How to operate your house.

On a hot day you will need to:

• Follow any conditions specified in the quote
• Keep filter clean: clean it at least once a month, more frequently if necessary.
• Wear lightweight summer clothes (short sleave shirt or blouse, lightweight long trousers, or preferably shorts or lightweight skirt or similar)
• Have an insulated ceiling, and in a newer house meet the insulation requirements in the Building Code of Australia (unless specified differently in the quote).
• Keep outside doors and windows closed.
• Keep Doors to unconditioned areas (eg laundries, bathrooms etc.) closed. Note that any doorways on the return air path will need to be kept open, which may mean for example that doors to an unconditioned hallway will need to be kept open.
• Keep Windows exposed to the sun shaded, preferably externally, but alternately by internal blinds or curtains.
• Only switch on the maximum zones specified in the quote. Switch other zones off. If the contractor has not specified what area they have allowed for, then they have probably only allowed for the main living area.
• Operate the fan on auto or high speed.
• Switch the air conditioner on before the day starts to warm up (generally before 9.00am). Note that if your air conditioner has some spare capacity, you may be able to save energy by not putting the air conditioner on until you need it, but this is the basis the contractor used to select the air conditioner.

When operating the air conditioner during winter, it is reasonable for the contractor to expect you to do the following:

• Follow any conditions specified in the quote.
• Keep filter clean: clean it at least once a month, more frequently if necessary.
• Wear medium-weight winter clothes (long sleave shirt or blouse, lightweight jumper or cardigan, long trousers or warm skirt and stockings, or similar)
• Have an insulated ceiling, and in a newer house meet the insulation requirements in the Building Code Of Australia (unless specified differently in the quote)
• Keep outside doors and windows closed.
• Keep Doors to unconditioned areas (eg laundries, bathrooms etc.) closed. Note that any doorways on the return air path will need to be kept open, which may mean for example that doors to an unconditioned hallway will need to be kept open.
• Keep internal blinds or curtains closed.
• Operate the fan on auto unless advised otherwise by the contractor. (Generally auto is low speed on heating to avoid creating cold drafts.)
• Only switch on the maximum zones specified in the quote. Switch other zones off. If the contractor has not specified what area they have allowed for, then they have probably only allowed for the main living area.

More detail is available from the pdf document 'Getting the most from your refrigerative air conditioner' which is available free if you order one of my air conditioner selectors.

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