How to keep your A/C cool - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

This extreme heat is putting extreme stress on your air conditioner. We want to make sure you stay cool and your A/C running.

On weekends like this, it seems as if the air conditioning isn't working overtime; it's working all the time. There are a few things homeowners can do yet this morning to make sure the A/C isn't dead when you get home tonight.

Change the air filter. Repairmen say dirty filters are the biggest reason for air conditioner break downs.

Secondly don't turn the A/C off when you leave the for day. The experts say air conditioners work harder, use more energy to get the home cooled back down. It's better to move the thermostat up a few degrees.

Other energy drainers include dirty filters. They decrease your efficiency by 15 percent. Dirty coils reduce it by five percent.

It may be time to get your A/C checked if it runs constantly, feels humid inside your house, there is ice on the unit, or it is more than ten years old.

As always when you are paying for service work at your home, be sure to use a professional. WTHR has partnered with Angie's List to help you find the most reputable businesses in Indiana. Learn more by clicking here.

For those that need to leave home to cool off, cooling centers have opened across Indiana to help give people a place to get out of the triple-digit heat.

The Salvation Army reports it has opened cooling centers in more than two dozen cities. Maj. John Turner says he doesn't know how many people are using the cooling centers. He says he was at one of the cooling centers in Indianapolis several times Thursday and at times there were just a few people there and other times there were more than a dozen.

The temperature hit a record 104 degrees in Indianapolis.