Spring is in the air and everything is about to change. No more winter coats. Sun setting later. No more wrapping-up the kids. Trees filling with leaves. Birds return. It’s time to re-acclimate!
The annual transition from Midwest winters with freezing temperatures to 90˚ days can be hard on your home heating and cooling system. Your heating system worked hard all winter to keep us comfortably warm and now it needs to be readied for cooling.
The High-Low Process.
The key to re-acclimating from winter to summer is simply to remember that warm air rises and cooler air sinks. That’s it in a nutshell. In a 2-story home, that means over the winter, nature saw to it that warm air rose from your furnace to the second floor. It was automatic – little force was necessary to keep your upstairs bedrooms warm. But now, for summer, you’ll need to ‘force’ cooler air up to the second floor to maintain a comfortable temperature.
5-Step Solution.
I recommend an easy 5-step approach for an efficient and cost-effective Winter-to-Summer re-acclimation in your home:
1) Air Vents. Open the air vents in rooms on the higher floors; close those in your basement and on lower floors. Since warm air rose during the winter, you probably closed the upstairs vents last fall – now it’s time to do the opposite. With the upper floor vents now open, your air conditioning unit will efficiently force cool air to these rooms.
2) Filters. Spring is the perfect time to replace the furnace filters – it’s amazing how much dirt and dust they collect. This is the air your family breathes and filters are inexpensive.
Also, don’t forget to change the filter on the air cleaner and dehumidifier. Once again, filters are inexpensive and relatively easy to change.
3) Test. Over the winter your outside central air conditioning unit has been dormant. Spring is the time to test your air conditioning unit – before you need it. Simply set your thermostat to the lowest possible temperature and switching to ‘cool’ should start your outside air conditioning unit. You should feel cool air coming through your vents. If not, you need to contact a local HVAC professional to inspect the unit.
Even if you covered your outside air conditioning unit for the winter, it probably needs a thorough cleaning – debris removed, hoses checked, connections tightened, and eliminate any rodent or pest infestation. Your local HVAC technician can perform a thorough cleaning service.
4) Duct Debris. Should the ‘test’ of your air conditioning be successful and cool air is coming through the heat vents, watch for any dust coming through the vent. This might suggest you need your vents cleaned by a professional HVAC service technician.
5) Continuous Fan. I live in an older 2-story home and realize that older homes were not build for air conditioning – the duct work is too limited to power cool air to upper floor. To adapt, I set my thermostat to run the fan ‘continuously’. This gives my upstairs a constant flow of cool air when I need it on those hot days.
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Whether you’re replacing your furnace or central air conditioning, adding a dehumidifier or clean air system, or cleaning and servicing your heating and air conditioning system, we are knowledgeable and expert in delivering the service you need. Look to us for your annual inspection. Duct cleaning. Diagnose malfunctions. Improving ventilation. Replacing Filters. Installing advanced, state-of-the-art high-efficiency Armstrong Air furnaces and Air Conditioners. Superior quality equipment and Trained Certified Technicians – we’re the Team that truly delivers for you.
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