If you're having a new air conditioner installed in your home, you may want to consider doing a few other things as well. Doing the following five things will help support your air conditioner and make your home more efficient in general.

1. Clean Your Ducts

If you have existing ductwork, you can hook your new air conditioner up to the ducts. However, you may want to have the installation professional clean the ducts first. Dirty ducts make it harder for cool air to travel through your home, and that reduces the efficiency of your air conditioning.

In addition, as you already have an AC professional coming out to your home, you may want to have them do as much as possible whilst they are there.

2. Consider Sectioning Your Home Into Different Cooling Areas

In lieu of cleaning your ducts, you may want to consider taking a different approach to cooling. Remember that when you buy a new air conditioner, you don't have to continue with your current type of system.

In particular, you may want to consider a small, ductless cooling system. This allows you to cool your basement, for example, separately from your first floor. Sectioning up your home like that can be a great way to keep up with your changing lifestyle, especially if your children have recently moved away to uni. Ductless cooling can also save money in some cases.

3. Seal Up Cracks

Whether you decide to stick with your existing style of cooling or switch to a new style, you should consider sealing up any of the cracks in your home, This includes cracks around drafty windows or doors as well as anywhere else that hot air may be seeping into your home. In most cases, the air conditioning professional you hire can help you do an energy audit and figure out where things need to be tightened up or sealed.

4. Examine Your Ventilation System

In addition to sealing your home, you also want the home to breathe. Because of that, you may want to have the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) professional look over your ventilation system and add more vents as needed.

5. Invest in Extra Filters

When the installer finally puts in your new air conditioner, you may want to ask for some extra filters. Putting in clean filters on a regular basis helps to keep your AC functioning correctly, and if you stock up, you don't have to worry about remembering to purchase more.