A/C vs. swamp cooler? (2023 Update)

[Mr Pounder Esquire]

Prick

[mike]

Power consumption is the second question to ask. First question is whether you live in a climate that's dry enough to use a swamp cooler. Google "dew point" and think about inside humidity.

[gfretwell]

What is simpler than a burner a metal can and a fan?

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

All the radiators/pumps/valves/pipes to distribute the heat.

[mike]

And the inside (cold) coils also ice up and quit working.

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

At -20C. But they don't stop working when the freezer is warmer than that.

BTW, a person can quit a job, a machine cannot quit, it stops.

[angelicapaganelli]

Any such system is arbitrary and it makes no sense to complain about its arbitrariness.

Cindy Hamilton

[trader_4]

Wow, you really think so, Sherlock?

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

No, it's easier to use with sensible numbers. I was brought up on F. It was ok for room temperature, I knew 70F was room temperature and could work from that. But having a 0 at freezing point makes it so much easier to judge outside temperatures.

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

You'd think in the 1st century manufacturers would make stuff for the international market.

(I'm assuming you're referring to my reply, not my sig, which for some reason you quoted).

[Unquestionably Confused]

Personally, I have never seen a window type inverter system such as you describe, only the split systems. Doesn't mean they aren't out there on this side of the pond, just that I've not seen them and I was looking for any suitable alternatives to the window/thru wall units two years ago when I went to the current split.

>

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

Here, humidity is low in the winter. The cats don't like it when petting is accompanied by electric shocks.

[Jimmy Wilkinson Knife]

Then they'll just have to get used to it.

[gfretwell]

Most gas furnaces in the US are forced air distribution just like the AC unit and use the same duct system. Using water and radiators went away shortly after WWII. I never lived in a house with a radiator.

[gfretwell]

The outside coils on a heat pump are not in a box with regulated humidity. Again, maybe you should look at a dew point chart. They actually do use the same philosophy as a "frost free" freezer by heating the coils when they ice up but when it gets cold enough you spend as much energy heating the outside coils as the inside coils by running it is AC mode instead of heat mode.

[gfretwell]

They do make window shaker heat pumps but I am not sure how big the market actually is for them. I suspect it may just be using mini split hardware in one box.

[Clare Snyder]

Up here a swamp cooler would use a LOT more power and would still not cool effectively. Our summer humidity is too high for a "swamp cooler" to work. They are really only "desert coolers"

[Clare Snyder]

The simple insertion of a "reversing valve" turns an AC unit into a heat pump. Not FEASIBLE on many units, but possible.

The technology is all there except for the valve.

[Clare Snyder]

and the pump is NOT reversed. There is just a rather complex little device called a "reversing valve" which switches the high and low side of the compressor between the "evaporator" and the "condenser" - making them trade places and functions.

[Clare Snyder]

And not just megabucks - Gigabucks and terrabucks