It's getting hot in here

As the seasons become hotter each year, you may find your living and working spaces less comfortable despite having air conditioners in place. This is because cooling equipments like air conditioners and refrigerators become less efficient as the outside air temperature increases. The reduction in efficiency could mean 2 things:

1. Your cooling equipments consume more electricity at the same amount of cooling it produces.
2. Your cooling equipments may no longer be able to maintain a desired indoor temperature.

Number 1 is most common that is why many of us would notice significantly higher electric bills during summer seasons. In fact, my previous post about electricity consumption chart featured a chart showing highest electricity consumption during the summer month of April and lowest around June, January, and December, which are the relatively cooler months.

Number 2 is relatively uncommon because air conditioning engineers, designers, or technicians always choose a unit that has higher cooling capacity than what you actually need. The unit they would install may have cooling capacities that is 20 or 50%, and sometimes even 100% more than your actual cooling requirement. This is common practice accepted in engineering just so the equipment could still provide the necessary cooling in case they mess up with their calculations, or in case changes will be made to your room or office later on. Besides, some factors are simply unpredictable and including them in the calculation details may prove impractical.

So here are some things you can do in order to counter the effects of the increasingly hot season on your electric bills and comfort. Some of them maybe tricky depending on  your background in this field. Others may be understood through common sense. However, I just read in the obituary today that Common Sense has just passed away so I would rather include them anyway.

1. Dig the well. Have your air conditioning units checked and cleaned by qualified technicians before the start of the hot season. The sayings "dig the well before your are thirsty" and "prevention is better than cure" apply here. Never wait for your air conditioner to break down before you have them checked. Preventive maintenance should be done at least once a year. In our case, we have our air conditioner checked and maintained as early as February, a still relatively cooler month. Besides, by the hotter months of March, April, and May, technicians will then be busy and may not be able to come to your place right away when you need them. It would also be possible that they will charge you higher fee because of the demand for their services during these months. If you encounter difficulty finding good service technicians, you may visit HVACR Philippines. You may message any of their members or post a topic of your need in their forums. I am pretty sure you will be able to get a lot of help from the members of that site.
2. Block the air. Keeping doors and windows closed to prevent air exchange between indoor and outside air is common sense. However, based on experience, some leaks to the outside environment are not very obvious. One time I noticed a door to our bathroom that was not properly closed. And then in the bathroom there was an air ventilation window that opens up directly to outside air. If you are not very conscious at this, you may not notice those hot air sneaking into your room.
3. Block the sun. Closing doors and windows is not enough.  In many designs, one of the major factors that heat up building interiors is sun's radiation through glass windows. Keep the blinds closed in all exposed windows as much as possible. I mean all windows and that includes exposed windows of unused rooms. By the way, exposed windows mean windows that are exposed to the outside whether or not they are directly hit by the sun. Glass walls that serve as office dividers are exemptions.
4. Close rooms that are not used. This one I would not like to consider as common sense since many people tend to neglect it. Unused rooms will add  up to the amount of space that your air conditioner would need to cool. And since they are not used, the energy used to cool down that room is wasted. In your office, you may have a conference room that is used only few hours per week. Keeping them closed when not used will certainly help.

Hope this would be helpful and relevant.