DIYbanter - View Single Post - A/C working properly? Cost

"udarrell" wrote in message
. net...
wrote:

On Jul 8, 1:15 pm, Logan Shaw wrote:

wrote:

On Jul 7, 5:42 pm, mm wrote:

On Sat, 07 Jul 2007 09:27:18 -0700, wrote:

"Why do you think it should be 20 deg
different?" he says. I told him that's what I found on the internet.
He checked more wires with his probe for another 5 minutes, then
checked the temperature again. It now said 64 deg (18 deg different).

Now the thing is working! Darn. It's much much harder to fix most
things when they are working right.

I'm not sure what you mean. Are you being sarcastic? He didn't adjust
anything, he was just using something that looked like a voltmeter
(and scratching his head, without actually doing that). Telling him
the A/C couldn't get the apt down below 83 deg all day didn't mean
anything to him.

The function of the A/C unit *itself* is to pump out air that's about
15F to 20F colder than the air that comes in (or actually, whatever
temperature difference is in its specifications). If it's doing that,
then *it* is working.

Now, in a larger context, the purpose of the A/C unit within your
actual apartment unit is to achieve a comfortable indoor temperature.
It is possible that the A/C unit is working perfectly according to its
specs but can't do that. In that case, the problem might be that the
A/C unit is simply undersized for the load it's having to handle.
That doesn't mean the A/C unit is broken. It means that you have the
wrong A/C unit. *If* this is the case, it cannot be fixed by tinkering
with the A/C unit.

To make a car analogy, if I try to tow a large trailer up a mountain
with a Toyota Corolla and I fail, does this mean the Toyota Corolla
is broken? No, and if I start looking in the engine compartment to
see what's "wrong" with the Toyota's engine, I am looking in the wrong
place.

The point is, perhaps the problem is that whoever designed the apartment
complex failed to choose appropriate A/C units given the size of the
apartments, the amount of insulation (which may be NONE), and variables
like that. And maybe they chose A/C units which are really energy-
inefficient. I don't know how common this type of bad engineering is,
but it seems like a plausible explanation for your situation.

- Logan

I've been here for over a year and a half, and never had an electric
bill like that, the A/C has never ran continously like it is, and I
never had any problems getting the temp down to 76 deg.

The unit couldn't get the temperature below 83 the other day, when the
temperature outside was ONLY 90 deg with 37% humidity.

That is a very low humidity & if the conditioned space is also low in
humidity the latent-heatload will be minimal, allowing the sensible
heatload to be removed & transferred outside much faster. Pull down the
shades & close the drapes to keep the radiant heat from entering the
conditioned space. Vent the bathroom after taking showers, don't cook
things that steam up the kitchen, etc., the latent heatload reduces the
evaporators Sensible (or Temperature Reducing) capacity!
You can do a lot to keep the heatload much lower; do those things &
reduce your utility bills!
- udarrell

Yeah that's the ticket, alter your everyday activities so you can get by
with a window unit.

Screw getting the central air repaired!!!!! ROLLEYES