OT: an efficient AC controller

[John Doe]

That would be to simply have two potentiometers. One would control the percent of time the air conditioner cooling stays on, the other would control cycle length. For example, you could set the cooling to stay on for a few minutes, and with the cycle length set to 10 minutes, every 10 minutes the air conditioner cooling would run for a few minutes. (I'm not talking about whether or not the fan would remain on when the condenser is off.)

That's for those of us who don't keep the temperature the same day and night. Do you think that would cause too much temperature variation from day to night? Other simple ideas are welcome. I am mainly just curious about the issue.

Disclaimer: I'm not suggesting the idea is novel (for all I know, it might already be implemented). And I'm not suggesting that consumers would be receptive.

Around here during the summer, we oscillate between hot and humid. During a few weeks during the summer, the temperature averages 96°F, and at night it's about 80% humidity. Using a simple thermostat, the later it gets, the more humid it gets without a decrease in temperature, so it actually feels warmer in late evening.

I'm aware that with higher technology you can have better control. Having a flat panel display and being able to click and drag a

24-hour temperature line up and down at various points depending on time of day might be nice. But I'm talking design efficiency.

Thank you.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

What do you think it will accomplish? You want to run the condenser regardless of the temperature? Yes, that will being the humidity down, but also the temperature. If you run it at very low temps there is also the potential of freezing up the evaporator coil.

Many years ago my father worked as an engineer for a printing company. Humidity control was more important than the temperature. They had the entire plant air-conditioned, but when the temperature dropped and humidity was high, the heat would also run. This was fifty years ago and I don't recall the control setup. At the time, energy was cheap too.

[John Doe]

I kind of goofed there. I started saying one would control the percent of total cycle time then switched to saying it would be a static time. I guess they're both possibilities.

An efficient AC controller.

During the daytime here, I think most people accept higher indoor temperatures, as it's also recommended by our electricity provider.

I guess you are assuming that no one would know enough to turn the air conditioner down if the outside temperature somehow fell dramatically during the summer.

You could set a minimum temperature or have built-in protection against that.

I've given that advice to bus drivers when the temperature doesn't require air-conditioning but the air quality is worse than a high school locker room.

I acknowledge that some people like to be totally insulated against natural effects like temperature variation and sound. Again, I'm not suggesting this is commercially viable.

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Jun 2006 22:37:25 EDT)

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[Edwin Pawlowski]

I don't understand. What is the benefit of cycling on a time basis rather than with a thermostat? When it is running, the AC lowers the air temperature and removes humidity. When it is not running, this does not happen. If you need it cooler, it must run. If you don't need it cooler, but want humidity reduced, it still must run and cycling does nothing benificial that I'm aware of. Compressors often have duty cycles. They are designed to have a certain number of starts per hour.

If you are going to use this in conjunction with heat for humidity, then yes, it wold work. Am I missing something else?

My car has climate control I rarely drive with the windows down. Never on the highway and only a few miles on a really nice day around town.

[trader4]

I don't get it either. Temp is the variable you want to control and it's easily measured. Why would anyone want to set the run time, duty cycle etc instead of temp? There are plenty of thermostats available that already do just about everything you could want.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I can understand that he wants to control humidity at times when the temp is low, but that takes adding heat, nut just cycling a compressor.

[John Doe]

So you accept that as it is. Okie dokie. Don't strain your brain.

The temperature never gets low here during the summer. No, removing humidity by running the AC is easy at all times day and night.

Firstly, you should understand what it's like to live in a very hot climate. When the temperature approaches 100° outside, cooling a room is much more difficult, depending on insulation and the power of your cooling system. As the temperature rises, the amount of energy required to cool a room rises in a non-linear fashion. Cooling a room to 78° can be much easier than cooling a room to 75°. Given a high enough outside temperature, you can waste lots of electricity trying to get to your desired low temperature.

I thought that was common knowledge of people who live in hot climates.

Given those facts, around here we accept a higher inside temperature during the day than at night.

Setting the runtimes instead of setting temperature will automatically lower the indoor temperature at night, which is desirable to me. I guess the answer to my question has to do with insulation, that is... if you have very good insulation and you set your air conditioner runtimes, the difference between indoor day and night temperatures won't be much different... but if you have bad insulation, you must have long runtimes during the day, so the room will cool off too much at night.

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