If A/C manufacturers arranged the fan on the condensing unit to run BACKWARDS for the first few seconds of condenser activity?
It would blow SOME of the mung out of the coils thereby retaining a bit of the otherwise lost efficiency.
Just sayin'...
Take a leaf blower and blow it out every month.
One of these days I'll add a 1 or 2 second delay to the blower fan so when it blows, it's cold. And it won't give that blast of super humid air either.
Uh, that was supposed to be a 1 or 2 MINUTE delay, not seconds.
The switch in my SUV is bad for air on low. It has 5 positions. When it's hot out I turn it on low, the compressor starts but the fan doesn't blow. Once I back out of the garage and let the motor warm up for a minute or so I turn it to 5 and have instant cold air.
On 7/25/2010 11:32 AM HeyBub spake thus:
That idea could be patentable.
Sounds like a good idea, I can implement it now on a number of AC units that I've serviced. The universal replacement condenser fan motors have a pair of leads with insulated 1/4" fast on connectors that determine rotation for the motor, it would be quite easy to reverse the condenser fan motor during the anti short cycle time delay for the compressor which I usually set for 3-5 minutes. When the thermostat calls for cool, run the fan backwards for 60 seconds then let it spin down during the remainder of the anti short cycle delay so there would be no stress on the components because of reversing a fan running at full speed. Me and my helper cleaned 6 condensers and 3 evaporators this morning at one restaurant, my hair hurts and I'm a bit dehydrated. Darn this Global Cooling!
TDD
On Sun 25 Jul 2010 12:40:20p, Jeff The Drunk told us...
On my 2007 Focus, Ford in its infinite wisdom, designed the a/c so that compressor "pauses" on startup from a stop. The result is a blast of hot air every time you start back up after a stoplight. Otherwise it's cooking capability is excellent. Their design is as annoying as hell, especially when it's 110°+ here in AZ.
Let me know how your experiment pans out.
I'll add your name to the patent.
I just remembered my T-Bird had something like "comfort control" that would adjust itself as the car heated up. In the winter it wouldn't blow cold air, it would wait until the engine was warmed up then the fan would run. I don't remember if it did the same for the A/C?
Bet you used a couple galons of alki foam.
Restaurants are tough working environment, if they use a lot of grease and oil.
Suppose you did the backwards thing. Blow the dust and dirt out. So, then the dust and dirt is hanging in the air. When the unit comes back on, it all sucks back into the coils.
Isn't schmutz a type of dog?
I'd hope that my low speed goes out but it only has 3 speeds and I use low often. Guess if I really wanted to I could splice a switch in the circuit.
Anyway I just realized this was about the condenser and I'm talking about the evaporator. My condenser coil seems to stay clean, but I am cutting the grass.
I have some shrubs in the area around the condensor, they filter out most of the grass clippings. I also turn the AC off when cutting around the condensor. Butt you need a way to reverse the air flow thru the condensor, and just a leaf blower, etc, is still blowing from the outside into the condensor radiator, and that doesn't really clear things out like a reversal of air flow would do.
I used a quart of concentrate in my foam gun on the end of a hundred feet of hose. For the evaporators, a two gallon pump up sprayer mixture of 4-X BASE COIL CLEANER. I went back today and talked to the owner who had been running the 5 ton unit without a filter. I considered pumping it down, pulling the evaporator and taking it out to the parking lot to clean it like I have before but I was able to take a hose hooked to the mop sink and blast most of the dirt off of it. A little messy but it was another 100°F day and it was warm in there even with 6-7 extra tons of cooling. We cleaned 4 inside condensers, 3 outside condensers, 2 evaporators inside the walk-in coolers and of course the crud encrusted 5 ton AC evaporator. It's a pain but at least nothing is on the roof.
TDD
You were a busy beaver, today? Wish I had accounts like that.
The sprayer at the end of the hose, does that mix the solution as you go? I've tried to mix on the roof with a garden sprayer or sprinkler. It never works quite right.
I have two of the guns, one very old and the newer all plastic gun that has been out for several years. I've gotten a lot of my friends using them now after they see it in action.
That does look totally useful. I've put cleaner on with a garden sprayer, which works well. For small units, like window AC and 1/3 HP refrigeration units. However, this looks like it would work well with large units. (roof tops, etc.)
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