*
I’m living in Olden UT, about 40 miles north of Salt Lake City. My house has central air while most houses around here have Swamp (evaporative) coolers. Because of allergies and the fact that central air will keep the house cooler than swamp coolers, especially on days with relatively high humidity, I want to keep the central air.
Having said that, I’m looking for ways to increase the efficiency of the central air. I’ve already added extra vents to the roof and added insulation to the attic & window film to the windows with the most heat gain.
I vaguely recall having seen something about using a water spray on the outside heat exchange coils to increase the efficiency. I’m looking for leads to any company that makes a “ready built” kit to do that. I’ve looked at the hardware store & believe that for about $100-150 in parts and a couple of weekends worth of time I could make myself one, but if I can buy one for about the same cost (or less I hope) I’d rather do that.
Anybody got any suggestions ?
Replies
*
It will improve the efficiency. This is because a small amount of water can absorb the heat from alot of air! A soaker hose will do the trick for almost no money.
A piece of 1/4" poly tubing with holes poked in will do the same thing. Just set it up so water trickles down the coil.
-Rob
*Roy, your local nursery or Walmart might be a source for a mister (no idea what it's called) that looks like a snake standing up. They are made from plastic pipe with a hose fitting at the base and a couple of mist sprayers at the top. They put out a very fine mist to cool with. They are less than $10 here in CA.You might get one and set it up & see what happens. It can't get much simpler or cheaper than that. Water deposits might require attention occasionally though. Joe H
*Roy,I had the same idea and asked my AC buddy. He said chlorine in the water ate the coils. I decided not to test his statement on my unit. If you have well water Raindance makes a programable water timer for about $35.KK
*Thanks for the replies.What I had planned on was a mister setup wrapped around the outside of the heat exchanger, a sprinkler solenoid valve to control the water to the mister set, a 120 to 24 v transformer to provide the proper voltage to the valve, and weather proof box(s) to house the transformer. I'd wire the 120v side of the transformer to the fan in the heat exchanger so that water would only be available to the mister assembly when the A/C was actually running. The mister assembly I was looking at lists for about $39, the transformer 15, the valve about $12-15 and misc parts taking up the rest.I've got irrigation water for the lawn sprinkler system & it's not potable so I doubt it's chlorinated. I'd kinda hoped for something out of a box. I seem to recall something like this being used/sold in Fla. Oh well, I've got another project on my list.Thanks again.Roy
*
I'm living in Olden UT, about 40 miles north of Salt Lake City. My house has central air while most houses around here have Swamp (evaporative) coolers. Because of allergies and the fact that central air will keep the house cooler than swamp coolers, especially on days with relatively high humidity, I want to keep the central air.
Having said that, I'm looking for ways to increase the efficiency of the central air. I've already added extra vents to the roof and added insulation to the attic & window film to the windows with the most heat gain.
I vaguely recall having seen something about using a water spray on the outside heat exchange coils to increase the efficiency. I'm looking for leads to any company that makes a "ready built" kit to do that. I've looked at the hardware store & believe that for about $100-150 in parts and a couple of weekends worth of time I could make myself one, but if I can buy one for about the same cost (or less I hope) I'd rather do that.
Anybody got any suggestions ?