On Jul 12, 2:50*pm, jamesgangnc wrote:
On Jul 12, 2:09*pm, kansascats wrote:

I plugged my window AC into a "killawatt". *It was running 900 watts,
then the past few days it's been climbing to 1000, then 1100, even
1200 as the day wears on -- and the sun beats down on the unit to the
west side.

Suppose shading this could make a big (300 w) difference?

It's been suggested and disproved that shading the outside half of ac
has any notoicable effect. *What you are seeing is the reduced
transfer rate of heat to the atmosphere because of the increased
outside air temp. *This raises the high side pressure and makes the
compressor work harder.

Bottom line it's not the sun beating down on it. *It's the higher air
temp.

You might think shading the unit has no effect, but it does. The
biggest thing is the whole wall in the sun. The brick or siding really
heats up the whole intake area.

You need to shade the whole wall.

Greg