This Device Can Save You 30% On Your Energy Bill! Makes The AC Blow Colder 

I've always wanted the condensate water to cool my condenser coils, rather than sending that water down the drain. Kinda the same way I want outside air to cool my fridge in the winter. :)

A really well made video, so easy to follow along with you. Thank you. I may get one of these as they seem to work as advertised.

I really feel for you people with hard water. Where I live the water is pretty much mineral free and can be used right out of the tap. It would take forever for any mineral build up.

I would like to have seen a measurement of the amount of water used during the test period. Depending on how much water is being turned to mist every hour, it may or may not be worthwhile.

Over a few years the radiator fins will become coated with water deposits that will be impossible to remove, resulting in costly repairs/replacement, far outweighing the savings of dropping two amps.

Very good and informative video. Thank you

will be interesting to see your electric bill in the future. Here in Texas its 107 where I am. We already use a commercial mister on our gazebo and it cuts temps bu almost 30 degrees.

Great video! I just installed one of these at my house and thought I would share my results. First information on my unit, set point and conditions. I live in San Antonio, TX and have a 15-year old Carrier 5-ton unit that has really started to struggled in these hot summers. I have three thermostat zones in our 3,000 square foot house and I have ecobee thermostats that allow me to track run time, temperature and humidity. We installed our cool n save two days into the billing cycle last month which was perfect for a monthly comparison. Our house is set to 75 degrees at night and 76 during the day with the exception of 3:00 to 8:30 when it goes up to 77 degrees so give some relief to the unit during the heat of the day. I have been using this program for years. My July Bill was $358. The average exterior temp in July was 86 degrees. So what was my August bill? My August bill was $315. The average exterior temp inAugust for the billing cycle was 88 degrees. The department of energy states that for each degree up or down compared to the exterior temp is a 3% increase in energy costs. So using that assumption - all other things being equal - I would have expected my bill to go up 6% in August to $379. So the savings comes in at $64 or 17%. But what other benefits did we see? The unit runs quieter with the cool n save. The decibel level without the cool n save was 69.1. With it running (both measured after a 10 minute run time) the decibel level is 63.8. I assume it is quieter due to the compressor not working as hard. Finally one of the other benefits we have seen is that the interior humidity levels are on average 5% less on the inside of my house. So while our temp set points are the same - the house feels much cooler on the inside. As the video shows - we also saw interior air approximately 1 degree cooler inside the house. A colder coil pulls more moisture out of the air and makes the house more comfortable. Our interior humidity averaged 53% before the cool n save and now averages 48%. So yes this works and it works well. What about the negatives of mineral build up? I am very aware of this risk…but given the age of my unit - I decided it was worth the risk to extend the life of my aging system. Plus every year I use Nu-Calgon brand Nu-Brite coil cleaner on my outside coil. If I do have mineral build up I will also clean with a vinegar solution. But after a month of use I have no evidence of mineral build up on my unit. I will keep a close eye on this going forward. As others have stated - A/C units are designed to work in the rain - so the misting system is not a problem. I am a huge fan of how well this works and based off of my savings - this will pay for itself in approximately two months. Even with the minimal water usage. I highly recommend this - especially if you have an older system like mine you are trying to extend the service life. I wish I had discovered this earlier.

Catch rain water in drums, and it mount it above the ac using an inline water cyclone. Call it good 👍

Dude, you rock. I never knew that this kit existed, but did know that cooling the condenser coil could be a help in cooling. Just ordered my Cool -n- Save... 🙂

@howtohomediy I just installed the Cool-N-Save today. I live west of Tampa about 3 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. Today it is 93 degrees and 66% humidity. I got less improvement but it did improve. Before - 10.5 run amps, after 10.1 amps. Supply temp went from 61 down to 60.5. I also did use the provided water filter even though I have a whole house water softener system, which includes my outdoor spigots. One tip, I had to off center the paddle to capture the best fan air flow to lift the paddle. I have a 6 yr old Trane 3 ton unit.

