The days are warmer and longer, which means you may be considering a trip to your lakehouse for a much-needed vacation. This also means you should be considering how to best maintain indoor temperatures in your home to make sure you and your family are comfortable.
In order to make the most of your vacation, you need to optimize your HVAC unit. Maintaining your HVAC unit is essential to preserving indoor air quality, preventing humidity issues, and ensuring energy efficiency. Read more for these simple vacation home cooling tips.
Optimizing Indoor Air Quality
To optimize indoor air quality in a lake house, focus on controlling pollutants, ensuring ventilation, and maintaining proper humidity levels.
In some cases, you can control the pollutants that enter your lake house. When storing and using harsh chemicals and cleaning supplies, ensure that there is proper ventilation in the house by opening windows or utilizing an exhaust fan.
You can improve ventilation in your lake house by installing a whole-house ventilation system. Consider an Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV), a home ventilator system that brings in fresh outdoor air while expelling stale indoor air.
You can also optimize indoor air quality by maintaining proper humidity levels in your home. Ideally, your home should be between 30-50% indoor humidity for optimal comfort and health, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A whole-house humidifier is a popular addition to an HVAC unit, designed to maintain ideal moisture levels in your home. Consider Harker Heating and Cooling’s unique options.
Maintain the HVAC Unit in Your Vacation Home
It’s important to perform routine maintenance on your HVAC unit to ensure it runs efficiently throughout the year, ensuring optimal comfort and energy savings.
One easy maintenance fix is replacing the air filters in your HVAC. These are crucial in trapping dust, allergens, and debris, preventing them from circulating throughout your home. Clogged or dirty filters can restrict airflow, making your system work harder and increasing energy costs. We recommend checking and replacing air filters every 1-3 months, depending on usage and the presence of pets or allergies.
It’s important to perform maintenance on your appliance seasonally. The outdoor unit (condenser or heat pump) is exposed to dirt, leaves, and other outdoor debris throughout the year, which can obstruct airflow and reduce efficiency. Inspect the unit for clogged ducts and clear away any debris when you arrive at your lake house for the season. You can gently rinse the coils with a garden hose to remove dirt buildup.
Consider Energy-efficient Options
For cost-saving options at your lake house, you can first start with your thermostat. Smart thermostats can learn your home’s temperature and occupancy patterns and adjust the temperature settings to optimize energy consumption. Additionally, you can adjust the temperature from anywhere with your smartphone, making it easy to save energy when you’re not at your lakehouse. Harker Heating and Cooling offers the Nest Elite Pro, an efficient smart thermostat that can help you save money at your lakehouse.
Refer to the Experts
Maintaining your lake house can be an overwhelming task. Allow the experts at Harker Heating and Cooling to optimize climate control in your house so you can enjoy your vacation.
