Prepare Your Home for Summer

May 21, 2019

Do you have a home generator? If not, is your house ready for an Arkansas summer? In June, July, and August, the average Little Rock temperature is between 89 and 93. That means plenty of days are much hotter!

Being ready for that kind of heat and humidity requires a few extra steps, preferably before the weather gets unbearable. Here are some things you can do to get ready for summer – including getting a home generator to prepare for possible power outages.

Get Your HVAC Checked

Having your air conditioning in good shape is essential for surviving an Arkansas summer. Before it gets too hot, be sure to have a technician review your HVAC system and make sure everything is in good working order.

From checking your coils to making sure vents are clean and open, your technician can help make sure you won’t have any surprises with your cooling this summer.

You may also want to double check your home generator to make sure it can power your air conditioning along with other essentials in case a summer storm knocks out electricity.

Check Windows and Insulation

You might think of insulation as a wintertime chore, but it keeps hot air out during the summer as well. If you know your insulation is in great shape, wonderful! If not, though, it pays to have it looked at.

While you’re at it, check the edges of windows and doors. Make sure they still seal well and there are no signs of rot or water damage. If there is, they can be leaking cool air out of your home and driving up energy bills. Fortunately, you can usually do a quick DIY fix.

After all, as the “grumpy dad” would say, “We aren’t paying to air condition the whole neighborhood!”

Get Summer Machinery Ready

From mowers to edgers to trimmers and garden supplies, there’s a lot of tools you use in the summer that don’t get much action in the winter. Get these tools out and make sure they’re all in good working order.

Clean your equipment, replace the oil, get new fuel, and replace spark plugs. You may want to lubricate the moving parts as well as sharpen the blade.

You’ll also want to make sure your home generator is in good shape. If you haven’t had a generator tune up or inspection lately, you’ll want to schedule one. This will ensure your generator is operating at peak efficiency whenever it’s needed.

You may even decide to sign up for a Preventative Maintenance Agreement with Northside Power to keep your generator in peak condition all year round. You’ll get discounts on parts and labor, and you can even add 24 hour monitoring to test your unit regularly and receive notifications if anything is wrong.

Make Your Home Generator Part of Your Seasonal Planning

There’s already a lot to think about when it comes to getting your home ready for summer, but don’t overlook the importance of caring for your home generator. Simple maintenance can help avoid major problems and keep you safe and comfortable in any outage.

Don’t have a generator yet? What happens if you lose power for several hours on a hot day – or even for several days? You don’t want to be without the ability to cool your home, cook, and otherwise carry on your daily life.