Urban Humidity And Air Conditioner Efficiency
Summer in Toronto is upon us, which means it’s time for volleyball, patio beers, barbecues and camping. Here in Canada, we suffer long, brutal winters punctuated by short hot summers, so it’s important to soak up the summer vibe while it’s available. Unfortunately, our utility bills also tend to soak up extra money from our bank accounts as we begin to employ air conditioning against the heat and humidity. The sun is great if you want to get a tan or head to any of Toronto’s fantastic public pools for a dip, but when it’s blaring down on your home and turning your bedroom into a sauna, it is certainly less appreciated. If your A/C goes down, remember: exceptional fridge repair services in Toronto may be what our company is famous for, but our ability to fix broken air conditioners is also second to none.
In Toronto, due to what is sometimes referred to as the “urban island heat effect”, the humidity can be especially unbearable; sometimes to the point where it becomes difficult to think clearly and you feel like you’re going to faint. Here at Toronto Refrigeration, we feel that it’s nearly blasphemous to complain about the heat. We spend so much time buried under snow in this city that we consider the summer months sacred, even if it does get a bit too spicy in the city. We will concede, however, that your home should be a sanctuary away from the heat, so understanding how to get the most out of your air conditioner and how to mitigate your electricity bill is of the utmost importance. We want to help you save money while staying cool so that you’re able to think straight and sleep properly, so our air conditioner repairs technicians are constantly on call and ready to service your appliances.
An interesting paradox related to the prominence of air conditioning in big cities is this: the very devices that cool our houses may well be culprits in the generation of excess heat in urban settings. Recent studies have shown that the heat generated by air conditioners can raise the outdoor temperature in a city by one degree Celsius. A lot of this urban heat that we feel in Toronto is created by the the running machinery and all of the people in the many large buildings. The buildings themselves store up heat during the day and then release it in the evening as they cool off. A final factor that is quite significant in this regard is the lack of plants and vegetation, which typically facilitate the evaporation process. The lack of evaporation causes that hot damp sensation in the air that many would describe as soup-like.
Inside your sanctuary of coolness, there are a couple of key tricks to maximizing the efficiency of your unit:
1 – First of all, make sure that all of your vents are all the way open if you have central air; this may seem like obvious advice, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t think of it. Opening your vents will help the cool air saturate your home and bring it to the target temperature that you’ve set.
2 – Secondly, even though you probably have air conditioning, it is inefficient to rely on that alone. Standing fans can help to move the air around and spread the cool air through the house. Fans require much less electricity than your A/C to function and although they don’t actively cool your home, they make the air conditioner’s job easier, which ultimately pushes down your utility cost.
When your A/C is working overtime through the heart of the summer, there is a chance they will outright break, but this doesn’t necessarily mean you should rush out and buy a new one. Get in touch with our top-tier Toronto appliance repair company and make sure that your unit has a long and fruitful life!