It's likely that your air conditioner isn't going to keep up with the heat over the next few days.

For economic and comfort reasons, most air conditioning systems aren't sized for these relatively rare temperatures. If you think about it, it really doesn't make sense to overspend on a cooling unit to take care of once-in-a-decade temperatures. It's like buying snowplows in Florida.

Oversizing your AC also means you won't be comfortable during average summer temperatures. That's because it won't run enough to lower the relative humidity to reasonable levels.

With the highs we're experiencing now, it's normal if your AC runs continuously and doesn't keep your home quite as cool as you'd like. The discomfort compounds the more days the heat wave continues.

Here are some things you can do to deal with the heat and help your air conditioner:

• Keep window coverings drawn to keep the sun from shining into the house.
• Put off or delay things that add heat to the inside of the house and make the air conditioner work harder, like running the clothes dryer, cooking with the range or oven, and ironing clothes.
• Make sure the kids keep the doors to the outside closed.
• Check to see if there are rugs or furniture blocking air conditioning vents.
• Make sure the unit's filter is clean.
• Supplement your AC with ceiling, box or pedestal fans.

Hopefully, we'll be out of the heat wave soon.