BRYAN, Texas — High temperatures does not have to mean high electric bills. Here's how to keep those bills under control.
- Priscilla and Jose Gonzales with Brazos Valley AC Services and Repair say one of the most cost efficient thing you can do is switch to a smart thermostat. That allows you to control the temperature in your house remotely and automatically set it to different temperatures for different times of day.
- Things like bad insulation and open shades can also add up.
- Gonzales says it's important to change the AC filter once a month during the summer and once every 45-60 days during the colder months.
Broadcast script:
Higher temperatures mean higher electric bills. But there are some things you can do to use energy more efficiently.
Priscilla: "When you can see light coming in when the door is closed, you have an air leak. You shouldn't be able to see light around the frame of your door."
Priscilla and Jose Gonzales with Brazos Valley AC Services and Repair say keeping the cold air inside, is just as important as cooling it down in the first place.
Priscilla: “Keeping all of the shades drawn, your blind, your light blocking curtains and kind of treating your house like if it was an ice cooler. You know, an ice cooler, the more you open and close the lid to get something out of it, the more it's losing that temperature that it's holding.”
Things like bad insulation and open shades can add up but the Gonzalezes say the biggest money-saver is investing in a smart thermostat.
Priscilla: “I can set schedules for when I'm home from work or when I know I'm coming home from work or when we want it to be cooler or warmer when we're getting out from under the covers in the bed in the morning. All that's capable with a smart thermostat as far as being a little bit more efficient than the up and down button."
You can connect a smart thermostat to your phone so you can adjust the temperature remotely and customize it to different temperatures for different times of day.
And when it comes to your AC unit –
Jose: “I see a lot of people putting covers right above the system. It just makes the compressor work harder. The coils get hotter. And you can overheat the compressor, making it sometimes turn off. It'll come right back on when it cools down, but sometimes it can ruin the compressor.”