Archive for the Air Conditioning category.
Jan 20
You sit in your favorite recliner, the sweat running down your back as you fan yourself with the newspaper. “Blast this 100-degree heat and humidity,” you think to yourself. “If only I had some Air Conditioning, this wouldn’t be so bad.” This is the plight of anyone who lives in an apartment or a rental home during the height of summer. Who wants to invest money in a permanent air conditioner that you will need to leave behind when you move out? Well, there is finally a great solution to this dilemma: get a portable air conditioner. You will be able to cool off in your apartment or rental home, and then when you are ready to leave, your handy portable air conditioner can come with you, too.
One of the nice features of portable air conditioners is that you can find them in several sizes, so you can get just the right one to meet your cooling needs. If you have a small place, there are portable air conditioners that can beautifully cool 200 square feet. For larger areas, you can find great portable units that will maintain a comfortable temperature in 500 square feet, and any range in between. As the name implies, these air conditioners can move because they have coasters on the bottom that allow them to roll effortlessly from place to place. If you want to cool the bedroom at night, and an office area in the morning, you can do it all with a portable air conditioner.
If you have allergies, then air quality is a huge issue for you. Many portable air conditioners can actually improve the air circulation in rooms with poor ventilation, and can use ionizers and filters to trap impurities from the air. Dehumidifiers are also available in some units.
Some of the portable air conditioners are very small, and run very quietly, which is a plus if you have it in the bedroom and you are trying to sleep. They come in manual and remote control varieties.
A permanent air conditioner can be a big power waster. In contrast, you will enjoy cost savings due to the efficient manner in which portable air conditioners function. Many recycle the moisture captured in the room, and use that water to cool the cooling coils. This helps the unit to run more economically, because it is not over-taxed by the demands placed on it.
Probably the best part of having a portable air conditioner is the fact that when you decide to move out of your apartment or rental home, the air conditioner will be going with you. No more money down the drain–now your super-functional portable air conditioner is yours to keep.
Susan Slobac
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/cooling-off-in-apartments-or-rentals-130440.html
Jan 12
Swamp coolers are a great and inexpensive way to cool off your automotive shop in the summer.
A swamp cooler is essentially a large fan with water-moistened pads in front of it. The fan draws warm outside air through the pads and blows the now-cooled air throughout the house. The pads can be made of wood shavings - wood from aspen trees is a traditional choice - or other materials that absorb and hold moisture while resisting mildew. Aspen wood pads, also called excelsior, need to be replaced every season or two, and generally cost $20 to $40 for a set.
Small distribution lines supply water to the top of the pads. Water soaks the pads and, thanks to gravity, trickles through them to collect in a sump at the bottom of the cooler. A small water pump circulates the collected water back to the top of the pads. Then the process begins over again.
Since water is continually lost through evaporation, a float valve - much like the one that controls the water in a toilet tank - adds water to the sump when the level gets low. Under normal conditions, a swamp cooler can use between 3 to 15 gallons of water a day.
A large fan draws air through the pads, where evaporation drops the temperature approximately 20 degrees. The fan then blows this cooled air into the house. Small units can be installed in a window, blowing cooled air directly into a room. Larger units can blow air into a central location, or the air can travel through ductwork to individual rooms.
Normal Air Conditioning is a closed system, taking air from inside a house and recycling it. For air conditioning to function properly, doors and windows should be closed. Swamp coolers, however, take air from outside the house. For a swamp cooler to work properly, the cooled outside air must be allowed to escape. By choosing which doors or windows in your home you leave open, you can to help direct the flow of cooled air to areas where it is needed.
Cooper Miller
http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/how-a-swamp-cooler-works-134999.html
Jan 1
In every city nationwide, every year, thousands of homes require inspection. Thus, the career of the new millennium is home inspector.
The demand for home inspection professionals has always been huge. The demand is growing, because people are always moving, relocating, or investing in new homes. Home inspector is a profession that is as exciting as it is profitable. Real estate inspection (such as home inspection) is a technical and complex field which requires a professional and trained approach. To get the necessary training and technical background required for this job, you need to attend a home inspection school.
