Project to lower my AC bill

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mramos1

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Years ago, an AC guy showed me with his amp meter, that if you sprayed water on the coils outside, the AC would draw less current and it did. I just was a school has patented a unit to take the water the AC pulls out and spray it on the coil, for $12.95 I think it was..

Anyway. I am thinking about a unit, something to detect the noise, vibration, or air from the fan. I want to turn on a misting try nozzle. I could use a microcontroller as they are do cheap.. Looking for ideas. Also, I realize the coils might corrode, but they are in the rain all the time.

Anyone know of a pump/misting unit that would be low cost and low voltage? Or I can switch the AC.. Just looking for ideas. Maybe I will add this to the intake of mt car as well.
 
Why not use a thermistor ?
The coils get hot when the AC is on, and the hotter they are the more effect the water will have on them, its a winner

As for the spray device... how about a simple electric motor + water pump like from a car screenwash ?
 
I will not be putting it in the units, if so the thermistor is a good idea. Might be a mic/op-amp and SSR..

Now the washer motor is a gerat idea. Walmart I think sells a small cheap
on, or they did.. And 12VDC. Thanks StopGo
 

If you use tap water you will in short time have a layer of calcium deposited on your coils. Unless your water is very soft. Some window units spray the condensated water back on the coils with the rim of the fan but condesated water is essentially distilled water so there should be no calcium build up.
I would not try this on my unit.
 
Before they started charging for how much tap water is used, a guy at work used a high flow of cold tap water in a car's radiator in front of a fan. A huge waste of water but it made a good AC.
 
That sounds good to me. I think I will try it. I don’t know about Boynton but N. Palm Bch. has green algae in the city water. That might clog it up with slime.
 

I have well water. And a Kinetico filter so the water is very soft.
 
audioguru said:
Before they started charging for how much tap water is used, a guy at work used a high flow of cold tap water in a car's radiator in front of a fan. A huge waste of water but it made a good AC.
Click to expand...

I have a well.. So good there. But I have to run the pump and keep up with the filter.

My kids leave a lot of bottled water around the house, this might work for me.
 
ClydeCrashKop said:
That sounds good to me. I think I will try it. I don’t know about Boynton but N. Palm Bch. has green algae in the city water. That might clog it up with slime.
Click to expand...

I thought about calcium, iron, lime,etc (on a well). The fan pulls real hard, so I would rather have the algae. I will have to check it every month after I first do it..

But the units are in the yard and 300+ pine trees (yep in Boynton).. There are chemicals and salt in the air and one is unit (compressor side) is 20+ years old.

I am going to try it.. The guy showed me years ago and said "if you can use your electronics and do this you will get rich". Now I see the patent and say to myself "I am gonna have one now"..

Problem with the one they have that will not work for me. Air handlers are on the other side of the house and I can not get that water back to the compressor unit.
 

An engineer I knew lives on the lake here in E. Ten. built a tank around his condenser coil and used lake water to cool it. The temperature was monitored and switched a pump on and off. The warm water was returned to the lake. You could probably do the same with your well water but you might need a second well for the discharge.
 
Evaporative cooling describes the basic principle being discussed here. It is employed regularly in commercial applications because the savings can easily justify the additional system complexity and cost. Residential applications are limited, usually, because cost/complexity exceed the benefit. There are manufacturers who provide equipment with a hot water pre-heating coil which serves a similar purpose. I know of a few who heat their pool water this way.

As already mentioned, many window air conditioners are such that the condenser fan picks up the liquid moisture to help lower the condensing temperature.

With the right controls it would seem that some worthwhile improvements could be made in a way that doesn't foul up the equipment. If you knew someone handy with refrigeration systems you might add a simple heat exchanger - could be just some lengths of tubing soldered or brazed together.
 
Water cooling is the only way to go after the air temp gets above 35C/100F and I'm investigating something like this for my 17KW 3phase 415V AC maybe something small like a garden mist-er system.
 
I did some measurements along those lines recently.
This is more impressive if your A/C is running hot to begin with. I have a large condenser and the return temp was only a degree or so above ambient. Thus a large pool of water at a similar temp would do nothing. Now if the pool were of a lower temp, that is indeed useful.

Ideally you would keep the existing A/C condenser, then run the coolant return line to a secondary coil with evaporative cooling. That could be made with tougher fins that could withstand periodic descaling operations. However, the A/C system must be opened up and refilled to add a second component inline.
 
Paul Obrien said:
Water cooling is the only way to go after the air temp gets above 35C/100F and I'm investigating something like this for my 17KW 3phase 415V AC maybe something small like a garden mist-er system.
Click to expand...

I was thinking a trip to home depot this weekend. And I know a landscaper. Will see what they use..

I saw it work.
 
Do a search for Marinair vector series. Below is an excerpt from their manual.
The one I had blew as cold as a car A/C.
The compressor then compresses the refrigerant gas and pumps it through the outer tube in the condenser coil. The seawater pump circulates cool seawater through the inner tube in the condenser coil; this cools the refrigerant and condenses it into a liquid. The heat from the refrigerant is exchanged to the seawater and discharged overboard.
 
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