knowledgeable, kind and helpful. He asked if I had questions or needed anything else addressed. I only wish every service tech was this helpful… Read more