Texas heat doesn’t just wear you down—it wears out your appliances. Here’s how to protect your home and keep things cool when the temperature climbs.

Summertime in Texas is dreadfully hot, isn’t it?
As anyone who has heard of or has been living in the state knows by now, Texas summers are not to be trifled with - blistering heat across the entire state, some areas getting so humid that your sweat doesn’t even do anything to cool you down, and a desperate need for something to stay cool. However, what people will sometimes forget to consider is how this affects their appliances at home. What about that amazing HVAC unit that keeps your house nice and cool as a bastion against the burning sun? What about your refrigerator and freezer, keeping food from spoiling in the oppressive heat? Even your home itself is hit, with things like energy bills coming in hard during the summer - and the power grid has to try to keep up while suffering the same temperatures. Today, we’ll be taking a look at what you can expect from your home during the summertime, how the house and appliances are affected, and what you can do to avoid some of the biggest issues when the temperatures are high.

Power Grid and Demand

Before we get into the nitty-gritty of individual appliances, let’s do a quick overview of something important: The power grid. Now, Texas has been experiencing extreme heat since time immemorial, so they’ve gotten pretty good at building a grid that can stand up to the demand, even during the summer - but it isn’t infallible. What you have to remember is that, during the summer, everyone with some sense is going to be seeking out refuge from the heat. This means higher demand from every household running their HVAC units at full blast. This demand turns into stress on the power grid, and makes risks of failures and outages higher. Substations trip safeties, transformers blow, and next thing you know, you’re trying to buy a bag of ice to keep your freezer cool while waiting on the electric company to come out and fix it. Throughout the rest of this article, alongside our advice to keep things running, we’re going to cover ways to reduce your power demand at home - not just for your bill, but also to help reduce that stress on the grid just a little, so you’re not left stranded with no power during a triple-digit day.

HVAC and Air Conditioning

First up, the all-too-important HVAC unit. Your air conditioner is going to be doing a lot of work during the summer, and that’s going to have it under some stress. The main problem areas for air conditioners come from overheating, demanding lower temperatures than it can manage, age of the unit, or poor upkeep on regular maintenance items. Let’s tackle these in order, shall we?

- Overheating - Your air conditioner cools things by transferring heat out of the system with a refrigerant, cooling down the air that it sends into your house, and letting the warm refrigerant flow through a heat exchanger to dump the excess heat outside. Because some part of your HVAC unit is always outside, it’s trying to dump that heat into already hot air. So, to fix this: Consider raising the temperature inside a little so it has to move less heat outside, and, if you have a window unit, try to put it in a window where it will be satisfying the most need while being exposed to the sun the least. If the window has shade, put the A/C there to help it do its job!

- Demanding lower temperatures - An A/C unit can only do so much when it’s hot outside. Sometimes, if you set the temperature on your air conditioning too low, all you end up doing is giving it an impossible task, and it struggles to keep up. This can wear down your unit, causing damage from overworking it. Sadly, the only real way to prevent this issue is to turn it up to somewhere it can manage without having to run every single hour of the day.

- Age of the unit - Just like all appliances, your air conditioner won’t work as well when it’s several years old. Generally, if your A/C unit is ten years or older, you may have to go into the market for a new one.

- Poor upkeep - Alright, no judgement here, when was the last time you checked the air filter on your A/C? Be honest with yourself. Small maintenance items mentioned in the user manual are important to keep the A/C from getting damaged. Give it a once over, check things like the filters and any exposed hoses or lines, to make sure it’s all in good working order before it decides to let you know in a more catastrophic way. This will also make it run more efficiently, driving down your energy bills!

Refrigerator and Freezer

Next up, we’re gonna tackle the refrigerator and freezer together, since their issues and methods of care are pretty similar. Fact of the matter is, keeping cold things cold is more important during the summer than any other time of the year - no one likes to come home to all their food spoiled. So, we’ve got some bits of advice to help you keep these appliances in good working order during the summertime!

- Keep it clean - Keeping your refrigerator and freezer free of excess debris, and keeping the seals clean - as well as the area around them - lets them more easily keep cold air sealed in and transfer hot air off the condenser. Give the area a good cleaning to make sure they can breathe right!

- Check for icing - This may seem counterintuitive, but if there’s ice buildup in or on your refrigerator or freezer, make sure to clear it out! Ice buildup can cause component issues, highlight areas of poor airflow, or indicate an existing problem with moisture buildup in the unit. Make sure to check for ice, clear it out when you see it, and note it down in case it’s a recurring problem - you may need to give an appliance repair call to diagnose the real issue.

- Check for even cooling - If you’ve got a spot in your fridge or freezer that seems to be warmer or colder than the rest, get a hold of an appliance tech. Uneven cooling can indicate a host of issues, from poor seals, all the way up to blockages in the cooling system. These things can be a serious problem for your appliance when it’s already working overdrive in the summer.

- Only open when you need - This one may seem obvious, but make sure you’re only opening your fridge and freezer when you need to, and don’t leave them open too long. Letting hot air in makes your appliance work even harder to stay cool, and worse yet, it lets in moisture that causes the icing issues talked about above. Only when you need, only as long as you need, and it’ll help it to work a lot better!

So, there are our tips for keeping your home and appliances in good working order this summer, especially the important ones that keep things cool against the hot Texas sun. Summertime is always rough on the house, but hopefully, you can keep it from being any worse than it needs to be by taking good care of things at home. If you have any issues with your appliances, our skilled technicians can come over and take a look to keep them running and keep the sweat off your brow!

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