After watching this video, I ordered and installed this w/ the extra 3 nozzles. I'm in suburbs of Houston. It has only been 3 days but I can see a good drop in electricity usage and the inside temperature is holding temp way better. My calculations are showing ~ $80/month savings AND the AC is working much better. I'm more than impressed! Thanks for the Video guidance.

Only issue I had is the paddle valve would allow continuous flow so I ended up taping a rock to the paddle, made it work like it's supposed to!

Great video!!!

This would be great in Arizona with our low humid air but........our water is very hard and the manufacture recommends to not use in an area with hard water. Many comments have pointed out the hard water deposits will clog/destroy your condensing unit (very expensive to replace).

For everyome saying that water will cause build up on the radiator, youre supposed to clean the coils every year anyways with chemicals. With proper maintenance i think this may be worth looking into. Around my area water is cheap but my last electric bill was $450

The control for this test is ambient air temperature outside and the load on the evap coil (wet & dry bulb). A sub-cooling number before and after would also help a lot and what SERR the unit is.

Can you do a follow up possibly 1 month later?

Thank you to all of you that suggested this! Is your AC unit running more this summer than normal like mine has been due to the heat? I definitely look forward to seeing the energy savings from this install!

I'd like to point out these are very Humidity dependent. The LOWER the ambient humidity, the BETTER something like this will work. If where you are is already 80-100% humidity, the mist won't phase change as quickly, and therefore won't provide any cooling. I posit it would work best with ambient humidity below 30%. A mister like this would work a LOT better in places like Nevada, Arizona, California where summer ambient humidity levels go below 10%. The phase change of the mist evaporating to a gas is what does the lion's share of cooling. Second, that valve looks 'very' cheaply made, I'd be worried about it getting 'stuck' open and damaging the condenser/fan

FYI/FWIW: Most homes with a water softener loop don't have soft water at the hose bibs( intentional so homeowners aren't watering plants with a little salt too ). Water at my house ( at approximately 15 to 18 grains of hardness ) and many others would clog that line filter quickly. It would be important to know the availability and cost of replacement filters for those in this situation depending on the line filter. Most homeowners don't clean their condenser coils and changing a dirty filter probably won't happen often enough either. In that case the misters are spraying hard water on the condenser coils. Not good.

I worked at a restaurant years ago, and the air conditioner was old... when it wasn't working great, we would actually put a sprinkler on the condenser to make it work better... it actually works...

I had a similar system like this on my Lennox A/C unit (SEER rating of 18) for a few years. This system was originally launched on Kickstarter. Basic concept was same as the system mentioned here. It was a bit more high tech for a few reasons; rather than a paddle on top it had small fan to generate electricity to charge the lithium battery. The battery controlled an electronic valve for the system. This has an electronic control system the communicated with the internet via 3G cell signal. The system would use national weather data to control when it ran. So when my AC unit turned on the mister would only come on when temperature was above 80F and lower humidity (not sure what the cut off was set at). This had a similar calcium filter cartridge. I live in Michigan and the number of days above 80F is small relative to all the comments from others in Texas. My water is relatively hard (350PPM based on reading at tap). I never tested the water after the filter system to see if it reduced the calcium output in misted water. I did run this on and off for three years. The system had a lot of software problems and never worked great. It was a subscription plan for $99 per year. Free maintenance and replacement of hard water filters (self monitor when unit needed new filter). The company went under and that is when I took it off and dumped it. A few comments: 1. Not sure I realized any electricity savings. I did not do the amperage testing or the cooling temperature indoors when system is running. My Lennox system is a variable fan speed motor so hard to do this testing versus older system that is either on or off. When I compared year to year electricity usage I did not see a significant savings. Given multiple other issues (like it not working as it should and poor connection to cell towers), I am not certain I would declare this a failure. I wish I had done more testing on amperage, indoor temperature at vents and PPM of water at mist. 2. I did run this for three years. I did not see calcium deposits on the condenser unit. I do all the annual cleaning so I know what the coils looked like before I started this system. I do find it interesting that this RU-vidr did not see a higher amperage when the unit was running. I thought this might happen given increased work of moving higher humidity air by fan on compressor. 3. Total water usage was minimal. This maybe from how my system did not run all the time but only certain conditions like high temp and low humidity. Still doubt cost of water would much relative to cost savings on electricity. 4. Mold. I was concerned that I would see mold build up around AC unit. Did not see any. Did see bit more green moss near base of AC unit. 4. Why don't manufacturers build in this function, my thoughts are that this requires a lot of upkeep; changing filters, unhooking lines for winter, monitoring coils and cleaning, keeping clearance for mist to spray around. Hope that helps

