Southwest Arizona’s hot summers are legendary, and besides the sun beating on your home all day, your home appliances also contribute to your summertime electric bills. Unless you use gas appliances, the burden of running your home shows up on your monthly electric bills. Six to seven months of high energy bills can really put a dent in your budget. These tips can help you curb some of those costs:
How to calculate
Almost anything you buy that uses electricity indicates how much it uses on the label, as either watts or amps. Arizo
na Public Service (APS) notes your usage on a monthly basis in the kilowatts (kWs) that you use. There are 1,000 watts in each kW, so you can estimate how much energy you use by looking at the wattage of your hair dryer, slow cooker or computer. Find its wattage and divide it into 1,000. A 1,500-watt hair dry will use 1.5 kW each hour of usage, while a 200-watt slow cooker will use ONE kW each five hours of operation.
Larger home appliances, like your cooling system, use far more power, whose usage is measured in amps. To find their kW consumption, multiply the amps by the voltage they require to run. Almost all central cooling systems require 220 volts. If your outdoor condenser uses 20 amps per hour, running the condenser for an your would take 4.4 kWs.
How to save
- Your air conditioner undoubtedly uses the most electricity during the summer, so keeping the air filter for the air handler clean is critical. Check it monthly and replace when it’s dirty. Having your A/C serviced annually also lowers energy consumption.
- If you’re routinely away from home, a programmable thermostat helps curb consumption.
- Use fans to stay cooler without turning the thermostat down.
- Turn down the water heater to 120 degrees F.
- Set your computer to sleep after it sits idle, or just turn it off if you’re not going to be using it for the day.
If you’d like more information about curbing the energy used by your home appliances, including the A/C, please contact us at Hansberger Refrigeration & Electric Company. We’ve provided outstanding HVAC services for the Yuma area since 1952.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Yuma, Arizona about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about curbing the energy used by your home appliances and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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