6 Patio Pieces You Didn’t Know You Could and Should Clean with Dish Soap

Credit: Getty Images / StockSeller_ukr Summer weather is ideal for enjoying the pool, the yard, and the sun, but after being outside for a few hours, it can also be a great relief to step into an air-conditioned home. These hot temperatures often cause many homeowners to adopt certain habits that are more wasteful than helpful. In an attempt to escape the heat, keep the house cool, and maintain the lushness of the yard, it can be all too tempting to try things that actually increase utility bills, costing you more in the long run for minimal relief. Use this guide to discover what summer habits secretly spike utility bills and what to do instead. Scott Levene is the vice president of Levco, a fuel and HVAC solutions company. He is also a licensed HVAC professional with nearly 20 years of experience. Read on to discover the ways you might be increasing your monthly bills without even realizing. 1. Cooling Unused Areas of the House Air conditioners help to cool down the home, but when you aren’t actively using specific rooms, there is no need to keep the doors open to these areas of the home. Central air conditioning systems might still provide some cooling to these areas through the ductwork, but ultimately, the cooling capabilities will be more focused in the central areas of the home where the thermostat is typically located. Closing certain doors allows the temperature to drop more effectively in the areas you are actually using, while saving energy. This particular trick works incredibly well for window and standing air conditioners, since their output is already focused in a single area of the home. 2. Running Fans 24/7 Fans can help move cool air throughout the home and provide direct relief to individuals who are near the fan. However, fans do not actually cool down the house, and their continuous operation can even add heat to the house. “A common habit is leaving fans on in empty rooms. Fans cool people, not rooms, so leaving them on when no one’s around just adds to the electric bill without any benefits,” says Scott Levene, vice president of Levco and licensed HVAC professional. 3. Frequent Lawn Watering Watering the lawn frequently might keep the grass looking lush and the gardens blooming nicely, but it is also a huge use of water that will drastically increase the cost of your water bill throughout the summer. In some areas, watering the lawn and yard might even be against local regulations due to droughts and water conservation efforts. Instead, it’s best to consider possible alternatives that can avoid waste and help save on your water bill. 4. Running the Air Conditioner with the Windows or Doors Open Many homeowners know to turn off the air conditioner if they are opening a window or door. However, this same knowledge might not be as obvious to other people living in the home, like children or teenagers. Additionally, some adults might open the windows on cooler evenings to bring in fresh air, but then forget to turn the AC off, which increases energy waste and leads to higher energy bills. 5. Setting the Thermostat Temperature Too Low Unfortunately, just because you turn the thermostat temperature as low as possible, this does not increase the speed at which the home will be cooled, though this doesn’t stop many homeowners from trying year after year. “The most common habit we see is turning the thermostat down too low, thinking it will cool the house faster. Setting the thermostat to 65°F instead of 75°F doesn’t make it work any faster; it just makes the system run longer and work harder, which drives up utility bills,” explains Levene. How Do These Habits Burn Your Budget? Deciding to put a stop to these habits and making the switch to a more budget-friendly alternative will help keep more money in your wallet and reduce waste. “The examples listed might only cost a few extra bucks a day, but that adds up over time,” Levene says. “Additionally, the extra strain on the HVAC system causes faster wear and tear, which can shorten the lifespan of the equipment. Frequent repairs or premature replacement costs are a major expense.” Related 7 Budget-Friendly Alternatives to Beat the Heat The more unnecessary warm-weather habits you tend to do each year, the higher the cost of your energy bills and the larger your ecological footprint, which is reflected in water and energy waste. Instead, work toward adopting budget-friendly habits that can both keep you cool and reduce your spending this summer season. 1. Use a Programmable Thermostat When you have a regular thermostat, it’s your responsibility to change the temperature throughout the day and when you leave the home. “Set your thermostat to a reasonable temperature. We recommend 76°F to 78°F when you’re home and 78°F to 80°F when you’re away,” Levene says. With a programmable thermostat, you can simply set a specific schedule based on when you leave for work, when you typically go to sleep, and when you wake, so you can reduce energy waste without even thinking about it. 2. Set Up a Rain Barrel Constantly watering the lawn is a huge waste of water, and it can quickly add up on your water bill. Instead, use one or more rain barrels in the yard to catch and collect rain. The collected water

