View Single Post
  #29   Report Post  
Posted to alt.home.repair
Jimmy Wilkinson Knife Jimmy Wilkinson Knife is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,491
Default A/C vs. swamp cooler?

On Mon, 07 May 2018 16:37:05 +0100, Uncle Monster wrote:

On Monday, May 7, 2018 at 9:08:44 AM UTC-5, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
On Mon, 07 May 2018 15:05:56 +0100, wrote:

On Monday, May 7, 2018 at 9:44:59 AM UTC-4, Jimmy Wilkinson Knife wrote:
On Mon, 07 May 2018 14:36:24 +0100, KenK wrote:

Has anyone ever compared power usage between a swamp cooler and a small
window A/C? I suspect the A/C uses a bit more power. or is it significantly
more? It would be a lot more convenient than a cooler. There seem to be a
lot of water pump, fan belt, pad water distribution and other problems with
a cooler despite decades of using one.

Thoughts?

It wouldn't matter to me which was more efficient. A swamp cooler is a pretend AC unit. It evaporates water, therefore humidifying the room. Also a real AC unit can run in reverse and serve as a heat pump for winter.

You must have different "real AC units". Mine won't run in
reverse. It's pretty much exactly like this:
https://www.goodmanmfg.com/resources/heating-cooling-101/how-central-ac-systems-work
Except it and the supply air ducts are located in the basement of my single-story house.


Why on earth could an AC unit not run backwards? You just reverse the pump. Every one I've seen in the UK (commercial and home) has been able to do this. The controller usually has settings for heating, cooling, or automatic. On automatic you can simply set a range (say 18 - 22C) and if it goes over, it cools, if it goes under, it heats.
--


You don't run it backwards. We have what are called,"Heat Pumps". The compressor always spins in the same direction but there is something called a "Reversing Valve" which reverses to flow of refrigerant through the system thus changing the direction of the heat transfer. I like a heat pump combined with a gas furnace because the electric strip heaters for auxiliary heat can be expensive to run. If it gets cold enough that you need auxiliary heat, I'd want a gas furnace. In the real world, I would actually prefer a high-efficiency air conditioner combined with a gas furnace and avoid the complexity and expense of a heat pump. One of the things I did for a living was installation and service of HVAC systems so I know a little bit about them. ^_^

[8~{} Uncle AC Monster


Why bother with the gas at all? Just have enough heat pumps to pump heat in winter and summer.

--
Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.