Re: more fun with air conditioning

From: Harry Conover (hhc314_at_yahoo.com)
Date: 07/23/04 

Date: 22 Jul 2004 21:02:57 -0700

jjensen14@hotmail.com (J Jensen) wrote in message news:<c3f2060d.0407221116.4fd3587f@posting.google.com>...
> In regards to the recent posting I saw about running the a/c or opening the
> windows, I would like to list several statements that people have made to
> me about air conditioning. The location is Texas, where the temperature
> is about 75 F at night and 100 F at the hottest part of the day.
>
> 1. Keeping the a/c cooling the house all day uses less electricity than
> turning it off and then back on in the evening or when you return from
> a vacation.

Part of the answer this has to do with where in Texas you live. If you
live in the Houston area, you would probably want to leave it on at
all times, if nothing else to prevent a build up of humidity in your
home. If you live in a less humid part of the state, this is not as
much of a consideration.

> 2. Running the a/c a few degrees colder at night cools the big cement slab
> that the house is built on, and thus saves electricity during the day
> (the a/c is set back to normal living temperature during the day).

Realistically, you have little hope of cooling down a large cement
slab, except if you maintain a constant temperature in your home.
>
> 2b. If the temperature inside the house reaches 78 F at 10 AM on both days
> with the a/c set colder the previous night, and also when it was just
> set normally the previous night, then that proves setting it colder made
> no difference.

It anything, this simply reveals you need a larger air conditioner
unit since your current one is unable to maintain the temperature
within acceptable tollerances.
 
> 3. The a/c uses less current at night ( you measure it with an ammeter as
> it is running ).

I personally have not found this to be the case, either in upstate New
York or here in New England. The current drawn by the compressor in an
air conditioner barely reflect changes in temperature conditions.

>
> 4. The a/c uses less current if you spray the outside unit with the garden
> hose and then measure it with the ammeter.

I'd assume that you are joking here.
 
> 5. Shading the outside unit (compressor and condenser) does not reduce
> electricity costs [Assume shade does not block air flow].

Shading the condensor unit will improve air conditining performance,
but will have only small impact on electricity costs.
>
> 6. If you have high ceilings and ceiling fans, it is more energy efficient
> to leave the fans running at low speed all the time to pull down hot air
> and get it to circulate through the a/c system.

This depend on how interested you are in air conditioning your
ceilings. Most people couldn't give a hoot.

>
> 7. It isn't worthwhile to check on the amount of Freon (or whatever) that is
> in the system -- all that matters is measuring the temperature of the
> cold air coming out (say 62 F) and the outside temperature or maybe the
> attic temperature.

If the temperature differential between the intake air and the outlet
air temperature are operating within specificationd, there is no need
to measure the freon pressures.

                                                   Harry C.

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