Does shading your AC unit help

When you earn, you know the importance” is a great saying, and when it comes to investing in the air conditioning system of the house to provide a shield from hot summer to your beloved family, you become conscious. After installing an air conditioning system in your house, you have made a considerable investment. Now you also have the responsibility to take care of it so the investment can run for a long time.

One of the most common ways to prevent your investment is shading around your air conditioner outdoors, so the temperature around it remains lower than the surroundings. Not only the temperature but shading also reduce the system’s depreciation and makes it easy to serve you for years. 

You may listen to a different experience of people about shading and get an idea that there is a proper way of shading that makes it worthy.  The following is the complete description of how shading the AC is a valuable opinion and how to do it correctly without damaging the compressor. 

How shading the AC is a valuable opinion?

Many studies and researchers of energy have explained that the efficiency of any air conditioner can be increased by 10 percent if we shade them with trees. However, the benefits of planting trees around the house do not stay here; you have the opportunity to save approximately $100 to $250 from your annual cooling costs, or you can also cut around 50 percent of your air conditioning costs.

The trees provide these saving benefits because they cool the surrounding area and block sunlight from heating the ground and the home. With the help of tree shade, you can prevent enough heat from entering your house and can keep your house cooler. 

The trees decrease the surrounding temperature and help AC to work more efficiently because if the environment does not heat due to shades, the air conditioning system will not work at a higher pace to cool the house’s atmosphere as it used to without shades. Paved areas of the house also absorb sunlight and release heat and become the reason for hectic temperature. Tree shades can also prevent you from this heat and cool paved areas so they can’t absorb and release heat. 

Houses with bare bricks or stucco can absorb more heat and cause the air around the house to be warmed up. In this case, your air conditioner will work hard to cool down the temperature, and it will cost you. Hence, planting trees and shading your house can also prevent your stucco home from being warm, and it will also keep the air cool around your AC. The awning is also another method to keep the stucco home cooler, and it will also help keep the air cool inside the house for a long time. 

How to maximize your air conditioner’s efficiency using shading?

If we talk in the sense of technique in installing the air conditioner, the professionals mostly suggest fixing your air conditioner outdoors on the north side of your house. The north side is preferred because it stays cool all day. However, if it’s not possible to fix it on the north side, you can still shade your compressor on the other side of your house. 

The summer is mostly sweltering, and either you have installed your AC on the north side of your house, or the other side, shading with the awning will not be enough. The awning will not effectively cool the surrounding temperature and maximize the air conditioner’s efficiency. So, planting trees, shrubs, and bushes is the most effective way to cool down the atmosphere. 

The professionals have studied the efficiency of AC related to trees and suggested that if you install the AC on the south side of your house, it will be best if you plant and grow taller trees there. However, if you install the unit on the north, east, or west side of the house, it would be best to go for trees that grow lower to the ground. For example, an eight to ten feet tall deciduous tree will be able to provide enough shade for your air conditioner unit within the year of planting. If you really want to fully maximize the efficiency of your air conditioner, then there must be two to three trees on that side of the house. 

It will also be better to plant some shrubs and bushes near the unit but not so close that they become a hurdle and reduce the airflow. Bushes and shrubs are one of the most common and beneficial ways of keeping the ground cool because they resist the heat approaching the ground. The efficiency of your air conditioner will increase as the growth of trees and shrubs will increase because they will cool down the air and reduce the surrounding temperature. If you have enough space, you would like to plant more trees and shrubs because it will increase the beauty of your place as well as the cooler area will improve around your house, and the unit will not drag hot air beyond the shaded area. 

You can even increase the cooling of your house and keep the cool air for a long time if you surround all your home with tree shading. It would be best if you plant trees on the west side windows of the house. Try to plant trees within 20 feet from the windows and select those trees which can at least grow 10 feet taller than your home’s windows. 

Final verdict 

By looking over all the reasons, you can now conclude that shading increases the operational capability of air conditioners and how they save your energy costs. Shading your air conditioner’s unit will help in improving its efficiency, cutting down costs, and increasing the unit’s life. Planting trees and shrubs will not only keep the air inside the house cool but also increase the beauty of your place, and you can enjoy your outdoor space in a perfect manner. 

We also encourage you to read our previous article is it safe to use an air conditioner during a thunderstorm.

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