Has anyone sprayed water on their A/C unit to help it cool your house?

Question

Just wondering, a local A/C repair man suggested that I could do that during the peak summer heat to drop the temperatures in my house by a few more degrees. Anyone else tried it?

Answer 1

There is a little kit you can get that has a tube with spray heads. You put it on the outside evaporator and it cools that more so the a/c works easier. It claims to save you money on electric bills.

It is the same idea but easier than standing there with a hose.

Answer 2

I have a very smart cousin that put a unit together that came on with his AC unit to spray a mist of water around his condenser and it worked great. You can see this effect at work by spraying water on your roof when it is very hot, the water gets hot and the inside of your house will cool down, I used to do this little experiment at my first house and could actually cycle the air conditioner on and off with the garden hose. A draw back to this type of thing might be a build up of calcium on the fins of the condenser and subsequent damage, you might consider the old fashion swamp cooler pads built around your unit to shade it and cool the incoming air without direct contact to the aluminum fins. Some people also shade the South and West sides of the house with fast growing vines (hops) to prevent the heat gain in the first place, this may also be done with a decorative shade of some sort...

Good luck!

Answer 3

it wont really cool the house down any faster....a 20 degree crossover (difference between supply and return temps) is as good as it gets. but a wetted condenser will take some of the load off the compressor due to the swamp cooler effect. ive seen the amp reading on a compressor go from 14 amp to 3 amp just by washing the coil. when the coil dried out the amps climbed back to about 5 amps. so i guess if a person was to put a mist system on the condenser that came on with the condenser it might save as much money on the electric bill as it raised the water bill.

Possum

Answer 4

I think what is meant by this is. The more you cool down the warm side of the evaporator coil the more efficiently the refrigerant can cool down the cold side of the AC. This will in theory work, there should be a significant drop in temperature. but never build the system yourself. you can make metal parts rust and break the compressor. Rather consult a Specialist.

Answer 5

i does no longer make a habit of spraying water onto the condenser.frequent rainfall by using the years shortens the life of the condenser motor and different factors in the event that they get moist.It drys out the prelubricated condenser motor.Moisture cuts the life in a million/2. If the pinnacle is that top placed a tent or awning 4 or 5 feet above the unit to create coloration and decrease the pinnacle that way.

Answer 6

If your going to spray water use it to to clear from the AC cooling / radiator fins anything that maybe clogging the air flow through it. Sometimes cut grass, old leaves or other fluff gets sucked into the fins. Or you can 'comb' the stuff away with a wire brush. Cooling air flow restrictions will help in the long run.

Answer 7

Never heard of that one. I don't think it would work. First, water isn't as cold as the refrigerant in the system's lines, so it wouldn't cool it any, second, the moter is electric, spraying water directly on it could hurt it.

Answer 8

Hmmmm. It sounds like your local AC repairman hasbeen hanging around with "Larry the Cable Guy" to long...... LOL I've never heard of that theory before. I would be considering a larger cfm AC unit.....

Answer 9

I think he is talking about a swamp cooler, that helps. If not, he is talking about keeping the unit cool so it will not use its energy to stay cool and over heating.

Answer 10

I don't think you should go spraying water on your unit. Could electricute yourself or blow up the motor. Now wouldn't that liven up your summer?