Home inspection school provides the proper training for you to learn the basics of this highly technical job. The main functions of the home inspector is to perform objective visual inspections of homes and produce written reports of the condition of these properties for buyers and/or owners. You can’t do any of these without the training you get from home inspection school.
This education helps you recognize not just the working status of a home’s systems, but to identify potential problems, as well. Home inspection ensures that the home buyer has all the information he or she needs in order to make an intelligent decision. Thus, the role of a home inspector is quite important. Without the expertise of the inspector, the home buyer might enter into a financial mess instead of a the great investment of a new home.
Home inspection school gives you the knowledge you need in residential construction (such as soils, foundations, plumbing, electricity, heating and ventilation, wood and construction, roofing, Air Conditioning, heat pumps, appliances, swimming pools and spas, termites and wood-destroying insects, and environmental considerations).
Below is a list of a few home inspection schools
A Better School of Building Inspection
This school offers both extensive home study and classroom courses. It also provides you with continuing education courses, so your skills in home inspection are always up-to-date. Some of their programs include:
* Online home inspector business, marketing, and liability
* Inspection forms
* State licensing and certification
* Commercial inspection
* Residential inspection home study
* Live, hands-on, in-the-field courses and schedule
* New construction/code
Allied Real Estate Schools
This school offers distance learning courses online for US Residents and members of the military. A specialist in the technical and complex field of home inspection, Allied demands a professional approach in all of their courses. This home inspection school provides you with training programs and opportunities for internships.
Education Direct
This school serves international countries, the US, and Canada. It is also a school that offers distance learning. Their certification course includes details on inspecting the exteriors and interiors of homes, checking heating and air conditioning, and more.
Dorothy Brown
http://www.articlesbase.com/real-estate-articles/home-inspector-school-86092.html
Dec 4
The vast majority of people know nothing about negative or positive ions and how they affect every aspect of our lives. Here is what you need to know!
The air that we breathe has positive and negative ions. Ions are atoms that have acquired an electrical charge by gaining or losing an electron. Positive ions make us feel tired, irritable and cranky. Negative ions make you feel refreshed and can dramatically improve your mood.
In nature there is a balance of positive and negative ions in forests, fresh country air or near water. These ions are produced by storms, wind, humidity, waterfalls, water lapping on the beaches, the radioactivity of the soil and blowing sand or dust. The dry blowing sands or dust generate more positive ions and are sometimes referred to as the ill winds or witches wind because we don’t feel as well when they occur. On the other hand, anytime there is falling water such as rain, or impending rain, waterfalls, or your filtered shower, and even the lapping of water on the beach, the negative ion ratio goes dramatically up. These environments may have a ratio of 2000 negative to 1000 positive. We flock to the beaches and we feel a sense of well being standing near a waterfall. The same holds true in pine forests. This live environment doesn’t have the same pollution level of major cities.
Cities create an imbalance of ions in favor of positive ions. The amount of concrete, steel, car exhaust, industrial fumes, synthetic materials, metal around air conditioning ducts, all absorb the charges of negative ions. The minimum amount of negative ions needed for humans to function properly is about 1000 per cubic centimeter and for a real sense of well being a ratio of 2000 negative and 1000 positive seems to create the right affect. In a big city environment the negative ion count can be 100 per cubic centimeter or less with the positive ions out the roof.
Have you ever noticed how you feel when you leave the big city and head out to the country or leave on vacation to a beach or cabin in the woods? The stress starts to melt away and a sense of well being can come over you. Getting away to a new environment can be very therapeutic but you are also getting a good dose of negative ions.
A Russian team headed by A. L. Tchijevski discovered that negative ions actually kill germs and that ionizing a closed environment would sterilize the air. Negative ions attach themselves to germs, kill them, and they fall to the ground where they can then be vacuumed up.
Negative ions increase the flow of oxygen to the brain according to Dr. J. Howard PHD and this leaves us more alert and refreshed. You may have experienced this for yourself when you are tired and sluggish but feel refreshed right after opening a window and taking a deep breath or feeling a sense of calm being outside after a warm summer rain. Everything about the air smells different after a rainfall.
