As the temperature climbs, you have plenty of options to stay cool - from using natural ventilation to installing a ducted mini-split heat pump and everything in between. So how to cool your house in the summer? Here we review the most popular cooling options for homeowners in Portland and Bend, Oregon.

It’s worth mentioning that if you’re serious about cooling your home, your best bet is give us a call: 541.330.8767. There’s a lot that goes into choosing the right system or perhaps not choosing a cooling system at all. Get answers to your questions or schedule an estimate with a quick call.

Read Time: 7-Minutes

Key Takeaways

NATURAL VENTILATION: An inexpensive option if you have operable windows and a consistent breeze.
CEILING FAN: Supplement existing AC or get mild cooling for people in a single area.
WINDOW AIR CONDITIONER: Cool a single room on a budget.
CENTRAL AIR CONDITIONER: Cool an entire home. Use existing ducts.
DUCTED HEAT PUMP: Efficient heating and cooling for an entire home. Uses existing ducts. Design flexibility.
DUCTLESS HEAT PUMP: Efficient heating and cooling for a limited area. Lots of design flexibility.
DUCTED MINI-SPLIT HEAT PUMP: Efficient heating and cooling for multiple rooms or an entire floor of a home, No existing ducts needed. Design flexibility.

Natural Ventilation

You’ll find a step-by-step guide in our article, When to Open, Close, and Cover Windows, but we’ll cover some of the basics here.

Close and cover your windows during the day, then when the temperature outside falls below the temperature inside, open your windows and doors. To improve cross ventilation throughout your home, consider buying a couple window fans, like this.

Window fans cost considerably less upfront and less to operate than other cooling options. To get the most from your window fans, position the inward blowing fan on the shady side of your home. If you have multiple floors, you’ll want to place the inward blowing fan in a ground floor window, then install the outward blowing fan in an upper floor window. Your goal is to create a cross-breeze, pulling in cooler air downstairs and blowing out hotter air upstairs.

When to consider natural ventilation: Natural ventilation can deliver moderate cooling at very low cost. It's best used in the early summer or early fall but probably won't be enough at the peak of summer.

Ceiling Fan

Fans circulate air in a room, creating a wind chill effect that makes people feel more comfortable. When combined with an AC system, a ceiling fan allows you to raise the thermostat setting about 4°F with no reduction in comfort (Source: Energy.gov).

A couple tips for you:

In the summer: Turn off your fans when you leave the room – fans cool people, not rooms.
In the winter: Many ceiling fans come with a reverse switch. When the blades rotate clockwise, warm air that collects near the ceiling is redistributed throughout the room. You shouldn’t feel a breeze in the reverse mode, but you’ll be able to set your thermostat lower while maintaining the same level of comfort.
Consider ceiling height: Ceiling fans are only appropriate in rooms with ceilings at least 8 feet high. Fans work best when the blades are 7 to 9 feet above the floor and 10 to 12 inches below the ceiling. Fans should be installed so their blades are no closer than 8 inches from the ceiling and 18 inches from the walls.

When to consider a ceiling fan: If you have an existing AC system or if you need only one room to be a littler cooler, you should consider a ceiling fan. It's important to make sure the room height is at least 8-feet.

Window Air Conditioner

A window air conditioner cools a room rather than an entire home. If it provides cooling only where it's needed, a window AC can be less expensive to operate than central air conditioning, even though its efficiency is lower.

One of the main disadvantages of window air conditioners is that they allow for a fair amount of air leakage – increasing leakage by as much as 10% around the installed unit.

A couple tips:

Look for an ENERGY STAR label.
Install rigid foam panes in between the window frame and unit and secure with duct tape instead of the accordion panels to reduce air leakage.
Don't place lamps or computers near the air conditioner's thermostat. The thermostat senses heat from these devices, which can cause the air conditioner to run longer than needed.
Bigger isn’t better. Buying a bigger room window conditioner will not necessarily make you feel more comfortable. In fact, a window air conditioner that's too big for the room it’s supposed to cool will perform less efficiently and less effectively than a smaller, properly sized unit.

When to consider a window air conditioner. If you’re on a budget and only need cooling for one room, consider a window air conditioner. There are some clear disadvantages, but when money is tight and you need to cool a bedroom, a window unit is better than nothing.

Central Air Conditioning

Central air conditioners are more efficient than room air conditioners. They’re out of the way, quiet, convenient to operate, and they provide even cooling throughout the home. Learn more about AC in Portland or AC in Bend, OR.

