If air conditioner efficiency improves when it rains outside, why don't all air conditioners include water sprayers to help cool them?

submitted by magnora7 from self.science

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[–]FormosaOolong 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

Probably mold. It's the last thing you'd want to be growing inside your unit to spew all over your house. This is also why it's essential to run an AC on fan only for 20-30 mins before you shut it off, so that any condensate on the coil evaporates.

[–]Tom_Bombadil 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Mold typical isn't a problem outside. Mold hates sunlight.

Water damage to foundations is a fucking disaster, and should be avoided at all costs.

This is also why it's essential to run an AC on fan only for 20-30 mins before you shut it off, so that any condensate on the coil evaporates.

This is true, but it applys to the inside coils. The address to sets.

Evaporation (inside): draws heat into it from evaporation.
Condensation (outside): compressed to give off heat to the exterior.

This is why portable ac is crap. Both inside.

Cool the exterior condensation coils.
You could shade the outside ac. The fan will blow crap up under it. There's generally a good reason that there things aren't common.

Consider a low hanging trellis...? With thick beams for Max shade...?

[–]magnora7[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

This isn't the part that draws in air though. It's just the part that gets rid of the heat. So even if it filled with mold it wouldn't affect the air supply. The air that you breathe is re-circulated within the house only. But that's a good point about the mold. I guess (I would hope) it would dry out between runs, when it shuts off for 30 minutes or whatever.

[–]FormosaOolong 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

Yes, that's true. I'm not an engineer of any kind, but my lame user inspections of my two units (mold makes me sick so I peek in there a lot) indicates that the only thing separating the indoor recirculating parts and the outdoor bits where the outlet fan is, is a thick piece of styrofoam. I would hate to have mycotoxin creep.

Of course the box outside is exposed to all the elements, and includes channels that with the correct pitch ditches the water it accumulates. So there's no reason I guess they couldn't make some kind of misting system that repurposes the water eliminated from the indoor space. I'd pass on that model myself though, as I'm already OCD with my current units.

ETA: All that said, you still may have a million-dollar patent right there!

[–]magnora7[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Haha. I see what you mean.

I'm simply imagining a small hose that does a tiny mist to simulate rain, just above the outside unit, only while it's running, and only when the outside temp is over 85F.

I think that might avoid the mold issues.

[–]FormosaOolong 2 insightful - 2 fun2 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 2 fun -  (1 child)

Noice! Now go collect all your money!

[–]magnora7[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Haha I might try it out on my AC. I mean I could literally just spray it with my hose sprayer by hand and measure the efficiency difference I think, to test it out. Then build a little control circuit with one of those electronic water hose switch boxes and a hose to the spigot

If it works that'd be amazing. I guess the efficiency from rain is already proven. It's just a matter of if it's more cost effective for the water use vs energy savings

[–]Tom_Bombadil 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The inside coil causes interior air to condense. If this condensed moisture doesn't drain adequately, or if it evaporates again then it can remain humid and mold can build up.

You could add a fan with a timer for ventilation, similar to what you find in bathrooms (a daily timer).