Originally Posted by jimbo2012 View Post
I use a fine water mister on very hot days, it appears to work well.
If it overheats the AC repairman runs a hose on it, which is what gave me the idea.
Quote:
Originally Posted by retiredguy123
Many large commercial condensers are water cooled, but most residential units are air cooled. My guess is that you are spending more money on the water than you are saving on electricity.
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Comments based on years of refinery cooling system experience:
1. Running a lot of water over the condenser and not evaporating all of it can add to the cooling effect and help the condenser. I agree the cost will be high.
2. Spraying a fine water mist on the condenser will help but if the water is completely evaporated the dissolved solids in the water (Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Chlorides etc.) will start to plate out on the condenser coils surface. Eventually, the condenser will lose efficiency. We have used water mist on refinery air coolers during peak ambient air situations but used very high quality Boiler Feedwater with less than 0.5 ppm total dissolved solids. Distilled water sold in the stores for your CPAP machine has about 5 PPM TDS. TV house water is probably 100 ppm TDS or so with calcium the main solid. The spray may be fine for a short time but not recommended for long term.
3. Industrial HVAC units are water cooled using recirculating water in turn cooled by a forced air cooling tower. This a lower cost and more cost efficient way to cool the condenser than using direct ambient air for large commercial HVAC systems.
Residential HVAC systems use direct air cooling and heating since it would be expensive to have a separate air to water to condenser setup. The cooling tower also requires water treating chemicals and controls.
The only water cooled residential HVAC's that I know of are Geothermal Heat Pumps. These systems use closed circuit recirculated water which is heated and cooled using either underground pipes to exchange heat/cooling with the ground say 5 ft below grade or actually using ground water pumped and then discharged back to the underground water.