Regardless of whether this is a good idea or bad (I think it's good, especially the elimination of the flapper valve), the fact that someone says they are going to do a follow up video and then actually does it and doesn't leave everyone hanging....well that makes the first video all that much better. Kudos for doing proper follow up, and for sharing the whole idea with us.
Thanks for taking time to present this and then follow up. Obviously this will be most efficient in areas of very low humidity. Living in Atlanta I would like to try this, I am curious at the amount of dollars saved year over year in SC (I think that's where your located) as we have similar humidity, if you have time info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.
Any chance you could show the electricity cost from then to now compared to the same months before it was installed? Also the water cost increase if you could. Should make for an interesting video.
Hi John, You might try running your mister water supply up to the steel top of the a/c unit and drill a few holes around it's perimeter and put the misters pointing down. That should give you a lot more mist on the actual heat exchanger/condenser. You might also consider a few drain holes if required. I'm going to price out the rainbird products here in Canada and install one on my a/c.
I built an AC condenser misting system in 1996 in Chandler, AZ and believe that I had the first and the longest running AC misting system in existence. They can save money, but only in limited locations. They can also destroy your AC unit if you do not use serious water filtration. Rainwater does little harm because it is in a normal PH range and does not contain harmful chemicals. City or well water can contain chlorine, loads of calcium, salts, etc. The only sensible water supply is RO water pumped thru very, very fine misting nozzles . If you go cheap, the $150 you save initially will be eaten up by maintenance. Next, in order for the misting system to reduce the runtime of the compressor, there must be very low humidity. Heat transfer by evaporation is six times more effective than direct transfer of heat from the pipes to the water. The gains are small from direct transfer and hardly worth the expense, especially if you are also paying for the water. It is the extreme BTU transfer that occurs during evaporation that is the key to success. I invested a significant amount of money while determining whether a commercial system could be developed. I found that the units would not be cost effective in most of the country. The deep south is far too humid. The northern states don't get high temperatures and low humidity at the same time. So, your decision should be based completely on your weather. Remember, your AC function does not change. The AC operates automatically using preset controls. What a misting system can do is reduce the run time required during each cycle. This is accomplished not by the water flow, but by the evaporation of a tiny amount of mist that is able to evaporate. More water flow is a detriment, not a help.
The irrigation systems are not intended for use with residential pressure of @60 lbs/sq.in. A pressure reduction section is available to drop the pressure at the hose bib, usually very cheap. This is why the original heads produced so much water and the plug shot off the terminus. Fix is about $5.00 extra. Overall, a very good system. Like the electronic valve.
Good mist system bro. Keep in mind that the hot refrigerant enters the condenser coil at the top as a superheated high heat vapor and exits the condenser coil at the bottom as a subcooled liquid. Try to get your mist towards the top half of the coil. Thats where you can be the most effective in reducing the head pressure of the compressor and save some money and life if the compressor. AND REMEMBER TO GET YOUR COIL CLEANED MORE OFTEN, it will save your coil im the long run!
Very good points, and i have directed the nozzles to the hottest areas of the coil. After 3 months of running the mister I have ZERO, I REPEAT ZERO buildup.
This addresses a question that I had at the beginning of this series. I also had a new air conditioner installed about 10 years ago and I asked the tech what effect there would be if the compressor kicked on while cleaning the coils. He said the head pressure would be affected and spoke like that would have negative effects on the whole system. Good post, thanks...
Followed your lead. Using a sprinkler valve GREAT idea. Could use smaller diameter hose if you want.. Only have an issue with leaky misters. Working on it. Thanks for your updates.
appreciate the video here in florida in july 2021. Am wondering if u had any internal glitches inside the unit like rust or corrosion or any electrical/fan glitches due to the water ? Hope u are having a good covid free year....thanks again for the video..jP
Use one of the plastic tubing to the 3/4 inch npt adapters like you used to install the valve in your system. You can then use a threaded pipe plug and not have anymore plugs blowing out. Kinking the tube will cause a failure in the future where the tubing is bent. I am installing one of these for my AC system thanks for saving me some money great idea.
Was hoping to see another update for 2018... so how's the mister setup going so far (it was 96° in SC yesterday)? Guessing you are dealing with severe scale & mineral deposit issues, right? You need a barrier between the water & the fins, so only cooled air passes over the fins. A previous comment mentioned Evaporative Cooler Paper (aka water-wick pad) ...BUT these are made of paper and not viable for outside, or once wrapped around the AC would have to be somewhat sealed & would reduce the air flow. So maybe build an enclosed crate around the AC unit with filters that are wetted by drippers or misters, with an opening at the top for the exhaust (has to fully enclose the AC unit though). OF NOTE: - "The cooling fins are meant to be outside, so can handle the water" is not true, they were not meant for constant horizontal rain or submergence, but for light indirect & infrequent contact with water (rain). Thanks for the 24v idea though, and I am pursuing a crate-surround idea, maybe using misters & large fiberglass filters?
