rockdoc123 wrote:this all seems very climate dependant too me. I live in a place that has cold winters and hot summers. You can't have a house that "breathes" naturally to cool it in the summer as it is impossible to insulate it in the winter.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
3aidlillahi wrote:You're making your own AC so you have enough money for a 50" plasma? How did we ever get in this PO predicament, again?
kpeavey wrote:Gotta think bigger:
try a big tank outside stored in the shade on the north side of the house.
Add a pump in the 30 watt range, plumbed to a radiator/fan combo inside the house, a second radiator outside in the shade on the north side of the house, finally returning to the tank
some math:
150 gallons/hour @ 8#/gallon=1200 pounds/hour, can be increased with more flow/bigger pump.
20 degree temperature change, drawn from the inside air, =24k BTU/hour cooling ability
There are many different ways to configure such a jerry rigged contraption.
-more radiator
-more fan
-more flow
-The earth can be used as the thermal dump instead of the outdoor radiator. Burying some sort of heat exchanger underground at 4-6 feet will offer temperature stability much cooler than the outdoor temperature in the shade.
-The indoor radiator/fan can be part of a central air conditioning system.
-Add a solar thermal hot water system on the roof, get free hot water while removing incoming energy from the house
The only requirement for such a system to work is water at a lower temperature than indoors. The cooler it is (or the greater the difference), the better it will work.
some more math
window AC pulling 1500 watts/hour for 10 hours =15 kWH/day @ 12 cents/kWH=$1.80/day
30 watt water pump
100 watt fan
130 watts/hour for 10 hours=1.3 kWH/day @12 cents/kWH=$0.16/day
I use a similarly designed system to heat the greenhouse, costs me 15 cents/month to operate
alpha480v wrote:What's the Cost of the tank, piping labor to dig and install. How much is your time worth? Is all that really cheaper than running a window unit?
Ayoob wrote:Running a heat exchange system cuts my power bill by 70% or so for heating and cooling
spg wrote:You are aware how much heat a 50 inch plasma TV puts out right?
Ayoob wrote:So running the fan cost me four and a half times the cost of the fan itself?
I've been saving the fans from all my old computers just in case I needed them for a cool science project like this. Also I have not, of course, thrown out any old winter coats. Do you think I could make one of these cooling vests by cutting holes in a coat and duct-taping computer fans into the holes? (With suitable power supplies, which I also have saved, of course.)Madpaddy wrote:Ayoob,
Have you considered a cooling vest. We use similar products for certain jobs in the army and they work well.
http://www.climatechsafety.com/LiteAir.aspx
You can be cool anywhere and this model costs $129.
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