Window AC converted to central. First 94F day of season #6 page 9

Matt Gruber said:
Quiet is a luxury and people are willing to pay extra for it. Going from a 100 cfm 6" duct to a 600 cfm 12" duct costs more, but quiet is well worth the cost. Good engineering is not inefficient.
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You just listed a case in which you got a benefit (quieter) for less efficiency. So sometimes good engineering IS inefficient, if your goal isn't efficiency.

A good engineer gets the requirements/wants for the project and then balances things as best he can. And when efficiency isn't the only goal (and it never is) then it gets sacrificed.
Many efficient cars have quiet mufflers
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Yep. And that muffler still reduces their efficiency by increasing exhaust back pressure. A well designed muffler doesn't decrease efficiency _too_ much - but it absolutely still reduces it.
 
Jack
you are not making any sense. go back to school! When i take a 200 cfm ac and put it thru a 12" duct rated 600 cfm there is no loss. It flows 200 cfm for sure, with or without bends. When YOU use a 6" duct rated 100 cfm, or even an 8" rated 200 cfm, and put curves in it, you flunk the exam. :mrgreen:
 
This could be the longest ac season ever (in NSB) :roll:
77F at 7 am.
Thursday was 87, Friday was NICE no ac and 75 high 8)
sat 82
now back in the summer heat :lol:
.
nov 3- cooler - now 68

nov 28 - 67 at 6am
 
1st cold front of the season hits FL = 46F, maybe 40F tomorrow AM.
.
edit 43 today and sunny :| 55 at noon
 
see pg 5 for my kitchen table heater; i'm using it every meal, and it works great 8) :bigthumb:
you guys pointed out that it could burn a pet :(
Last summer a 20" box fan burned out, and i saved it. must be good for something, right?
Could put the heater in it, throw away the fan and motor, and you have a safe for pets heater that can be moved to any room. only use it on 120v as 240 would be way too hot for the plastic grilles.
i only use 120v anyway. :bolt:
.
12-13-20- made change to drain- added 6" of heater hose, 5/8". Drain is on side of pan; hose has slight bend to pick up water from below the surface. idea is to keep anything floating on the water from going down the drain and possibly clogging it. needs to be tested next summer :twisted:
 
not related to my project :mrgreen: BUT kudos to the quiet design that allows you to nearly close the window :bigthumb: very efficient too
https://www.amazon.com/Midea-Inverter-Conditioner-Flexibility-Installation/dp/B08677DCKN?th=1&linkCode=sl1&tag=vehicledwelling-20&linkId=3e68748e9b98897c9cf11c668dd35f81&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
review of it , skip to 1:42 very impressive :shock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAJid7ngk_k&ab_channel=DIYSolarPowerwithWillProwse
 
Matt Gruber said:
About to test a new duct idea :idea: Will disconnect about 20 feet of high attic duct that feeds the kitchen, spare bathroom and den. This old duct is causing about a 4 degree rise in the ac air. My new duct should be a 0-1 rise 8)
12' will run in the hall for kitchen and den (i don't like ac in a bathroom, so it will be skipped- i'd rather open a window)
Will continue with the two 5k ac's for this test.
Pro's
should solve the weak den ac,
cheap- only need duct $54 and $7 adapter
Con's
duct in hall may look crude (can always be boxed in for a nicer look)
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The new ducts are in for testing 8) Good thing i'm not selling my house, as the huge chrome flex duct high up in the hall would drop offers by 20 grand :lol: It took less than an hour to install, where a nice looking square duct, painted white to match the walls would be 1-3 days for me to build and paint.
While it is not warm enough to do an AC test, i did check airflow and it feels very good. I can now reach up and direct the flow in the den, even close it if i want more AC in the kitchen 8)
The old den vent no longer hooked up, is 10' high on the ceiling :roll: need ladder to reach.
There won't be any BTU's lost going from the kitchen to den, so i'm expecting better cooling, especially around June 21- the longest days of the year really heat up the attic, and were sucking away too many BTU's.
 