The reason it exploded is because the drip/mist system you got going on there is unregulated. 20 - 30 psi is the recommend range for a standard drip irrigation system.
You should get a water pressure regulator. The make them for RVs and drip lines. I would try a 40 PSI straight line for about $15. Adjustable ones $35 - $50.
John you can buy a pressure relief fitting from Home Depot they sell for your outdoor water tap, rather than build pressure in the system. It blows off the pressure as required.
Just make sure everyone knows to disconnect everything before using the heating mode. You could have just connected the water valve 24volts to the 24volts on the contacter .
Have u considered using one of those clothes washer supply hoses that contain auto shutoff valve in case of burst. That might be a good safety in case of another plug burst or hose burst.
Would be better to build a small shed with an evaporative cooler around the compressor. Direct water constantly on the coils, fan and compressor will foul things up.
Instead of turning the faucet down, add a ball valve. If you turn the faucet down you'll probably have a vibrating gasket and possibly have to replace it more often. Those faucets are meant to be on or off, not in between.
Thomas Duke Hi Thomas, the valve is a rainbird CP075. Water filter is Orbit from a amazon and nozzles from amazon. If you view my channel the "Update 2" video has the amazon links. Hope that helps, thanks.
cool water being drawn in and cooling the air that is pushed out through the top is not a real good indicator of actual temp in there nor does is address the issue of poor cool water distribution across entire surface of cooling lines. nice vids and explanation (checked em all out). i plan to do this but use 4 nozzles per side to achieve a good distribution along all cooling surfaces (no hot spots). thanks for the parts list!
How's the mister going, and what part of the country do you live? Another update video would be great. I'm in central Florida and always wondered if this would be worth it here or is the humidity too high here.
Hi sorry for late reply Sold the home about a year ago. I removed everything and took the fan/top of to do a thorough inspection. Zero calcium/lime build up. None. No rust that wasnt already present from 8 years of normal operation (surface rust from where printed parts have started flaking, nothing new) Our new home has a much newer modern efficient system or I would be putting one on the new home also.
With respect to the stopper plug, if you removed that and continued the loop so that if formed a complete circle, using a T-piece coupling, you won't have to worry about the stopper situation. Not that you have anything to worry about now with it!. So a request for you, if you have an infra red heat sensor...you mentioned the air coming up through the fan was ambient temperature with the water on, but warmer without. Do you think you'd be able to take measurements of the different temps?
Michael I did a test of mine although my mister needs some tweaking; owing to excessive spray and leaks. But when I did the initial test, I measured 10ºF cooler above the the fan. The temp gun was set on a tripod so it measured exactly the same spot above the AC unit.
Hi sorry for late reply Sold the home about a year ago. I removed everything and took the fan/top of to do a thorough inspection. Zero calcium/lime build up. None. No rust that wasnt already present from 8 years of normal operation (surface rust from where printed parts have started flaking, nothing new) Our new home has a much newer modern efficient system or I would be putting one on the new home also.
Jonboy... I was actually in the process of planning out my system when I ran across your video. I've got mine in test mode (just hose hooked to misters without sprinkler valve)... mine still seems to run the same amount of time as before. No noticeable difference. What makes you feel it's actually working? Awesome series of vids btw!
I have a wifi thermostat, and I can see whether the compressor is running. Usually it would take an hour to recover from 75 to 72. It now takes about 35 minutes! I eventually am going to use an inductive amp probe and a raspberry pi to log energy draw over time and plot the results for more accurate data, but for now this is the best I can do :)
jonboy545 I've started with the same rainbird misters that you originally started with... it's hard to see the mist in the vids but is there that much of a difference compared to the ones from amazon? Also, I went with the 1/4" tubing instead of the stuff you used.
HUGE difference. The issue with the rainbird ones is they are meant for watering, so they output alot more water than what is needed. There isn't much atomization. If the water doesn't atomize, you won't get evaporative cooling as the droplets are too big. You will need more nozzles since there isn't as much water, but the atomization is ALOT better. It is a VERY fine mist, which is perfect for the intended use. 1/4 should be perfectly fine. There is such a small amount of water that it won't make any difference. I went with the larger stuff just to make it easy to connect to the solenoid valve, and I was in a rush building it out in my head at the store. I just went with the first solution I came up with, with the fewest parts lol.
I wish there was a low dollar way of measuring the temp of the coils while misters are on and off. I saw another video where a guy used an inductive amp meter to measure amps with misters on and off. I planned on adding a thermostat and a photocell (and reversing relay) to the system so it only ran during the day and if the ambient temp was above say 85 degrees or so.
That's a great idea! For a low cost temp monitor, look into a ESP8266 (WeMos Mini D1 is great). It's a WiFi arduino with 8 digital pins and one analog input with 802.11b/g built in. You can use either a DHT11 temp/humidity sensor or a more accurate analog thermistor. Then you can use something like Thing Speak to log the temps. Thingspeak has recently become VERY restrictive on how much data you can send, I'm looking into alternatives for other projects. NodeRed MCU is a good alternative that I haven't started researching alot yet but looks very powerful. Check some of my older videos on my A/C Zone Control project. I'm using WeMos Minis all over my house to control airflow to individual rooms, as well as one in the attic controlling servos. I've had to limit the functionality because of the thingspeak restrictions, but does still work.