Thanks for the video! My home uses the a/c unit to heat the house in the winter. Would there be any benefit to using the mister in the winter or just turn them off?

Those will work best in arid climates. In very humid areas, the mist won't evaporate as fast, not cooling the air as much.

Really glad you did this video. The achilles heel on this system, in my opinion, is the water filter/softener. You should consider doing some follow up videos on filters and softeners. Maybe even look at reverse osmosis or rainwater harvesting.

I have heard this Conover time lay down deposits on the condenser coils.

I went from 7 amps to 5 amps and went from 65 to 60 at the register. Easy to install.

Water cooled condensers connected to the municipal water supply is often not permitted by the building code. Example: Chicago.

Yes, this water mister can reduce power use and cooler air from air docks. the drawback your outdoor condenser reduces the life by two times faster due to electrolysis on the cooling fin. The cooling fin (aluminum) and the freon tube (copper) used by the air condenser cause electrolysis when water deteriorates the aluminum when water is added to the play. Like in the boats, two different metals exposed to water cause corrosion/electrolysis.

You can do the same this with a sprinkler pump attached to the A/C thermostat wiring. both use 12v. but the calcium removers don't work very well and eventually the calcium will destroy your fins.

This is from another channel "@diyhvacguy" but I have the same questions. @bigtexuntex7825 wrote 2 weeks ago So you think continuously misting tap water won't ruin the capacity of the unit by causing a thick mineral deposit to form on the coils? Acid coil cleaner will help some, but it won't get it all unless you use a acid that will erode the aluminum. Calcium deposits erode best in the same acid conditions that will erode aluminum. So tap water will damage the condenser. Filtered rain water, RO water or Distilled water will be required if you want to avoid coil damage. Remember you will be evaporating literally tons of water, is your water clean enough to not turn the coils into a solid calcium deposit?

Great video, nicely done! But......"nah", danger of associated issues versus potential savings, not worth it to me personally. But, thanks, I do appreciate your efforts!

Vacuum breaker is code? For TN it's only required for dedicated irrigation systems. I don't know a single person that has one on their spigot. I used something similar to this unit at my other house. I just used one of those patio misting systems and it worked well. And keeping the unit in shade will help also. You can use one of those 10x10 pop up tents or even a yard umbrella. Just don't put it too close as to restrict air flow or it'll have the opposite effect you're going for.

How much water is that going to use though?

This looks oddly familiar 😅 nice video bro. Your channel is crushing 👊🏼

I would never add this to a new unit, but if I had an old unit on its last legs, I might consider it. Remember, all the water that is getting sucked into the unit won't stay on the coils... It will eventually get everything inside the unit soaked with water which could create additional rust and rot in the bottom of the unit if it's full of leaves and dirt like most units that are never maintained. Also, think about all of the water constantly sitting on everything metal inside the unit. All the water "Mist" will be making its way into the electric fan motor and perhaps even into the electrical connections on the side of the compressor, expansion valve or reversing valves of heat pumps, high and low pressure sensors and other electrical components inside the condenser unit. While it may save you a few bucks short term for the few hot months of the year, I have to believe that the longer term negative effects will be far more costly over time and may well lead to a premature death of the condenser, the fan or other very expensive electrical components inside of the unit. I think I'll pass on this one.

