It's 120 degrees here daily, and my energy bill has spiked up 50 bucks from 80 to 130 since last month. I'm trying to optimize my AC unit, but everyone has a different opinion on how it's best to use them.
I'm in a brand new construction 2 story house with boatloads of insulation in the attic. The AC unit has three sections of the house that can be controlled independently - One downstairs, one for the upstairs master bedroom, and one for the upstairs 2 extra bedrooms. Currently no one is living in those bedrooms.
The AC company recommends running all three at around the same temperature or it apparently fights with itself. I just found out about this today. I've been turning off the AC in the extra bedrooms (they are around 91F during the day) since I don't use that side at all. My master bedroom and downstairs sit at around 85 when I'm not using them, and 80 when I am. I'm just not sure where the fighting actually happens, as that side of the house doesn't seem to leak into my cooler areas with the doors closed. I feel like that is just extra sq ft to cool down.
I'm also trying to figure out vents. I've read mixed signals on that. At the moment I have 2 walk-in closets that get AC for whatever reason, so I closed those vents. Seems like a waste to cool these rooms I'm not using. Some say this strains the AC unit though, and causes it to work harder anyway.
I've been told both cooling the place down takes more energy than maintaining, and maintiaining takes more energy than cooling specific rooms down when using them. I work from home, so I'm pretty much always in at least either the downstairs with my office, or my bedroom sleeping.
Honestly I'm just stumped at this point. What is the most cost effective way to keep this place cool?
On another note, should I tinfoil up the windows I don't use? My dad said they used to do that in his old house and it kept it cooler. Every window in the house has some kind of cover, with the downstairs and master bedroom ones rockin both blinds and curtains. Any other weird things I can do?
June 22, 2017 at 08:09AM
