Has anyone made a setup to spray water on their AC's heat exchange in order to help the system cool their home. Does it work and is it economical?
I live in a hot, humid southern state. I also plan to build a new house in the next five years and I was wondering about alternatives a standard AC, or different things I could do to GREATLY improve the units efficiency. It is only going to get hotter and fuel costs are only going to rise.
EvE
Misting was discussed here just a day or two ago. It is not the best way to cool and negatives outweigh the positives, especially if you are paying for water. Mineral buildup is a problem also. In humid areas it is less efficient that in dry areas.
Rather than spend more money for a larger AC or one with extra add-ons, since you are building a new house, build the most energy efficient way possible, use lots of insulation. Look into using Insulating Concrete Forms. About 5% of new houses are being built that way and cost about 50% less on energy to operate. Check out
Thanks. I will go with a concrete home of some kind - that is for sure. But also looking for better ways to heat and cool. I live in the south and it is hotter then colder. I can live w/o heat but not AC. Of course I must have hot water..
Will eye your web sites and reload this groups headers.
eve
Ground source heat pump. They ain't cheap to install, but they are inexpensive to operate.
For new construction, definitely look into ground source heat pump. Absolutely the least expensive in the long run. A bit higher to install, but the pay back and comfort level of a well installed system is unbelievable. The system becomes even more efficient if the ground source happens to hit water bearing strata. ______________________________ Keep the whole world singing . . . . DanG (remove the sevens) snipped-for-privacy@7cox.net
That sounds good. I have to see if it will work with a "Chiller" type unit that can be placed away from the home and sends super chilled coolant to the indoor air exchange. OR that is my plan any way.
What about a very large water tank stored deep in the ground to use as a heat dump/ heat store? Any speculations would be good. I'm still in the planning phase.
eVe
Ground Source heat pumps throw away the outside unit totally. The compressor moves inside and sounds like a large freezor in operation. Pipes connect it to an outside heat sink/source.
The outside heat sink/source can take many forms. If there is a large enough nearby pond or lake (at least 1/2 acre in size), then we can put the ground loop in the pond. If ground water (wells) is plentiful, we have a stream or lake to dump the water into, we can draw from a well, and dump to a lake stream (or if we have eoungh land, sprinkle).
However, most installers today shy away from open loop systems. They bury several hundred feet of pipe per ton of installed capacity in a collection of vertical wells, or in long trenches that are at least 6 feet deep. Local climate and soil conditions dictate how deep the wells go, and whether we pick long trenches or wells.
In a cooling dominated climate (as I am in southern Texas), we need on the order of 600 feet of buried pipe per ton of capacity. Your local installer can advise you on what works well in your area.
GSHP work at EERs that make expensive air based ACs squirm with frustration. Flat out, they both operate in the EER range of 15 to 17. However heat pumps can operate in a slow speed mode and the EER leaps to
22 to 27.A properly insulated and SEALED home will need roughly half the AC capacity of conventional construction. The really important point is well sealed. foam insulation instead of fiberglass is a big help in this area as it is such a good sealant of air leaks and provide very effective insulation was well.
When coupled with a ground source heat pump, a well insulated and sealed home will cost MUCH less to operate than the same home with a conventional high efficiency AC and gas furnace. how much less is dependent on where the house is located, how big it is and what electricity and natural gas cost. for the house I want to build in Houston TX, geothermal cuts the operating costs by roughly 1/3.
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