4 Cool Ways to Save Money This Brisbane Summer

It’s almost summer time! You know what that means; hot nights, steaming days, days by the pool and hours spread eagled under the air conditioner, hoping the weather will break for a couple of hours and rain will cut through the staggering highs of another summer. At Mercury Installations, we know the feeling. Every year, we see our clients go through the same motions, trying to balance an increased demand of the air-conditioning with rising electricity prices and ridiculous degree readings – they’ve created a new colour at the Bureau of Meteorology, so it’s definitely not just you. Save money this time around and avoid the post-summer bill shock by following these five easy steps.

Clean Your Filters

If you love your air-conditioner, let that affection shine through by treating it to a monthly clean, including its various filters. Dirty filters will lead to the machine working overtime to produce the cool, recycled air you need to provide that “ahhhhh” feeling after being outdoors or stuck in the stifling heat. Maintaining a regular cleaning schedule will allow you to identify weird sounds as they happen, spot any build up area that concern you and cut down on electricity waste.

Schedule a Maintenance Plan

Maintaining your air-conditioner isn’t just a DIY job. Very often, a seasoned professional from Mercury Installations can spot and stop an emerging issue in its tracks, reducing downtime to mere minutes opposed to days. Remember, what looks and sounds normal may not be, so it’s always a good idea to get a specialist in before a maintenance trip turns into a lengthy repair – and no one wants that.

Seal the Rooms

If you’re using an air-conditioning unit in an open plan room, close any doors leading onto the room that aren’t in use or you don’t want cooled. A large area demands more from an air-conditioning unit, so eliminating some of these zones will help your machine cool the desired space efficiently, instead of trying to cover everywhere. If you’re particularly cost savvy, you could run the machine until the room has cooled to your ideal temperature and switch it off, minimising go time.

Do You Have Ceiling Fans?

Ceiling fans cop a bad wrap for being ineffective, but that isn’t necessarily true. While their coverage is less and the cooling experience won’t transport you to an imagined polar region anytime soon, the ceiling fan is actually quite a force to be reckoned with when utilised properly. Not only do they burn up to 80% less electricity than air-conditioning units, but they’re great alternatives in smaller rooms.

There are little ways to save money all over the house – remember to maintain your appliances, turn off lights when a room isn’t in use and switch off everything at the power point when you’re finished with it – these small moves can save you serious dollars down the line.