[Greenbuilding] [BULK] Using air-conditioning periodically

[YankeePerm at aol.com]

That's kind of my thinking, also, though I know much less about the surge 
issues than Lawrence or most contributors to this less.   It seems to me that if 
the heat coils cool off periodically, this is more efficient than running them 
continually and trying to cool perpetually hot compressor coils.   We put our 
air conditioner on its "Energy Saver" setting about 12 hours a day, which 
turns everything off except when needed to maintain temp.   At night, we kill the 
energy saver so that the fan (only) runs constantly, eliminating the need to 
run our bedroom fan, which is bigger and probably draws more current.   (We 
have a window AC unit that cools the whole house, the advantage of a small 
footprint house with an atypical, for Florida, multistory design.)   If we do not 
use the fan at night to circulate the air through the AC, the unit does not 
come on when it should.   In Florida, we really need that dehumidifier effect, 
and I feel that unless it gets abnormally cool outside, it uses less energy to 
keep windows closed at night than to dehumidify again after circulating cooler, 
but moisture saturated, air from outdoors during those few hours when the 
temp drops below 75° F.  I would think that in the UK the humidity issue would 
also apply, but I don't know if I would bother to have AC at all in the unlikely 
event that I lived there.   I'd rather use a dehumidifier in cool weather to 
reduce the 'raw' sensation of cool, damp air, and also dump the phase-change 
energy into the house.

For Mother Earth


Dan Hemenway


In a message dated 6/4/07 9:45:12 AM, LLile at projsolco.com writes:


> >he way I would think about it is, There is the cost of starting the
> compressors, in terms of  short-term high-power demand>,
> 
> A compressor (or any motor) will draw 6 times normal current for about
> one tenth of a second.  If the motor has a heavy inertial load on it, it
> may take another second or two to get up to speed, which may add 10% to
> the motor amperage for two seconds.  After a minute, the average power
> is essentially the same whether the motor was started or had been
> running continuously.  This myth of the huge "surge" when you turn on
> [motor, fluorescent light, fill in the blank] is just that.  People blow
> this startup surge out of proportion, and claim that you'll save energy
> by leaving something on.  There is some effect on the life of the
> equipment, but very little on the energy use due to this "surge". 
> 
> Whenever you aren't running your AC, it isn't using energy.   If you
> want to save energy on AC, turn it off.  If you want to use it for a
> short blast, say to cool things off before you go to bed, or when buyers
> are coming, go ahead and do that. 
> 
> I've been using my AC for humidity control only so far this summer.
> I'll wait till evening, when it is cooler outside, and the compressor
> will work most efficiently, and give the house a blast of cold dry air
> until the humidistat gets down to 65 or 70% RH, which is about as high
> as I'd like to see it. 
> 
> 
> Lawrence Lile, P.E., LEED AP
> 
> 





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