We aren’t yet even to February and I’m already thinking about how to rein in the costs of air conditioning.
Mid January is the depth of winter for our neighbors to the north.
But for us, it’s the best time of the year. I wish we could keep the weather and the temperatures like this all year. For sure, it’s nice to not have the heat pump running night and day. And I love, love, love the fact that I have basically zero heating costs associated with the HVAC equipment. Like I said, the heat pump hardly even comes on during our ultra mild winter. But that won’t last a whole lot longer. The temperatures will rise in the next 6 or 7 weeks to the point where we actually will have to turn on the air conditioning. My wife is pretty sensitive to heat and so there’s plenty of air conditioning in our house. That’s also why I start thinking about preparing now in order to save later on all those air conditioning costs. One of the biggest things a homeowner can do in this region to save on cooling costs is to have a very tight home. So I spend this time of year going over every inch of the exterior of my house to seal up any cracks or gaps. I also inspect all the weather stripping as the sun can damage that pretty easily down here. Replacing the weather stripping is another important part of sealing up a house. I’ve also already scheduled the air conditioning tune up because having a well maintained heat pump is key to getting maximum efficiency. And this year, we’re adding some new solar shades on one side of the house in order to completely mitigate direct sunlight heating.