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Found a cheap way to cut my home AC use by half last month | Climate Action - The Community Guide

Found a cheap way to cut my home AC use by half last month

I live in Phoenix where summers are brutal and my electric bill was hitting $300 easy. I tried blackout curtains and window film but it barely helped. Then a neighbor told me to spray the roof with reflective white paint. I grabbed a $30 bucket of elastomeric coating from Home Depot and spent a Saturday on it. My attic temp dropped like 15 degrees according to the thermometer I put up there. Now my AC runs way less and my bill was $170 last month. Anyone else try something like this or got another cheap fix to share?

2 comments

2 Comments

matthew7034mo ago

That white roof trick is legit, I did the same thing on my house in Tucson a couple years ago. The key is making sure you get the right kind of elastomeric (the one with ceramic beads in it if you can find it) because cheap paint can peel off in the sun. Another cheap fix that helped me was adding a gable vent fan with a thermostat switch, like $50 on Amazon and it sucks the hot air out of the attic before it can seep into the living space. Also, swapping out old incandescent bulbs for LEDs cut my heat load more than I expected, since lights generate a surprising amount of heat when you run them for hours. Just be careful not to paint your roof if it's under warranty, some manufacturers get cranky about that.

faitha404mo ago

Man, tell me about it. I painted my roof white last summer and felt like a genius for about a week until I realized I'd also painted over a wasp nest. Now they're just living in a fancy white mansion while I'm still sweating through my mail route. Good tip on those gable fans though, I might finally cave and grab one after my attic hit 140 degrees last July. Should've done the LEDs first too, my living room used to feel like a sauna every time I watched TV at night.