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Air Conditioning Efficiency: Air Vents

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Air conditioning efficiency is an important part of saving money and the health of your household bottom line. Many homeowners take steps to save money around the house, such as installing a high-efficiency air conditioner and having annual maintenance performed by a reputable air conditioner repair company like Arizona Refrigeration Service. This ensures that your air conditioner is optimized to save energy and provide you with the best cooling possible no matter how old or new it is.
By taking these simple steps, you can save hundreds of dollars a year on your energy bills, but most people don’t want to stop there and are constantly looking for ways to improve the efficiency of their air conditioner. One method that always comes to mind is to close the vents in unused rooms, or rooms that don’t require as much cooling as the rest. Homeowners think this is a great way to save energy, money and control the temperature as the air conditioner will only need to cool a smaller area of their house. The unfortunate truth is that closing vents will cause your air conditioner to run less efficiently and could lead to mechanical problems in the short and long term.

WHY CLOSING AIR VENTS DOESN’T WORK
When professional and experienced HVAC technicians install and configure your air conditioning system and other elements of your home’s HVAC system, they do it in a specific way to ensure that your home is cooled/heated evenly and appropriately. They also take things like layout and size into account to ensure optimal efficiency is reached. Overall, the way that the air is forced to flow throughout your home is intentional and there’s a specific amount of air pressure used to circulate it throughout your home. By closing vents and trying to redirect or restrict airflow by yourself, the balance of air pressure is thrown off and can cause problems for your air conditioner and system overall.
Simply, your home’s air conditioning system is installed and designed in such a way so the amount of air it pulls in corresponds to the amount of air being blown out all of the vents in your home. Ensuring and maintaining this harmony is imperative to the efficiency of your air conditioning system and the quality of cooling you experience throughout your home.
By closing vents to try and redirect airflow or manually improve the efficiency of your system, the level of pressure in your ducts increases. If the pressure gets too high, then your duct system can experience small leaks. And if you already have small leaks in your system, they can be made much worse.
Additionally, as time passes problems like leaks in your ductwork will be the least of your worries. If your evaporator coil isn’t getting enough air flow, it could simply turn into a brick of ice and in turn severely damage other components of your HVAC and air conditioning system, all of which can lead to costly repair bills.

THE LACK OF EFFICIENCY
Even if you’ve inspected your system and think you have it figured out so that no damage will come to your ductwork or other components, your system will still not be more efficient if you close your vents. Closing vents can actually have the opposite effect you want. As discussed, closing vents causes pressure to build up in your duct system, which can cause all kinds of problems but it also forces your air conditioner to work harder to properly distribute cool air throughout your home. While you think you’re saving money by closing vents and forcing your air conditioner to cool a smaller space to save on your energy consumption, you’re actually doing the exact opposite.
Overall, if you’re concerned about the amount of energy your air conditioner and HVAC system is consuming and you want to increase the efficiency of your system, it’s best to contact a professional. By calling a reputable and experienced HVAC technician, like the ones at Arizona Refrigeration Service, you know that they’ll be able to provide you with advice based on many years of experience with all kinds of HVAC situations.
If you’re looking for a fast and easy solution to lower the cost of your HVAC system, adjusting your thermostat is one of the best places to start. Lowering the temperature a few degrees during the hotter months of the year and increasing it slightly during the cooler months of the year will keep your system from running as often. If you have a programmable thermostat, you can also save money so your system isn’t running when you’re not home or you don’t need it to be running. This way the temperature in your home rises and falls at optimal times to keep you and your family as comfortable as possible.
For more information about air conditioning efficiency or to make a maintenance or consultation appointment, contact Arizona Refrigeration Service today: 602.244.9900. Serving communities in Arizona since 1982, Arizona Refrigeration Service has the knowledge and experience necessary to ensure your air conditioning system is running as efficiently as possible and can provide you with advice for upgrades and modifications to improve it even more if necessary.

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