Get ready to super-cool your house this summer

This time of year, homeowners in central and southern Arizona are hunting for new ways to cool off when the average daily high outdoors gets to be 100 degrees or more.

We’ve come up with a concept called “super-cooling” that we often talk about on our radio program. It might be just the trick for making your summer more comfortable — and at less cost.

Sometimes scientists use the term “super-cooling” to refer to cooling a liquid below its freezing point without it becoming solid. That’s not what we are talking about.

Our definition of super-cooling means you are chilling your house at just the right time of day during the summer to save money on your power bills.

To start, you must have a time-of-use or time-of-day plan from your utility. These plans offer cheaper rates for electricity at certain hours of the day and higher rates at other times. SRP (Salt River Project), APS (Arizona Public Service) and TEP (Tucson Electric Power) all have these plans, so sign up for one of them as soon as you can.

Once your plan is up and running:

• Set the temperature on your thermostat to as cool as you can stand it (68 to 74 degrees) during the time when your off-peak or cheapest rates are available. Run it at that setting throughout that off-peak time.

• You’re going to feel super-cool yourself, so put on a sweater or add extra blankets in your bedroom. That’s because, by doing this, you are not just cooling the air in your house; you’re cooling the walls, the furniture, the floors, the rugs and even the clothes in your closet.

• When the high-cost, on-peak hours arrive, move the thermostat back up to the warmest temperature you can stand in the house in summer (maybe 78-80).

• Guess what? Your house has been so super-cooled by then that you may not get to where you feel uncomfortably warm. Believe it or not, that will happen even though your air conditioner doesn’t turn back on again for hours and hours.

Employing this strategy with a properly-functioning air conditioner will help you beat the heat and feel cooler all summer. Some listeners said that, since adopting my plan in their homes, they managed to cut their power bill between 25 and 33 percent compared with previous summers. If you decide to try out our super-cooling strategy, be sure to call in on Saturday morning program and let us know how it’s working for you!

Before employing this strategy you need to make sure your unit is in good working order. Looking for telltale signs that your air conditioning unit may be giving out? Visit the frequently asked questions portion on our website for the four signs, along with a special offer from SRP.

And remember, when you are looking for the very best contractors or service providers for your home improvement projects, always trust a Rosie-Certified Partner, Arizona’s most-trusted referral network.

Be sure to tune in to KTAR every Saturday morning from 7-11 a.m. for the Rosie on the House broadcast!