I always wanted to see a heat pump water heater with a recirculation pump that has a heat exchanger, so it can run the hot water loop into the condenser to cool it, then you save the water AND the heat. It could just be a little water block that connects to another block with refrigerant before it goes out to the radiator. In a home with high hot water usage or like a hotel, with constant usage, you might be able to eliminate the fans entirely or just rarely turn them on.

This will not work for me especially in the area I live in. I live in an area In the city of Houston were it gets very dusty for whatever reason. Every weekend I have to power wash the area I will be hanging around in especially with this Sahara dust blowing in. In my area that will really clog the coils since it’s dragging that wet dust in towards the inside.

It is supposed to be glued down on the top. In the winter it would crack under the cold weather. This means you would need to replace it next year. This was determined by two other testers.

In humid environments, this might actually not be what you want to do. Part of indoor comfort is getting the humidity into the right range, and traditional A/C and heat pump units remove interior humidity as they run. Shortening the run time by lowering the temp will result in higher indoor humidity, the same as using an improperly sized (too large) system would. Many of these new smart thermostats even have a "cool to dry" feature allowing you to set a target indoor humidity range, and it'll flex what temp is sets to chase humidity to some degree.

What are the long-term effects of having constant water spraying on your AC coils? Perhaps your AC will only last half as long as it would normally last? Perhaps you could do a follow up every year on the effects of this?

Have any utility companies done a study on this? just wondering

Back in my day we used box fans in the windows, put a bucket of ice inside the fans

There are great devices. I have installed a few on some of my client's houses, especially those with multiple units on their house. I recommend that they clean or have their coils cleaned at least 2x a year in order to keep the mineral deposits off of the coil fins. Another easy, cheap and low maintenance as well as low cost is to cover the unit/s with a Sun Sail/Shade. This lowers the ambient temps, and allows the unit to work less to cool the coil as well as the rest of the equipment. When doing both of these, you save even more energy. Do I know if the units last longer? Not at this point in my career, because I have only been doing these methods for a few years now.

Any problems long term with water mineral deposits long term?

These comments are interesting lol. I live in Arizona and this could be extremely beneficial. I purchased this kit and will be installing additional calcium filters inline and placing a patio umbrella over the unit for further cooler temps. Maybe I can ditch my 12,000 btu portable unit to help during the hotter months. My house has a 4 Ton unit (plenty for my sq. footage) but damn Arizona summers are brutal. Glad I stumbled upon this.

Just installed the units with the addon tubes. One leaked pretty bad and they sent me a replacement right away! Not sure if I will save anything in the end, but it seems like it should. Nearly 100 degrees here in SW Florida so we should see results quickly

my water is really expensive, don't think this would help, unless I run off my irrigation meter, but still. thanks for sharing.

Does your HVAC system take advantage of already cooled air by recirculating indoors air to the HVAC unit for further cooling, instead of replacing (wasting) indoors air with outdoors "fresh" air that requires much more work to cool? I assume there will be much less savings with an HVAC system that recirculates, since it's more efficient.

Thanks for your videos, all for DIY's are informative most helpful. I have read most comments about, to do or not to do. If I were to install this mister, the water source is a spigot close to my unit. In by basement, I have a shut-off valve to this spigot. What If I installed an in-line filter with a valve that allows filter water to the mister or I turn the filter off if I want to water the grass? Does anyone think this is doable. What should I be trying to filter from the water, (iron & calcium)? I would not use the filter that comes with the kit. Any suggestions? Thank you

Spraying your units condenser fins periodically with vinegar should neutralize your hard water deposits.

Careful with those things. Due to the fact that the coils will always get wet, they will tend to get more dust on them than normal requiring more frequent cleaning.

