An AC unit can only cool your home down once it has started to heat up in the first place. The more your home heats up, the more your AC unit has to run to keep your home cool and comfortable. Furthermore, the longer your AC unit runs, the more it wears down. Thus, if you want to keep your AC unit running and keep your maintenance costs down, you need to do what you can to prevent heat from entering your home in the first place. 

Windows Are Weak Spots

Windows are designed to allow light into a home. Using natural light instead of artificial light can help to decrease your utility costs; on the other hand, the sun's UV rays can stream right through glass and heat up the interior surfaces of your home. If you want to keep your home from heating up in the first place, you need to do something to prevent UV rays from streaming through your windows. Low-e film is specifically designed to reflect UV rays so that they can't heat up your home. A good energy-efficient window film can reduce your cooling costs by up to 40%.

Door Sills

Door sills are designed to prevent air leaks. However, as they contend with hot and cold temperatures, the rubber that the sills are made from can start to break down and develop cracks. If you can see daylight showing around you door sills, you obviously have a problem. However, just because you don't see daylight doesn't mean you don't have a problem. Inspect door sills carefully for any signs of cracking and replace the sills if you find anything. 

Roofing

A dark-colored roofing material will heat up as it absorbs the sun's UV rays, and some of that heat will transfer into your home. White roofing, on the other hand, gets its color by reflecting most or all of the sun's light. Thus, just by choosing white roofing you can deflect much of the sun's energy away from your home and reduce your cooling costs by up to 15%. 

Small things can make a big difference in keeping your house cool. While any one of the strategies described above can help to reduce your coolings costs, using more than one strategy can multiply the effect. Remember not only will you save money on your utility costs, but you will lengthen the life of your cooling equipment and thus save money on air conditioning repair services and maintenance. 

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