[TriLUG] OT: thermodynamics of A/C question

[Aaron Joyner]

Misting the HVAC unit seems initially very compelling, but I'm not
sure how effective it would be in the very humid climate of the south
east.  I'd love to see some data on effectiveness.  Looking around on
the web for a few commercial installers seems to confirm my
suspicions, they cite great performance in dry climates such as NV,
AZ, Southern CA, etc.

Perhaps someone such as Matt with a more solid understanding of the
interactions of wet bulb temperature on the effects of evaporative
cooling could shed more light on the topic.  I'd love to see graphs
from someone who setup the DIY Zoning system Craig mentioned,
collected data to quantify the system efficiency, and then added a
mister component.

In short, where's this banner when you need it?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/traviscrawford/323366600/

On the whole, I've enjoyed this thread more than any OT thread in memory.  :)

Aaron S. Joyner


On Tue, Jun 26, 2012 at 1:30 PM, Craig Cook <cncook001 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> On the thought of misting your outside unit, this is one option I am following:
>
> http://opensprinkler.com
>
> I own one of these units.
>
> With the current software release this unit connects to google weather and knows the current temperature/weather conditions (based on your zip code/city).
>
> It is possible to identify the outside temperature.  Over a certain temperature open a valve to turn on your misters next to your AC unit.  (I already have some misters at home, waiting to test this feature).
>
>
> The author is working on a feature like this.  (over a certain temperature give your plants extra watering time, if rain is forecast don't bother watering your garden, etc).
>
>
> I have not worked out how you could detect if your AC unit was actually on or not.  That would require connecting to your inside HVAC temperature controller.
>
> Another future enhancement to the sprinkler is connecting it to a rain barrel.  If you didn't want to use city water you could use rain water to mist your AC unit.
>
>
> Craig
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