There are so many misconceptions here. Amp draw reduction with no voltage check is useless. Supply temp with no return temp is useless. No head pressure check, no suction side check. Time between amp checks? Even small time changes can affect readings. I could go on ad infinitum. Coil damage is coming due to buildup on the coil. Even if you could (which you can't) get de ionized water with your filters, corrosion of the coil will result. Bottom line: little to no savings with premature unit failure. GFM

must have soft water...my hard well water would plug the AC unit is days/weeks and is very hard to clear out

water bill goes up but probably not as much as saved. neat idea

Shared answer from a commenter's question: I think in at least the humidity part of this conversation there may be a misunderstanding. The evaporation of your supplied water is literally what is cooling the air around your condensing unit. As your tap water, hot or not, is atomized by the misting heads it evaporates more quickly AND COOLS the air immediately around the unit. So really, we're talking more about a very localized effect instead of atmospheric impact that humidity has, at least with humidity percentages of 50% - 60% and below. The smaller the droplets of water coming out of the misters the quicker they will evaporate. The easier they are to evaporate the quicker that localized air cools. So lots of that ambient heat is absorbed with those tiny water molecules causing cooling effect even in relatively humid environments.

If this was a great way to make the AC more efficient or cool you house "better", wouldn't every AC manufacture have this built in already? Not really dismissing the device entirely, but it just seems like if was a significant savings, it would be built in.

could I use a sprinkler valve to turn on misters when my air conditioner fan activates

What about the water usage and increase in water bill? What about places like Texas where the water coming out of the hose is very hot?

minus the cost of water and associated sewer charges = less savings

It still is going to use a lot of water, which is costly in my area.

Hello, I have a question previously. Before the capacitor motor was damaged, the air unit took out all the heat from the compressor. It pulls the air up, now Asia pulls it down and I feel that the copressor is working harder and the electric bill is more. how can I solve that problem

Doubt it would work in Arizona. Even a three ft run of hose would heat the water to 130 to 150 in the summer. Our cold water temp is about 100 degrees at this time of year .

Hey Adam, My wife and I have been in the process of installing a generator and all the other things that come along with it. We are learning a lot about the what needs to be done. From your content the one thing we have absolutely learned is that "we can do it ourselves." I know our question it is not the topic of this video but I was wondering if you would be willing to entertain questions about a surge suppressor in our electrical panel? We are not sure if you have another area you would like to discuss this in as well. We noticed you have a GE Breaker and Box but you installed a SIEMENS Surge Protection box rather than a GE Surge protector that has the pigtail that goes to the neutral bus bar. We are wondering why you made this choice. Are there pros and cons to this decision? In the meantime, thank you so very much for all your content and all you do for homeowners.

Interesting idea, but a tree for shading the unit would be what I would do.

My ACR&H company years ago installed time-delayed evaporative cooling modules here in the high Desert of Southern California that cost tens of thousands of dollars in the 1990s on package units serving a large hotel complex and we finally had to remove them because the moisture began to corrode the aluminum fins and plug coils with white-crude soon threatening the life of the condenser coils. Just like lawn sprinklers that will damaged outdoor coils, using water misters will eventually create the same deposit condition. Best to have a large 20k CFM central swamp cooler and duct the cool air to the condensers from afar and deal with mineral deposits at the main water cooler unit. Wouldn't you think? Unless possibly you were to use distilled water or equivalent, problems will most certainly follow.

My newer window units use water from the condensate pan. It saves about 10% which is pretty good, considering all they had to do was make the fan rim reach down into the water. It takes very little water to achieve this evaporation effect. Folks, go buy the cleaning fluid and clean your damn coils, it's easy and you should be doing it anyway.

They will not ship to the southwest where it is needed most citing poor water quality. I agree that you need to watch for mineral buildup on the fins.

