Saving on A/C Costs

[Arminius]

Originally Posted by LostCause

That's the thing I remembered.

The biggest limitation to the technique is your local climate. Evaporative cooling is dependent on the local humidity. If it's hot and humid outside, as I suspect most of the midwest is during the summer, then it will not work very efficiently. The southwest, where it is often hot and dry, allows the latent heat of vaporization of water to absorb energy from the air.

Yeah, but I noticed that in the video he spoke of a "cool zone" or something like that. My impression wasn't that it had so much to do with evaporation as the difference in the water temperature. In most places the water coming out of the ground is pretty cold. If it's 90 degrees outside and the water is 50 degrees (ok, I live in Wisconsin), that would be part of the equation.

[Yaristock]

Would it be anyway beneficial to use a small wind power turbine to recoup some of the energy. Since its blowing anyways why not harness some of the wind?????

[Arminius]

Good question. I've read a little about micro turbines, but I haven't seen too many outside of China.

[LostCause]

Originally Posted by Yaristock

Would it be anyway beneficial to use a small wind power turbine to recoup some of the energy. Since its blowing anyways why not harness some of the wind?????

I'd imagine that adding a turbine will lower the fan's CFM (efficiency), negating any gains. It's the equivalent of sticking a generator on a motor to build a perpetual motion machine. You might be able to recoup a small gain, though.

Rather, I would clean the condensor grille pristinely to help increase the fan's efficiency.

- LostCause

[Arminius]

Originally Posted by LostCause

I'd imagine that adding a turbine will lower the fan's CFM (efficiency), negating any gains. It's the equivalent of sticking a generator on a motor to build a perpetual motion machine. You might be able to recoup a small gain, though.

Rather, I would clean the condensor grille pristinely to help increase the fan's efficiency.

- LostCause

I was thinking that too. However, there must be a safe distance at which to place something....hence the micro turbine idea. Not that it would power the AC, but that it would capture some energy. The miro turbines I've seen can generate electricity at wind speeds of 2 mph (I think).

[Arminius]

Hey, I found the micro turbines. http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/03/21/...ze-big-impact/

Not a major breakthrough, but still interesting.

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by Lazarus

Not yet but I'm going to buy or make one. Thanks for posting that Arminius.

Installed. I'll see how it goes when it warms up a bit here.

[ihatejoefitz]

Originally Posted by RH77

By the way, I just ordered...

JK...

It has already been an "unlucky day".

The mower broke -- had to order a part and I thought the A/C unit went down and it just started working again. Dunno why...

Thanks for taking a picture of that post, forever...

EDIT: I think Beaker's expression as he sees the number sums it up. MEEP!

Let me know how the cool-n-save does. I'm a little weary because of the high humidity here.

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by ihatejoefitz

Let me know how the cool-n-save does. I'm a little weary because of the high humidity here.

It's suppose to work in humidity. Here's a link to the study.

"The implication from these results is that by using a CoolNSave™, even in a climate that endures high humidity, the heat transfer from the refrigerant to the air is substantially increased."

[Arminius]

Nice, Lazarus! That looks like a big unit, too.