Does it seem like you need to run your home’s A/C system 24/7 to stay cool, calm, and collected in Mandeville, Covington, or the Northshore during the summer? There’s a few common reasons that could be causing this. Read on to learn more.
Is Your A/C Too Old or Inefficient and In Need of Repair?
For 40 years, we’ve been recommending that our Northshore customers have their home’s A/C serviced towards the end of winter – around the end of February or beginning of March. These annual checkups allow us to clean your home’s A/C system, level off your freon levels, and check to see if there are any repairs that are needed before our temperatures spike.
If you didn’t have this annual check up and you’re noticing that it seems to take forever for your home to cool down, you’ll want to call Three Rivers Services out to your home for an inspection ASAP. In this case, there are 2 possibilities:
- Your A/C is inefficient and needs a repair to make it function properly
- You A/C is too old and on its last leg, in which case replacing it now with one of our TRANE systems may be your best bet to stay cool without having your current A/C die on you this summer
Whatever the case, you can trust that we’re ready to help you!
It’s Really Hot Outside!
We know that asking if it’s hot outside during a Louisiana summer is like asking if the sky is blue. But if we’re in the middle of a heat wave, it’s possible your A/C is functioning just as expected, but that it’s reached maximum capacity.
ou see, many people don’t realize it, but residential A/C systems are only designed to make the interior temperature 20 degrees cooler than the exterior temperature – max. So if we’re having 100 degree days, it’s going to be warmer inside than it usually is.
Your Thermostat May Be Set Too Low?
If you’ve got your thermostat set to 68 degrees, you should expect your A/C to be running most – if not all – hours of the day.
We know Northshore residents like ice cold A/C that you experience in retail locations, but the truth is that your home’s A/C isn’t designed to do that.
In fact, it isn’t recommended that you set your A/C to a very low temperature!
The US Department of Energy tells Americans that ideally, you should set your thermostat to 78 degrees. Now trust us; we know that most of the US doesn’t experience the heat and humidity that we do here in Mandeville, Covington, and the Northshore, and that your family’s desired temperature is most likely lower than 78 degrees.
However, remember your home A/C is only designed to cool your house 20 degrees cooler than it is outside. You can set your A/C to a very low temp, but if it’s really hot outside, you just can’t expect the inside temperatures to drop that low.
Instead, we recommend you set your home’s A/C to the limit while still remaining comfortable during the summer. You may even want to invest in a smart WiFi thermostat so you can program your thermostat to change temperatures at different times of the day (such as, go to a higher temperature at night or when nobody is home) or change it on the fly from wherever you are – even if you’re away from your home – on your smartphone.
3 Factors That Can Help Your Home’s A/C Outperform Expectations
Everything we’ve stated above is what’s expected of the typical home A/C system. However, as we here at Three River Systems know, there are 3 factors that can help your home’s A/C cool beyond expectations. They are:
- Having your home’s A/C unit positioned in a place outside the home so that it is in the shade most of the day
- Having a house surrounded by mature trees so that you have more shade on your house, and thus less heat radiating outside
- Spray foam insulation in your home’s attic so it stays cooler than your neighbor’s house during our hot and humid summers
If You Want Us to Check Out Your Home’s A/C, Call Us and We’ll Be Happy to Help
If you think you have accurate expectations for how cool your home can get given the outside heat, but you’re still sweating inside, we want to help. Simply call Three Rivers Services today to schedule an inspection so we can see if there’s something inefficient about your current system that we can repair, or if a new installation may be indicated.
To reach us, call (985) 202-1217.