Living in the high desert, the only type 'AC' we had, was called a swamp cooler...that worked rather well. Real AC would be a money pit. I see where many discount this type system due to the fact that manufacturers don't even attempt to have these on units. There are reasons for this. It's because there is inherent issues with this, mineralization the main one. Sorry, there is no filter that will keep minerals from collecting over time. They don't want to encourage the use of anything that would possibly impact the life (reputation) of their units. That being said, where I worked at a factory (with several massive roof-top units) we went a sort of different way. We basically copied the 'swamp' type coolers that have a recovery pan/supply...with the supply level maintained by a toilet valve type setup. The water used was from our ionized water waste from the factory, so no water bill. We did not use misters, we had very coarse filter media that was continuously soaked that surrounded the condenser housing. The water returned to the pan and was recirculated by a very small pump, engaged by the compressor connection. Our maintenance crew serviced these every month, mostly to clean the dirt and butterflies from the media. IIRC, it was horsehair media or something similar. At any rate, it apparently made an economic difference because the company was tight as hell.

This was helpful BUT how do you disassemble this to put it away for winter, especially with it adheard in place. Have this unit & nothing in the manual tells you how. I live in ND, things freeze badly! GB

You also get some (probably significant) evaporative cooling from the water that makes it to the evaporator, lands, sticks and then evaporates due to air flow over the evap coil fins. Just sayin'.

Thanks for taking the time to make this video. This, to me, just seems gimmicky. I can just see an HVAC tech laying eyes on that and asking the homeowner 'what the hell are you doing?' Yeah you're going to save a wee bit of money on your utility bill, but you're also increasing your water consumption, if you don't have a water softener, then you're on the hook for buying replacement filters - which no one is going to change like they should (the vast majority of people never even check their air filter like they should) If you do have a water softener then you are now on the hook for running a new 1/2" cold water line to a new hose bibb. Then you're constantly having water sitting on the unit rotting the base out if its not plastic. No thanks. You want to save money on your utility bill? Put a soft start on the compressor. Keep your condensor coils clean. Regularly check and change your filters as you should. If your HVAC unit is ancient, then change it. The money you'll save will be immediately realized in your utility bill with the new equipment. Leave this stuff for As Seen on TV. But that's just my opinion. Thank you nonetheless for taking the time to make the video. Your channel is great.

Important fact few people know about hose bib atmospheric vacuum breakers: Can an atmospheric vacuum breaker be used under continuous pressure? No! Codes do not permit this as the device could become "frozen", and not function under an emergency condition. Those of us who have attached battery irrigation timers can attest that after a time the hose bib vacuum breaker will begin to leak as the rubber gasket deforms from being constantly pressurized.

I am curious how much your water use increased,and how much water accumulated around the unit?

this really does work but riddled with problems. the concept comes from the freus air conditioners back 20 or so years ago, which is an air conditioner inside of a swamp cooler, I had one of these units and they were a constant maintenance nightmare, constantly replacing anodes, pumps, cleaning out the pan, descaling, unfortunately this works well with deionized water, which is expensive to rent these tanks, then you need to plumb it, but with soft water you have salt or potassium that is corrosive, and even if you live in a place that has good water there are still some minerals in the water, plus there are plastic parts to break, misters that get blocked with corrosion or debris, the demineralizing and filtering of the water is the key to keeping these systems relatively maintenance free, if you can achieve that in an inexpensive way then that's the way to go.

So I went outside and clipped on my amp meter and sprayed down the condenser coil with my hose and went from 8.4a to 7.5a. Confirmed

I would love to see a bill comparison before and after using this device. Also no matter how expensive of a hose bib I use I ALWAYS have some sort of water leak. lol

I don't think the increased wear on the condenser is worth the small increase in efficiency. Condensers are super expensive.

Does the manufacturer say how much water it takes? QUESTION; seems this would be great for an RV. If you have access to water that is?

I wouldn't recommend putting that on your unit that's going to create a problem for your condensor spraying water on the coil will bring down the head pressure but, sooner or later it going to increase corrosion on the coil and cabinet with will cost you more money in repairs or replacement.

