Parts of your body are sticking to other parts of your body, and it's horrible. Lucky for you, you've got air conditioning. Unlucky for you, A/C is a real punisher on the power bill. Here are a few tips for maximizing your cool without crippling your bank account.You've been sweating your face off outside, and nothing feels better than coming in to a nice, cold room. Your impulse will be to set your A/C to 66 degrees and let it get nice and nippy. Keep it set to 78 degrees. You don't need to be cold, you just need to be comfortable. For every degree below 78, you are increasing your energy usage by approximately 8%. You don't need to be indoors in a sweatshirt. Keep it at 78 or higher and rock a t-shirt and shorts. If you have a window unit with Low, Med, and Hi as your only options, keep it as low as you can handle.It's better to use your A/C minimally and have one cool room than to have your A/C maxed out and have your whole apartment only marginally less blistering. If you don't have a door that you can close between rooms, improvise!

Hang a thick blanket in between rooms to create a nice cool-box that doesn't stress your A/C. (I recommend using picture-frame hangers, and then threading a few safety pins into the blanket so it's easy to put up and take down.)how does hvac work videoCeiling fans use waaaay less power than an A/C unit, consuming about the same amount of energy as a 100w light bulb, which isn't too bad, comparatively. how does a gas ac unit workMake sure the fan is going in the correct direction so that it is pushing air downward toward you (the higher edge of the fan-blade should be the leading edge in its rotation). how much for a air conditioning unitCeiling fans don't actually make the room cooler, but they make you feel cooler when they're blowing on you (think wind-chill).

As with an A/C unit, if you're not in that room, turn your fan off.Your A/C unit has a filter. It's thin, light, easily removable, and if you've never seen it then it's probably pretty disgusting right now. Pull it out, stick it in the shower, and give it a good once-over with a sponge. Let it dry then put it back in—and be thankful you aren't breathing that crap anymore. This will increase the unit's output and lower the temp. The other half of this is keeping the coil clean. If you're on the ground floor, then it's pretty easy: just use a garden hose to blast some water into the unit through the grates at the top and the sides. If you're on an upper floor of an apartment building, you're going to have to get creative. Try using a portable, pumpable paint-sprayer (but use water, not paint… duh).This one's a twofer. Keeping your air conditioning unit in the shade can make it up to 10% more efficient. If you have means to build a shade for it (that's not too close so there's no vent blockage), by all means, do it.

The other half of this is shading your apartment. We covered some of this recently in our article on low-budget cooling, but this especially applies when using A/C. When it's hot and sunny lower your blinds, yes, obviously, but if you really want to see a difference get yourself some honeycomb blinds (also called celular shades). They are fantastic insulators. They will help keep the cooled air in during the summer and they're great for the winter when you want to keep the cold air out (and they can darken the hell out of a room for a more cinematic movie viewing experience). They will reduce your bill and start paying for themselves very quickly. There are many other things you can do to stretch your A/C, but these are the quickest, easiest, and cheapest. If you have more tips, leave 'em in the comments.The portable air conditioner is a machine which may sometimes need to be drained. The better models will use the excess water in order to cool the air which is released as exhaust.

The best models on the market will never need the water removed, but if you have an appliance which sloshes water on the ground, you need to be able to drain liquid from the unit. Before attempting to drain any water from your machine, make sure it is set up for this task. If it is supposed to use the excess water in a different function, pooling water means your machine is not working properly, and while you can drain the water, it will not improve the function of the machine. You may have other issues your need to look into instead. If you do have a model that can be drained quickly and easily, the more you know about the machine, the easier it will be to drain it. You can find out a lot of information about your particular model by reading the owner's manual. This will also give you a schematic to tell you where everything—including the drip pan—is located. Many models will allow you to hook up tubing to remove condensation. If you have a model like this, it will be characterized by a small spout sticking out the back end.

In order to drain the machine, you will need the right width tubing to connect to the appliance. You will also need for the tubing to be long enough to get to a good dumping source. A window, sink, or drain will work perfectly for this. If none are available, you can use a bucket and then occasionally empty it as you go. It will hold more water than the drip pan which will allow you to drain it less often. When all else fails, simply find where the condensation pan is at. This is usually on the bottom of the exhaust portion of the machine. You should be able to locate it without taking the machine apart, so if it is not readily available, it means you have a unit which is supposed to drain itself. Once you find it, slowly pull the pan out from the air conditioner. Pour the contents slowly into a bucket, or take it outdoors to get rid of it. Keep an eye on the pan for future dumps. If you are dumping water once a week, there is something wrong with the machine and you need to look into repairing it.