How to Minimize Your Spring Electricity Use to Almost Nothing

Spring’s the easiest time of year, besides the transition to fall, to take your electricity use down to practically nothing.

To make that happen, you should:

• Dress for comfort in the natural weather so you don’t have to turn your AC on
• Keep all your doors closed
• Close your fireplace damper
• Unblock all your vents
• Service your AC, which you can actually do yourself quite easily

And here’s the details on how to do each of those:

1. Dress to Keep Yourself Comfortable

For at least part of the Texas spring, you can get away with not having your HVAC system on at all.

It’s really no big deal to put on something with long sleeves, or strip down to shorts and a T-shirt at any point during the day.

Toss an extra blanket on your bed, or take it off as the weather dictates.

The point is that you can be comfortable (most of the time) without turning your HVAC system on at all.

That’s the best way to save energy because your HVAC system uses the most energy out of any appliance.

But sometimes, you’ll just have to give in and use it when you have a hard time feeling comfortable no matter what you do.

2. Keep Your Doors Closed

By this, we mean your garage and attic doors in particular. You should also make sure both have a good seal when closed.

Even with your attic door closed, it can cause major loss of comfort if it’s not sealed. Remember that warm air rises and creates airflow up and into your attic, which itself may not be sealed from the outdoors all that well.

This can be true even in newly built homes.

3. Close Your Fireplace Damper

If you have one of these, make sure it’s closed when not in use.

Think about the several-inch opening in your chimney…and all the air that can escape!

Fireplaces can be a major source of energy loss if you don’t keep the damper closed.

4. Unblock All Vents

When you do have to run your HVAC system finally because of the Texas heat, make sure all vents have no obstructions blocking their airflow.

This includes both furniture and curtains.

Keep all vents open fully. Closing your vents in a room or two to control air flow only makes your HVAC system work harder and use more electricity.

5. Service Your Air Conditioner

Servicing your AC is actually something simple enough to do yourself. You can call a professional too if you don’t have the time or interest.

But, even if you’re not mechanical, you can absolutely service your AC system.

And best of all, it doesn’t even take that long. Here’s a thorough guide.

Keeping your electricity use extremely low during the cooler part of spring isn’t hard. All it takes is a plan of action and a little follow-through.

With those two things, you can keep your electricity bill to a minimum!