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Tips for Cooling a 2-Story Home

top-view-of-outside-ac-unitWhen you have a large home, it can be a challenge to keep it cool as efficiently as possible. After all, we have a lot of hot weather to battle all summer long, in addition to high humidity. This can make for a really uncomfortable environment without the right system and cooling practices in place.

Even when you do have a great air conditioning system, you want to make sure you’re not wasting more energy than necessary. Keep reading as we dive into some tips for cooling a 2-story home—efficiently! 

Upgrade Your Window Units

Are you still using window air conditioner systems or portable systems? You’ve probably discovered that you have to pay way too much in order to use them. Still, they can be effective, at least until your budget allows for the installation of a centralized air conditioning system. At this point, we definitely recommend an upgrade.

Let’s say you’re not quite ready to upgrade. Can you still use window air conditioners efficiently? Yes!

Do you have guest rooms or any rooms that do not get used every day? Close the door and don’t use that particular window or portable air conditioner when nobody is occupying the room. This is otherwise a waste of energy.

Upgrade Your Thermostat

Even updating your basic digital thermostat to a programmable one can make a huge difference in your energy use. You’ll save even more energy by upgrading if you’re still using a manual slider thermostat, which simply doesn’t let you get accurate temperature settings. As a result, you may be forcing your air conditioner to run longer than it should have to reach your desired temperatures.

A smart or Wi-Fi thermostat learns from your cooling and heating preferences and adjusts accordingly, enabling efficient HVAC use.

Upgrade Your Attic

What we mean here is, if your attic isn’t already vented, the time to do so is now. Think about it: heat rises. This means that if you have a 2-story home, heat is going to get trapped upstairs, unless it has somewhere else to go.

At the very least, you may want to consider having your attic vented. Without proper ventilation, the temperature of your roof could potentially double what the outdoor temperature is, and when it has nowhere to go it will just stay in your home, no matter how long your air conditioner runs or how low you try to set the temperature.

You might even consider taking it up a notch and investing in an attic fan. This helps pull excess heat up and out of your home so that your air conditioner can do its job to the best of its ability, while lowering your cooling bills.

Upgrade Your Air Conditioner

Last but not least, you might want to consider a new type of air conditioning system. A ductless system is ideal for many 2-story homes. Each air handler is independently controlled so you can keep some rooms cooler than others, or you can choose not to run the air handlers in unoccupied rooms. There are a number of great benefits to going ductless. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team with any questions you might have!

Contact AllTech Services, Inc. for professional air conditioning repair in Manassas, VA.

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