Sun Shades on Air Conditioning is worthless - Part I
May 17
As an HVAC tech it was always funny, yet a pain in the , to service an air conditioner that a home owner fabricated a sun shade on top of.
They THINK that the little home made shade will make it more efficient. But in fact once the air is moving it makes NO DIFFERENCE to the incoming air temperature at all, and in fact many times causes air to reflect off of the shade itself and cause it to recirculate back into the coil intake!
This is a photo slide show and a video clip. Music by Amon Amarth.
Duration : 0:1:46
Is there a portable air conditioning unit out there on the market?
Filed under: Air Conditioning
I agree with you, …
I agree with you, and I think the people doing this to these units in the video are morons. The one thing I have found though, is that when units are in full sun, the metal housing is so hot you cant even touch it. But I agree the best thing you can do is keep your coils clean and check refirdgerant. nice vid. 5 stars.
Ah, ruud,rheem or …
Ah, ruud,rheem or weatherking unit
‘Shading’ an AC …
‘Shading’ an AC with shrubbery is not the worst idea, as long as the plants are at least 12″ away from the unit. Natural hedges and such reduce the ambient air temperature around a condensing unit. They also act as a buffer to absorb sound.
RTUs don’t benefit so much from sunscreens. Most of these tend to restrict air flow into, and out of, package units.
Homeowners should reduce heat/sun gain on the entire home, before blaming the AC system.
I don’t even think …
I don’t even think shade from a small sun screen will do any good even if it DIDN’T restrict air. Just think, 5 seconds after start up, all the “shaded air” is all used up and it’s just drawing in air from it’s surroundings anyway! LOL!
I agree; *those* …
I agree; *those* shades aren’t doing a bit of good, because they’re restricting airflow. One that does NOT restrict airflow will help.
LOL cool. It’s …
LOL cool. It’s funny how they think the shrubs will help it. Usually the air restriction makes it worse. Not too mention the service access is crap!
I helped a friend …
I helped a friend out that had a bad start cap in his A/C unit, too bad the previous owner of the place planted shrubs tight against the unit to shade and block the appearance of the condenser unit and servicing it was an absolute nightmare! Stupid people I tell ya! (Yes, I installed the new cap properly)! LOL
That one unit was a …
That one unit was a Carrier 50YQ or 50QQ and seem almost indestructable and is 5 times as dependable as a NEW Carrier! :p It wasn’t high enough to trip off on IP. But did cause higher pressure which equated more energy used. The other unit was a neighbor to one of my customers. I never got to see what it actually did, but I talked to the owner of that unit when he came over to talk to my customer. He was so proud of that sun shade!
I bet your head …
I bet your head pressure was nice and high. Did it set the relief valve off or overload the compressor?
The water will …
The water will surely drop the temperature. The only BAD thing about that is depending on the mineral content of the water, it can load up the fins with scale, then reduce air flow. There are a few pictures shown from other techs from coils that had water sprayed on them on a regular basis. If it wasn’t for the hard minerals in the tap water, I’d use misters controlled my coil temp to spray my own coil.
When it is very hot …
When it is very hot outside, I like to wet down the coils with hose water on my heat pump while it is running.
Yuppers
Yuppers
Dehumidification? …
Dehumidification? You refering to his second RTU that adds the heat back to the supply dict by time it gets to the supply grills? LOL!
Exactly.
Exactly.
i do have to admit …
i do have to admit some of the attempts are down right strange and do nothing but make the unit work harder.
Owe yeah efficiency …
Owe yeah efficiency what efficiency? LMAO seems a little like dehumidification if you ask me?…
If the entire AREA …
If the entire AREA was shaded, like I mean the entire side of a building without restricting air flow in and out of the air conditioner, you MAY notice a drop in temperature compared to unshaded. However a shade simply errected around the unit like shown will not do jack sh*t. Because once the fan starts and moves all that air in and out, the small amount of shade wont mean anything and the entering air will be the same as what is in direct sunlight anyway.
oh yea it was …
oh yea it was directly covering the fan section. it was a nice cover but the wrong place.
I once saw on TV …
I once saw on TV about energy saving tips that shading air conditioners from the sun increases efficiency. No explanation why.
No Problem. Glad …
No Problem. Glad people appreciate it.
These marble covers. Did they cover the fan section? And did she remove them when it was in operation?
i felt bad one day …
i felt bad one day i had to explain to a customer how dumb spending 5 grand on a marble cover for her 2 condensers was a bad idea. thanks for the site. shows a lot of crap a lot of techs go through on a daily basis.
I guess so. But …
I guess so. But it’s pretty funny. Especially the guy with the Rheem that he went through all that effort to shade which is going to do more harm than good! Then he had all that exposed ductwork on his other side of his home! I think he should have put some effort into that system! I bet it pickes up several degrees of heat running through that round duct above the rooftop in the 120 degree summer!
Well thats a common …
Well thats a common problem with some people they are just not educated enough about the principles of heat transfer and including common sense!!! But then again can you blame them?