1st hot day :twisted: 87 at noon. switched on central w/ two 5k ac's. 1st test of bypassed 20' of hot attic duct.
new 12" flex duct connects direct to kitchen, then runs in hall to den to vent in wall above door.
After 5 minutes all three vents read the same, 72F
after 10 minutes 69F for all 3 :bigthumb: (old way den would be 3+ hotter)
.......25 min 67F :bigthumb:
......2 hours down to 63F
end of test :thumb:
ran it 2 hours until 2 pm. shut off due to seabreeze that dropped the 89F high down to 82-83. typical benefit of living 800' from the ocean :bigthumb:
plenty of hot days coming in June :lol:
 
Bypassed duct really did the trick :bigthumb:
Finally learned the cause of the poor ac in 1989- would not cool back then with 24,000 btu- ac guy said only 18,000 btu was needed as per his computer, but could not find the reason. Turned out to be that 20' section of hot leaking duct. :roll:
only had four 90-93F days all summer, and it worked excellent :bigthumb: did not use more than 10,000 btu all summer(unit 1 never ran)
 
1st AC day and it is 90 at 3 pm. test ac's work great and this starts the 5th year :bigthumb:
using just two 5k units, nice and cool in here 8)
 
season 5 is over and i had just 12 90+ days 8) including the hottest day of 96.
40 miles from Orlando, they had 140 days 90+, a record. normal there is 110 days :eek:
so when people move to FL and they just pick a place at random, they could easily hate it here.
i'm on an island, 600' to the east is the Atlantic, and 1/4 mile west is the intercostal waterway. it rarely gets all that hot here. BUT when i moved here around 1989 or 1990 we had 30 days in a row of 100F :shock:
glad that never happened again.
AC working great. :bigthumb:
 
Matt Gruber said:
i'm on an island, 600' to the east is the Atlantic, and 1/4 mile west is the intercostal waterway. it rarely gets all that hot here.
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Forecast: mild, humid, high likelihood of shark bite.
 
shark bites and mosquito bites :twisted:
 
Nicole winds tried to suck out the dining room window :shock: the glass came loose and was banging :eek:
did you know glass can bend, like 1/4 inch? It did not crack, so i plan to seal it up.
The other side, the sliding section has some air leaks. Since i have not opened it in years, i'm going to seal it shut :thumb:
on a windy day i'd still lose some ac, so this should stop the escaping ac.
main thing is to stop the glass from banging in the next storm. if the glass breaks, wind/rain could do lots of damage :roll:
 
Another free repair thanks to neighbors throwing good stuff out. Got a 10oz Loctite polyurethane sealer, 3/4 full with a clogged spout. tried to drill the spout :roll: ended up slicing it open. Not as nice as with a spout, but good enough for a 33 yr old window. Loctite makes good stuff :bigthumb: Window is not going to bang or leak heat or ac :bolt:
 
Yes it is but here the humidity is to high so it need to be treated before entering the house. Leave the cat door open summer and winter to get a little but mostly to let any gas or CO2 out.
 
marty said:
ZeroEm said:
Most don't use windows anymore. Think windows should be half the height now to keep the heat and cold out. Seal them all shut.
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WRONG! The good air is outside. Open windows so the outside air comes in.

See - indoor air quality
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i still open 5 of 9 windows. 2 or 3 every day. fresh air is :bigthumb:
 
Worst cold snap in the past 5 years. As you know, i no longer have central heat(no more heat pump).
got down to 28F, BR down to 65F, using 540 watts baseboard heat. Didn't bother with the 800w wall heater. Got out my old 120 watt electric blanket which i have not used in decades :bigthumb:
 
by Matt Gruber » Dec 25 2022 4:28pm

Worst cold snap in the past 5 years. As you know, i no longer have central heat(no more heat pump).
got down to 28F, BR down to 65F, using 540 watts baseboard heat. Didn't bother with the 800w wall heater. Got out my old 120 watt electric blanket which i have not used in decades :bigthumb:
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Yes, it was, is cold. We did not get down to the temperatures we had two years ago 9 deg F. Friday morning 17 deg, Sat 22 deg, Sunday 24 deg, Monday is supposed to be 26 deg then much warmer after that.

Texas did not learn after the event two years ago. They clam only 10,000 without power, the real numbers was much higher. Did not add them up myself but was seeing 3000+ per county. My guess was closer to 100,000 in the State.

The electric central heater had to be turned off early this month. Woke up during the night looked like steam or smoke coming out of the vents. Thought the house was on fire. The heater element did not turn off with the thermostat and fan. Guess the high voltage relay has failed.

Now we are back to gas heat and worries of CO2. May fix the central heat in a few months. Thinking we need to go to a heat pump less chance of burning the house down.
 
EM
a radiant space heater is often far better than central. you get that toasty warm spot in a minute :bigthumb:
Cold snap is over here, was 49F this am, will be 59 tomorrow morning.
Have my attic fan blowing down attic hot air into the kitchen. much nicer in there today :bigthumb:
68 today, 70's tomorrow. :D
 
Matt Gruber said:
EM
a radiant space heater is often far better than central. you get that toasty warm spot in a minute :bigthumb:
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The bum who lives in my shed used a space heater last week to quadruple my electricity bill compared to the previous week. So yes, sometimes localized heat is what you want, but resistive electric heat is woefully inefficient.
 
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