Hey dessert rider. Sold the home about a year ago. I removed everything and took the fan/top of to do a thorough inspection. Zero calcium/lime build up. None. No rust that wasnt already present from 8 years of normal operation (surface rust from where printed parts have started flaking, nothing new) Our new home has a much newer modern efficient system or I would be putting one on the new home also.
Wonder if you could find a type of mister that was so fine that none of the water actually made it to the coils? May have to use more of them closer spaced though. My thinking is that no water on the coils equals better evaporative cooling and no chance of long term damage to the coils from anything that might be in the water.
Yes, compared to last years bills with close to the same weather patterns about 18% energy savings, which for my home comes out to about $40-$50/month. I'll try and get better data next summer. Mister is shut down now as the temps aren't high enough for it to make a difference. Oh, water bill went up by $4, so I'm still in the black!
JONBOY545, Your system is freezing up!! I can see it through the condenser fan motor. Do you see the thicker copper line frozen when you run the unit? You will kill your compressor trying to save few bucks! Is it worth it??
+FIX IT HVAC That is surface ice.... that would happen during a light rain so I don't see the difference. These units are exposed to the rain and environment 24/7. I'm not trying to argue I'm asking a legitimate question. What's the difference between a light rain freezing on the pipe and some tap water freezing on the pipe.
If you are seeing ice anytime in the summer, you have got an issue whether it is misting or running normally. Also, you are going to rot your coils out. Good luck.
When you run the unit in cooling you should not have the suction line freezing up. The suction line should be sweating, but not freezing. If it freezes it means the saturation temperature in the evaporator is below the freezing point. It may be caused by air flow issues (dirty filter, dirty evaporator coil, collapsed duct work), low charge, restriction on the metering device, low head pressure. In your case with the sprinklers on the condenser coil I am assuming you are bringing the head pressure too low, which corresponds to low pressure in the evaporator. Air temperature coming out of the condenser must be above the ambient temperature. This is your indication of rejecting the heat from the house. In your case you are re-engineering the unit, because you use the water evaporation as a means to cooling down the condenser coil. Originally it has only the condenser fan doing this job. If you hook-up refrigerant gauges when running the sprinklers it may be a good indication of what is going on with the system. It will be best if you check your subcooling and superheat. Also, a thermometer showing the ambient temperature and the temperature of the air coming out of the condenser coil, as well as delta T inside the house. I will suggest to check your air filter, and I am assuming your evaporator coil is clean. The idea is cool, but just running water over the condenser may do more damage than good. From the top of my head, it is possible to use refrigeration pressure control to cycle on and off the water sprinklers.
The only heat from your condenser is from compression. Spraying water on an air cooled condenser is useless. All the work of cooling your house is done inside at the evaporator coil, Also this voids any factory warranty.
If someone is willing to spend the extra money on 2 misting systems, with pipes running around the 1/3 and 2/3 height of the AC unit abd with 2 misters on each level for a total of 12 misters on the side panels of the AC unit, and assuming the outdoor air is very dry like in Arizona, and wiling to spend money on 2 gallons of water a day, or for free for those people that have large rain water collectors, are the energy saving benefits going to double, or near that, or ass they say, you introduce a diminishing returns to scale, where you really don't save enough to add a second system, I have 2 AC units, of 5 tons each and the electric bills are killing me !!!
Hi! Well contrary to what all the haters have said, there is NO buildup on my coil, and I did see a reduction in energy usage compared to last year which had comparable weather. It came out to 18% savings. I have noticed the unit does not run as much, and recovery time has reduced on hot days (my thermostat goes up to 76 while we are away at work, and back to 72 at 5:00PM. I did not take a plenum temp reading with and without it running, but plan to do that next summer. For now the system is shut down, as the outside temps have dropped and the mister is no longer doing anything. I'll fire everything back up next summer and try to do some better tests with more data. I understand some of the arguments posted in the comments. There are areas of the country where there is very hard water, with lots of calcium. It IS a risk to mist the coil with that condition. However as I've tried to post in SEVERAL places, along with putting in my videos, the water in my area is very soft, very pH neutral, and I'm running a filter just in case. I will say again, I have NO buildup on my coils what so ever after 3 months or running it. No rust, my condenser is not falling apart, none of that.
jonboy545 I'll stay subscribed and watch for updates. In the meantime, since I live in Florida and it's still hot as hell here, I'll continue to tinker with my system. Looking forward to updates...
jonboy545 hello any updates for summer 2018? I use your idea with the sprinkler system solenoid valve and a ready-made kit for garden misting from Lowe's. I'll need to get some better atomizing mister heads though. And a filter probably. Just curious to know what your results are the summer so far.
