Air Conditioning

I remember seeing one unit that was designed for evaporative pre-cooling on the outside unit. Required a very different type of construction because of mineral build up from the water supply. Here, with our high mineral content, the thing would be a solid block of calcites within a month... ;-)

Charlie

the

matter

side

pressure

No, the problem was the vanes in the compressor/expander having wear problems. Basically, you had an inner shaft with spring loaded vanes sweeping across an outer (and offset) housing. Those vanes would wear out as they pushed against that outer housing, making for a serious maintance problem. The limited time between replacing those vanes doomed their practicality.

BTW, they also would spray a small mist of water in the input side. It helped lubricate those vanes, and the freezing and thawing of the water increased efficiency of the cooling dramatically...

Charlie

n?

rs

yeh, I guess they figure people will rather save a few when buying, that save more during the lifetime ...

-Lasse

They certainly are out here.

Huh? Where have I said that?

fairly

The combo is but the evap section is bog-simple.

evaporator

to be

years

part

Eastern CA is. Nicely conservative people here. also, there's a lot more states east of the Rockies.

Not really. For example, we had to buy a new washer. It cost the same as the more clunky one 15 years ago yet this one has a VF drive for the motor and all sorts of nifty things. Super quite. And most of all it's not a primitive top-loader.

Things do not have to become more expensive after the design is improved.

That is true. But electronics can be designed so it'll all survive. Some of my designs are for aircraft and that has to be of cast-iron performance even when plowing through a thunderstorm. Same for some ag stuff that's out in the field. Full of electronics yet it lives on for years, and this is deployed in Tornado Alley and the Caribbean.

I don't need a fancy digital meter for that. Placing a water or beer bottle from the fridge on the counter tells me that the cooler adds moisture, it isn't rocket science. When it's 95F outside and the cooler blows 65F into the house, how could there possibly be condensation in the outside walls? Especially since there is a dedicated path out for the air which is not through walls.

Swamp coolers are ubiquitous in this area. I have a friend who has one and who also does extensive home remodeling. The kind where you regularly have to tear down interior and exterior walls. If there was mold he'd see it right then and there. There isn't. Not even in homes where the cooler is in rather filthy condition.

One has to be a bit smart when running these. For example, we make sure to obtain the dew point predictions for the night either from a newscast or the web. Airport met reports work as well. Only then do we decide whether to leave it on low-cool at night or on low-fan.

That's why some of them are equipped with an aftermarket bleed kit. It makes sure that not too much of the minerals builds up in the basin.

No, most importantly, it won't last 15 years. Consider yourself lucky at five.

This is a poor example.

Appliance electronics are getting a *lot* better.

That's what people told me 15 years ago when we had to buy new cars on account of the fact that ours wouldn't have passe CA smog. One car is now over 15, the other over 16. Defects and breakdowns: None so far.

We shall see.

I sure hope so. A friend is on the third (!) oven controller. They died every 1-2 years until he found the mistake the engineers made.

power

air

in

with

and

temperatures,

The real problem was on the coils. The unit I remember literally had a set of vibrating coils so that the mineral content would flake off as it accumulated. I always thought that a geothermal type unit, with liquid cooled cools might be more efficient...

Charlie

equipment

Market share?

"I am certain the government would have stepped in if there was."

fairly

We were discussing the hybrids.

A/C,

if

evaporator

to be

five years

part

desert,

They may be decent folks (there were three of them in VT, too) but it's

Check out the repair records.

I'm quite sure you will. There isn't one out there that's worth a damn. Some are 4x what a washing machine cost 30 years ago but will still only last 1/4 the time. They're pretty, though.

They are. The early ones were really bad. Not so much anymore. It's the mechanicals on the new washing machines that are really bad. The bearings are good for *maybe* five years and they're outrageously expensive to replace.

equipment

About 1/3rd of the people we know have it, we know quite a few people. And finally SoCal Edison has gotten the message and offers rebates now.

fairly

That's what I meant, regular A/C with evap cooler up front.

A/C,

if

evaporator

to be

five years

part

desert,

It's a lot more out here. You'd be surprised how many tea parties we have here in the mountains. Sometimes if you work in electronics you have no choice but to live here.

It's a fairly new model, there isn't much out there in terms of records yet. But Maytag has generally been pretty good.

So what's your suggestion to someone in the market for a new washer? Move to a river and buy a washboard?

Before buying it I did the usual, inquired about the cost of an extended warranty but then did not take it out. This cost is proportionate to the faith a manufacturer has in their own product. The Dollar number was fairly low for a washer, so we bought the washer.