How to Determine the Best Time to Run Your AC This Summer

Summertime can be a very uncomfortable season, especially with the hot, sweat-soaked conditions. It can get a little awkward when you’ve got an Air Conditioner but working it is troublesome. Working around an AC can be tricky. It can be rendered useless when it doesn’t work as needed. Figuring out when to run your AC in the summer can be the most productive and efficient way to be comfortable at home.

Summer Hours Per Day of Daylight

Determine how many daylight hours there are between June 1st and August 15th daily in your location. Then take the number you figure out and multiply it by this formula: (Number of daylight hours) x (SEER rating/12 + 2) = Most efficient hours per day to run your air conditioner.

The first step is to figure out when the hours of daylight are the longest in your location. Let’s say you’re in Los Angeles – the hours of daylight are longer than average between May 5th and July 20th. If you live in Phoenix, daylight hours are the longest between April 2nd and August 15th.

The next step is to determine when your air conditioner is most efficient. Check out your air conditioner’s SEER rating. If you have a SEER rating of 13, it is most efficient from June 11th to August 14th.

Now you have to add all of these numbers up. If you do this, you get a cool number that represents the hours per day your air conditioner needs to run so it will be most efficient. You can then use this formula to find the hours of the day when there are the most hours of daylight.

When Using Smart Thermostats or Controllers

Programmable indoor controllers eliminate the guesswork that comes with running an AC alone without the help of a thermoregulator. Set a specific temperature when you’re home and another when you are away. Brilliant indoor regulators are incredible for an electricity demand charge since you’re not wrenching up the Air conditioner to get your home temperatures in check.

Indoor humidity

The ideal indoor humidity level varies and can get exorbitantly high. Indoor moistness levels can similarly be affected by practices that increase dampness. The environment control framework should remain at work longer than expected. You’ll likely turn the thermostat down further since your AC will run less productively and require more support. The life expectancy of the unit will diminish as energy bills increment.

Amount of Air Moved Per Hour

Next, you need to determine how much air your air conditioner will move per hour. We recommend checking your air conditioner’s owner’s manual for this information. You can also use a tool like this to determine the CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) of your unit. Let’s say you have a SEER of 13 and a CFM of up to 7. There are hours in the summer when your air conditioner can move more than this, but those are not the hours we recommend using.

Find The Amount of BTU Heat in You Air Conditioner

The next step is to determine how much BTU of heating your air conditioner puts out. This is done by subtracting the amount of power your unit consumes from the amount of BTU it produces. Let’s say your air conditioner is 800 BTU and uses 150 watts when running. That means it puts out 650 BTU (800 – 150).

Checkout Outside Temperature

You need to find out the outside temperature and humidity level in your area to determine what level you should run your AC. For every 10 degrees increase in temperature, you need to add 10% more air conditioning as a general rule of thumb. Then, you need to add 10% for every 5% increase in humidity. Heat causes your air to rise, and more water evaporates from a warmer mixture. Double these numbers if it’s really hot outside and the humidity is up. Let’s say it’s 96 as of July 11th – that means you need to add 15% more cooling.

Wrapping Up

Once these calculations are made, you can adjust them depending on how often your air conditioner runs throughout the summer. Air systems are a lifeline in the burning hotness that comes with summer.

Take care of your air conditioning system as it will take care of you environmentally and financially. It is all about the right pairing as there is even smart Air conditioning these days to help you out. Figuring out how to go about your home temperatures may be hard to adjust, but you’ll eventually get the hang of it.

About Author