I would guess that an umbrella providing shade would yeild similar results.

I don't think I would use this all summer, I've got a package unit with all the electronics in the unit outside, so I'd be weary of all the water mist causing issues. However this might be good for those heat wave weeks.

what about if your alleged savings if due to a lesser running time for the outdoor unit?

I love this idea, but what about the increase in your water bill by leaving the water turned on on the spicket outside? Would it be enough to compensate with the lower amperage to run the ac unit and ac unit not running as often?

If you buy this you deserve the results. Even the smallest amount of research says this is a bad idea from almost every expert that sees it.

Bummer. These folks won’t ship their system to Arizona or those on well water due to hardness of the water.

Where can I buy the one with water valve?

My AZ water is rated at 120 ppm and 7.0 the device requires a wavier in this case filter is a must. In looking at the positives of in line filters I wonder if an outside capped flushable spin down would make more sense it says its rated to 100 microns and its only in use about 4 months in AZ upper desert 85623. What your take?

What was the outdoor temp and humidity when you tested?

Micro Easy start cut amp pull down by 70% . Did mine

Interesting product. I live in the se as well and would love to see a follow up on this to determine actual savings and whether you see additional mineral deposits on the coils.

This is more of an experiment that proves water is more conducive than air. If someone is really serious about saving energy, geothermal heat pumps take advantage of waters superior ability to transfer heat by circulating a water/antifreeze mix. You can do things like adding insulation and sealing cracks to reduce energy loss which is beneficial all year and will almost immediately save more money than initial costs. Geothermal is one of the most efficient ways to heat and or cool a structure, couple that will an airtight building envelope, and power it with photovoltaic solar and it's reportedly possible to reduce energy consumption by around 90%.

Great video thanks you! I have a an recreational vehicle filter connected to all of my hose bibs for my plants and think this would be a great advantage with a system like this. Also, I’m curious as to how much water would be needed each hour on days when the temperature is above 80. After all it’s summertime in Florida.😊

(BEWARE) So yes having water spray over your condenser coil will lower your compressor compression ratio ( Lower head pressure) thus lowering your amp draw by a few amps. Adding a filter to remove water hardness is a must but remember all the condenser coils are made from very thin aluminum. Water will corrode bare aluminum over time decreasing condenser efficiency just look under the hood of any car with aluminum parts you will see a white crust over time. When A/C manufacturers are all trying to have the highest SEER rating don't you think they would incorporate something like this into the units from the factory if it was a good idea?. I have 30 years of HVAC experience and would never install on my units.

Unfortunately my area has very hard water, so the cost of replacing the mineral cartridge every few months will negate the electric bill savings. My AC unit is far from my water valve, so that will mean running a long extension across my patio door, walkway, grass etc. It won't be a good solution for me. Also, what are the long term negative effects of constant water deposits onto the condenser coils, I would think mold, mildew, dust, wet leaves, etc. I will have to pass on this mickey mouse solution to perhaps save $25-30 dollars a month. How much is a new condenser unit, $3500???

How much water does it take if the AC is running 24/7?

If the AC blows colder does that make it short cycle leaving to much humidity in the house ??

I would not want this misting all the time. I can easily see my water bill rising. I have taken a hosepipe over to the coils and misted them, so the concept works (as the fan blowing out hot air turns cooler as the coils are cooler). Just have to analyze how much $ you're saving on electricity versus how much you're water bill is going to increase.

I'll bet that you will have scale on the condenser soon and dont use acid to clean it off! But what else can yo use? I don't know. Acid will eat your coils and fins as In know of another persons experience with that. Also I spent 4 hours analyzing a similar system with a subcooler connected to the freon lines and the savings was all in the drop of air temp indoors. it is done all of the time in south west USA with subcoolers which do not affect the coils being sprayed with hard water .