As we brace for another scorching Aussie summer, many of us will be relying on the air conditioner to escape the blistering heat. But with that welcome blast of cool air often comes a less welcome spike in power bills, making it harder to keep cool without breaking the bank.
Luckily, there are a few savvy ways to beat the heat and ease the strain on your wallet. From clever air conditioner settings to simple household adjustments, here’s how you can stay comfortable and budget-conscious throughout the hottest months.
The most effective strategy is one of the most widely overlooked.
Instead of automatically turning on the air conditioner to cool mode and letting the cold air breeze out, you can try using dry mode. You will find this setting on the remote of some – not all – air conditioners, with a symbol of a water droplet, while the cool mode is generally depicted with a snowflake.
Unlike cool mode which blows out refreshingly cold air, dry mode works by reducing the temperature in a room by lowering the humidity. As air in the room passes through the aircon, the water vapour condenses on the evaporator, acting like a dehumidifier.
While it’s not actively cooling the area, the reduction in humidity will make the room feel colder. This setting is particularly helpful for those living in the northern parts of Australia where humidity is present.
Setting your air conditioner to a chilly 18 degrees will certainly make the house feel like a freezer but it could be the reason for the sky-high bill. An air conditioner will use more electricity if it’s working harder, meaning the lower the temperature is, the more you are likely to pay.
According to consumer review and comparison website Canstar Blue, the standard air conditioner temperature should be set between 25 and 27 degrees for cooling in summer. Despite this, Finder research revealed most Aussie households set the aircon to 22 degrees.
This is concerning given every degree of cooling increases your costs by around 10 per cent.
It sounds like a tedious task, but cleaning out the air conditioner filter regularly will help it to pump out the cool air. Just like vacuum cleaners, dirt and dust can get clogged in the device, and prevent it from doing its job properly.
This usually results in you turning the temperature down, because you’re not feeling the room get cooler. And alas, this is where the electricity bill sky-rockets.
While keeping all of your electronics plugged in and switched on makes things easier when you return home after a busy day out, you could unintentionally be making your house warmer than it needs to be. Electronic devices such as televisions and computers use plenty of power and often become very warm.
Cooking up a storm in the kitchen on a hot summer’s day is probably not the best idea. Ovens and stove tops let off a lot of heat, which can quickly spread throughout the house.
While you shouldn’t completely avoid using these items, try and limit your usage or turn them on at times of the day that are the coolest, like early in the morning or late at night.
While seemingly obvious, a surprisingly large number of Australians ignore this advice. Finder figures reveal that around 2.3 million households across the country are leaving their air conditioner on when nobody’s home, for an average of one hour per day — adding up to a loss of around $200 million nationally — just because they want it cooler when they return home.
It’s probably something your parents told you to do as a child before heading off to school on a hot summer’s day, but keeping all the curtains and blinds closed will definitely keep the temperature down. Hanging them close to the window will prevent the sun from streaming through, while lighter coloured curtains and blinds will reflect the bright rays the most.