This summer is the hottest on record (for the third year in a row!), so we assume that your home’s air conditioning system has been hard at work for the past few months. While it might seem tempting to crank the temperature as low as it can go during a heatwave, mistakes like these can cause some severe damage to your system over time.  We spoke to Angie Hicks, co-founder of Angi (formerly Angie’s List), for expert advice on the mistakes homeowners might be making with their AC during a heatwave. Avoiding these errors (and following a few other expert tips Hicks recommends) will help keep your home cool while conserving energy. What to Never Do with Your AC During a Heatwave When you leave the house during the summer, do you turn your AC off before you go to conserve energy? If so, you might actually be wasting more energy than you’re saving—not to mention the fact that you’re likely putting extra strain on your air conditioning unit, too.  If you turn your AC off when you leave the house, you might temporarily lower your energy usage while you’re away. However, during that time, you also lose all the cold air your AC has been producing throughout the day, causing your house to return to a very high temperature. When you return and turn your AC unit back on, it has to work twice as hard to cool your home down. This puts unnecessary strain on your home’s air conditioning. The solution? Hicks says that you should increase the temperature your air conditioning is set to when you leave the house. Hicks recommends raising the temperature by 7 to 10 degrees each time you leave, up to a maximum of 85°F. “By keeping the AC at a higher temperature, you save energy and create efficiency, but your home can still be cooled down again without using too much energy,” says Hicks. Once you return home, you can lower the temperature of your AC again. This helps you save energy while you’re out, without putting any extra strain on your AC when you return. What If You’re Leaving Home for a Long Time? “If you’re leaving your home for longer than a few hours, it’s considered a long period,” says Hicks. Her answer stays the same whether you’re gone for the day or a couple of weeks of vacation—keep your AC on, but at a higher temperature. While it might seem like it’s a safe bet to conserve energy by turning off your AC when you’re away on vacation, this can actually encourage other home issues to arise in the heat (like humidity and potentially even mold growth). Keeping your home’s temperature set to a maximum of 85°F can help prevent these problems. How to Prevent Strain on Your AC When you’re at home, you might consider setting your air conditioning to a slightly lower temperature than you think, especially during a heatwave. “A good temperature setting is about 78 degrees when you’re home and awake,” says Hicks. “When you sleep, you might want to lower this to your comfortable sleeping temperature.” “It might be tempting to lower your AC in extreme heat, but this can use a lot of extra energy and shorten the lifespan of your AC,” adds Hicks. Keeping your AC set to a higher but still comfortable temperature can help you save money, conserve energy, and keep your AC running smoothly. Related Other Habits to Maximize Heatwave Energy Efficiency Your AC isn’t the only thing that can help keep your home cool during the summer. The more effort you put into utilizing other cooling solutions along with your AC, the less strain you’ll be putting on it—and the more energy you’ll be able to conserve when the temperature spikes outside. Hicks recommends keeping your blinds closed during the day to block out as much sunlight as possible throughout your home. This will help keep it cooler, especially during extreme heat. She also recommends turning on ceiling fans if you have any; this is a great way to allow cool air to circulate and make your home feel cooler.  According to Hicks, you should also open a window at night if the outside temperature is cooler than the inside temperature. This can help lower the temperature of your space enough that your air conditioning might not even need to turn on during the night. You can also try other solutions to help prepare your home for a heat wave, such as using cooling sheets, avoiding oven use, and utilizing personal fans to help you feel cooler. Signs You’ve Been Putting Too Much Strain on Your AC Your AC has likely been working hard all summer, which means you need to keep a close eye on it and perform regular maintenance to ensure it continues to work correctly. “This means replacing your filters about every three months and getting it tuned up in the fall and spring,” says Hicks. Performing these minor maintenance tasks can help you prevent major issues from arising in the future. Sometimes, bad luck can strike your AC system during the worst times, especially if you’ve had a habit of cranking the temperature down whenever it’s hot outside. “If you feel like your system isn’t cooling properly, there are uneven temperatures, you hear funny noises, or smell something different, it could be a sign it isn’t working properly and