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Reducing A/C costs?
By StanB, Section Homebrewed Electricity Posted on Tue May 18, 2004 at 04:07:13 PM MST
I need help everyone!

Does anyone have any ideas how I can reduce the electricity needed to power my outside compressor unit on my Refrigerated a/c unit?
It is getting really hot here in West Texas and my wife in going into menopause...Our electric bills are already higher than last summer when we had the a/c running.
I have thought about evaporative pads and water cooling of the air going across the exchanger coils..anyone tried that??
Thanks in advance!

Reducing A/C costs? | 8 comments (8 topical)

Re: Reducing A/C costs? (none / 0) (#1)
by BrianK on Tue May 18, 2004 at 04:12:50 PM MST

I have heard on this site about disconecting the outside cooling fan and placing the outside exchanger into water And circulate the water someone else might have more info than me. Hope you get the info you need.

Re: Reducing A/C costs? (none / 0) (#2)
by dudevato on Tue May 18, 2004 at 05:24:15 PM MST

Stan, I'm in the desert north or Los Angeles. It is very dry here and the swamp cooler works great. I have one on the roof and it discharges down, through the attic. I have the plenum well insulated and the discharge into the house is Always 20* F cooler than the outside temp, and sometimes 23-24. I'd think one blowing accross your ref. a/c coils would work great. I've also thought of enclosing regular a/c coils in a water jacket and just let the warmed water trickle into the flower beds. Good Luck.

Re: Reducing A/C costs? (none / 0) (#3)
by devoncloud on Tue May 18, 2004 at 05:48:37 PM MST

Stan, I am not sure where you are from in West Texas, but I am from El Paso which basically uses nothing but swamp coolers. I live in Dallas now, so I am familiar with both swamp coolers and refridgerated units. Your idea of cooling off the exchanger coils might possibly work a little bit, but only by keeping the compressor cooler since there is not air exchange happening by the compressor. In other words, no air goes into your house from that part of the unit. You only recirculate air in the inside of the house when you are using a regidgerated cooler. Swamp coolers work by bringing in dry air from the outside, humidifying the air and bringing the air through cool water thus causing the cooler temperatures. You would not be getting this benefit by cooling the coils on your compressor. You would use up so much water doing this that your water bill would probably be more than the savings you may or may not get by doing this however. Swamp coolers recaptures water that falls back into the water pan after it circulates through the pad and a pump then recirculates the water through the pad again. I cannot see you setting up a system that would do this on your compressor unit, so you would have to simply keep the hose running.
Also, West Texas is going through a huge water crisis. I would venture to guess that wherever you are from would probably frown upon this water usage and would possibly fine you. There are all sorts of restrictions in El Paso as far as water consumption for the summer already.

There is one thing you may be able to do, if you live in a dry part of West Texas. They do sell fans at Walmart and stuff that have pads on the back of them and a pump to pull the water up and through the pads. They are pretty inexpensive and would be a pretty good thing just to have blowing on your wife during her hot flashes. This way instead of turning your thermostat way down on the refridgerated air, she can simply turn on her own personal swamp cooler. That would probably make her happy and save your pocketbook as well.
Devon

Re: Reducing A/C costs? (none / 0) (#4)
by bkrahmer on Tue May 18, 2004 at 06:48:19 PM MST

1. Cut the roof off your house. 2. Dig a basement and put in a new foundation. 3. Put the roof back on. Not very practical, but you probably won't need A/C anymore. :) P.S. I'm glad I don't live in TX anymore!!! lol

Re: Reducing A/C costs? (none / 0) (#5)
by franknbuger on Tue May 18, 2004 at 06:51:03 PM MST

Hello. The refrig A/C ,strange as it may seem does not cool.What it does is: removes heat,humidity,and dust from the air.So the less heat and humidity you let in the less it will have to remove.Some things to do are paint the out side of the house white,double pane glass,calk the cracks around windows.Setting the thermostat just a 2to 5 degrees higher saves a lot.The cooling fins on the outside condensing unit must be straight and clean to do a good job.The inside evaporator mut be clean,and the filter must be changed monthly.Use floresent lights,they cost less to run and give off less heat.If you can hire a tech or know someone,check the system out and see if the "freon" level is ok.Hope some of this might help.

Carpe Diem Frankenbuger.

Re: Reducing A/C costs? (none / 0) (#6)
by TLSea on Tue May 18, 2004 at 09:31:06 PM MST

I've run a mister with cool distilled water over the outside heatexchanger to get better performance on the inside.
Careful a A/C unit will freezup if the mister is left on to long.

Re: Reducing A/C costs? (none / 0) (#7)
by StanB on Tue May 18, 2004 at 11:04:29 PM MST

A few comments about my house....It has 6" exterior walls, double glass windows, 18" insluation in the attic. Storm doors on all outside doors. I live near Abilene,Tx and swamp coolers don't work here anymore. They did when I was a kid growing up here. I worked my way through college doing HVAC work so I am familar with A/C units. Just looking for ways to fit the bills into our limited budget. Being unemployed during summer is a stinker!

Thanks for all your comments!
Oh BTW, the water table here is so shallow that we can't dig basements....they fill up with water!
Average water well here is 40'...
Anyone have a DeepRock drilling rig I can borrow?
Thanks again!
Stan

Re: Reducing A/C costs? (none / 0) (#8)
by Trash on Sat May 22, 2004 at 06:08:41 AM MST

Henry's solar roof paint. This is a bright white paint specifically meant for slanted shingle roofs.

I painted my roof with the stuff last summer and the difference in temperature from unpainted to painted was amazing. Ice cool to the touch verses hot enough to burn your hand in 30 seconds. However being on the roof was comparable to being in a glacier with the blinding sunlight.

Paint is supposed to be rollable, but hand brushing was far more effective and it did take 2 coats as recommended.

This made a significant difference in my house temperature of about 10-15 degrees. I also feel it will noticably lengthen the life of my shingles.

A solar attic fan will also help.
-Trash

Reducing A/C costs? | 8 comments (8 topical)

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