Has anyone had experience with misting kits for outside condenser unit on your air conditioner.?
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Answers:
There not a good idea. They make water cooled condensors for a reason. Spraying water on an air-cooled condensor just causes problems such as mineral deposits on the coil. Before long your coil will be rotten.
Basically the purpose is to keep the head pressure down wich in return gives you better compression ratio and that gives you more capacity and makes the unit more effcient. But its just not practical. Besides if you have a unit that operates on a fix-bored device such as a orifice or cappilary tube wich most window units do and some central air units they rely on good head pressure to feed the Evap coil. If you lower the head it may starve the coil. Unless you have a Thermal Exspansion Valve TXV or TEV. Then you might get some progress out of it. But you still risk ruining the coil and wasting water.
Misting kits are made to connect to a garden hose. This allows you to manage the duration of "misting" needed.
A misting kit connected to the condensor unit of your A/C defeats the purpose of both. You want to use the misting kit to reduce the sensation of heat while you enjoy your outdoor patio. The A/C unit, of course is used to cool the indoor area of the home.
Good luck.
During very hot spells misting the outdoor A/C coil cools the refrigerant. Cooling the refrigerant results in a pressure drop. Dropping the pressure results in the compressor motor not having to work so hard. Since the motor does not have to work as hard less electricity is consumed.
But, does the savings offset the cost of water and possible damage to the aluminum coils from contaminants in the water?
Water flooding can also be accomplished with a halo of PVC pipe atop the condensor. Little holes are drilled in the pipe which allows water to trickle down the outside surface of the fins. A collection tray could be fashioned to collect the runoff and recycle it to the halo using a small electric pump.
Seems simpler, and just as economical, to economize by limiting use rather than by contraption rigging. Don't know?
Yes, and there a waste of money. Make sure your condenser coil is clean. You will see more benifit from that than a misting kit. It dosen't take long for the misters to block coverting them to dribblers.
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