Lifespan and efficiency. The designed lifespan of a central AC system is 15-20 years. Today's best air conditioners use 30% to 50% less energy to produce the same amount of cooling as air conditioners made in the mid 1970s. Even if your air conditioner is only 10 years old, you may save 20% to 40% of your cooling energy costs by replacing it with a newer, more efficient model.

Here's a tip. It’s important to make sure your ductwork is properly sealed and insulated. In a typical home, 20 to 30% of the air that moves through the duct system is lost due to leaks, holes, and poorly connected ducts (Source: ENERGYSTAR.gov).

When to consider a central AC: (1) You want consistent cooling throughout your home. (2) Your ductwork is in good condition. (3) Your furnace is new and efficient. If you have an older or inefficient heating system, you should consider a ducted heat pump as an alternative to central AC.

Ducted Heat Pump

A ducted heat pump connects to the existing ducts in your home. It's similar to a central AC system but with the added benefit that you get heating in the winter months. What's more, heat pumps are highly efficient. When properly installed, a heat pump can deliver 1.5 to 3-times more heat energy to a home than the electrical energy it consumes (Source: Energy.gov).

An electric furnace and electric baseboard heater are two of the most inefficient, expensive ways to heat your home. Upgrading either of those systems to a heat pump will save a fair amount on your monthly heating bills.

Gas furnaces cost less to operate than electric furnaces, but their designed lifespan is about 15 years. If your gas furnace is getting older, you should consider a ducted heat pump as an alternative to installing central AC.

When to consider a ducted heat pump: You want consistent cooling throughout your home. Your ductwork is in good condition; Your heating system is aging or highly inefficient.

Ductless Heat Pump

A ductless heat pump, also known as a ductless mini-split or mini-split heat pump, is the most efficient heating and cooling system on the market. It quietly and efficiently gives you control over the heating and cooling in a room or area of your home.

Heat pumps save up to 50% on heating and cooling bills relative to conventional systems, while delivering the same level of space conditioning (Source: Energy.gov).

In Portland, Oregon: Portland homes often have a converted upper floor that never seems to cool down in the summer or heat up as well as the first floor in the winter. We've found that a ductless heat pump is by far the best way to efficiently heat and cool these upstairs living spaces.
In Central Oregon: We often find electrically heated homes with a kitchen and living room at one end and bedrooms at the other. By positioning a single-head ductless heat pump near the living room and kitchen, we’re able to meet about 80% of the home's heating and cooling load. The boost in efficiency makes this a slam dunk.

It’s easy to focus on the efficiency and energy savings, but it’s also important to know that ductless heat pumps deliver more consistent heating and cooling. The indoor unit contains a temperature sensor, quiet oscillating fan to distribute air flow, and a variable speed compressor to continuously match your heating and cooling load. As a result, the system eliminates uncomfortable temperature variations associated with conventional electric and central heating systems.

When to consider a ductless heat pump. If you have an electrically heated home or an area of your home that never seems to heat or cool properly, a ductless heat pump offers the best solution. What's more, ductless systems are highly customizable, allowing for design flexibility to meet almost any heating and cooling situation.

Ducted Mini-Split Heat Pump

A ducted mini-split heat pump is similar to a ductless system in that it provides quiet, efficient heating and cooling for an area of your home - The main difference is that the system uses ducts to expand the area that you can heat and cool from one room to multiple rooms or an entire floor. This system has its own ducts that operate independently of any existing ductwork in the home.

Efficiently heat and cool multiple rooms. An SEZ has its own ducts that operate independently of an existing duct system. This stands in contrast to systems like an MVZ ducted heat pump or central air conditioner, both of which use existing the existing ductwork to distribute conditioned air.

When to consider an ducted mini-split heat pump: In Central Oregon, it's typically a good fit for clients with larger, electrically heated homes. In Portland, clients often go with an ducted mini-split heat pump when they have multiple rooms upstairs that are not heating and cooling properly. The system allows for a huge amount of design flexibility, either replacing an existing system or supplementing to deliver the heating and cooling you want.

You'll want to think seriously about what kind of cooling you want, how you can get that cooling given the structure of your home, and of course, what you can afford. Please feel free to call with questions: 541.330.8767.

Learn More About Home Cooling

Start by visiting our heating and cooling resource pages for homeowners in Portland or Bend, Oregon. You can also keep reading our latest blog articles about energy efficient home cooling.

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