The original Indians lived in harmony with the land and living with nature was considered a green song. But it was when the colonies arrived and built their vast cities that the Indians would consider the cities black and alien to nature. They were right when it comes to the fact that it displaces the negative ions.
Newer homes built today are meant to keep air out and Air Conditioning and heating in. Great for your power bill but a perfect environment for an overdose of positive ions. It can really make you sick. Open the windows and let the fresh air in whenever you can and when that is not possible then get hold of a good quality air ionizer and even an ionic foot bath. You’ll feel better for it.
Willie Jones
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/why-city-folk-are-in-desperate-need-of-negative-ions-133170.html
Nov 26
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, geothermal systems are the most energy efficient, cost-effective and environmentally clean heating/cooling systems available. A 1,500 square foot home in Colorado that uses a geothermal heat pump, averages energy costs of $1 a day. This includes all heating, cooling and hot water needs!
Geothermal heat pump systems can reduce a building’s energy consumption by 25% to 75%, as compared with conventional heating systems. Not only do they reduce energy consumption, but GHPs significantly lesson corresponding emissions. Emissions can be reduced up 44-72%, as compared with standard air-source heat pumps and air conditioning equipment. If you want to upgrade your space conditioning sources or are building a new home, these systems are green, clean and lean. In the long run they will benefit your pocket-book and the environment.
The simplest description of the geoexchange process is the movement of heat from the earth (or a groundwater source) into the home in the winter, and the discharging of heat back into the ground in the summer. Much of the country experiences extreme seasonal temperatures. But, did you know that just a few feet below the earth’s surface, the ground remains a relatively constant temperature? Ground temperatures range from 45 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. As in a cave, the ground temperature is warmer than the ambient air in the winter and cooler than that air in the summer. Geoexchange systems take advantage of this natural phenomenon.
GEOTHERMAL HEAT PUMPS: THE NUTS AND BOLTS OF HEAT EXCHANGE
The geothermal system includes these principal components:
- Earth Connection
Using the earth as a heat source and sink, a series of pipes is buried under ground, near the house. A fluid (water or a mixture of water and antifreeze) is circulated through these pipes. If the surrounding air is cooler than the soil, the pipes will absorb heat and if the air is warmer, they will sink heat back into the soil.
- Geothermal Heat Pump
For the actual heating of your home, a geothermal heat pump is installed. This heat pump removes heat from the fluid in the pipes, concentrates it, and then transfers it to the building. The process is reversed for cooling.
- Heat Distribution
Generally, conventional ductwork is used to distribute heated or cooled air from the pump into and throughout the building.
THE “DESUPERHEATER”: REDUCE YOUR HOT WATER COSTS BY HALF!
Geothermal heat pumps can be equipped with a “desuperheater. Yes, it sounds like a super hero and in some ways, it is. This device will heat your household water. The heat extracted from the house by your GHP during the summer, is then transferred from the GHP’s compressor into the house’s hot water tank. Winter water heating costs can be reduced by half with use of the “desuperheater”. HOT STUFF!
SHORT TERM COSTS VS LONGTERM SAVINGS
On average, a geothermal heat pump system costs about $2500 per ton of capacity. This would translate to roughly $7500 for a typical residential sized home. Other standard systems with Air Conditioning units usually go for about $4000. But, consider that with GHP’s high efficiency and much lower utility bills, your investment can be recouped in two to ten years. Financially, it is a golden ticket to strengthen the investment in your property. Not only in long term savings, but also in terms of increasing property value. A property that is equipped to heat/cool using geothermal is mostly self-sufficient, energy wise. There is real re-sale value, right there. Likewise, many geothermal systems can be financed with special loans from banks and other financial institutions. Get on board now, and invest in the investment that keeps on giving, naturally!
GEOTHERMAL IS SUPERIOR
DURABILITY
With fewer mechanical components that are all sheltered from the elements and possible vandalism, geothermal heat pumps are durable and highly reliable. Expect piping systems to come with 25-50 year warranties. The GHPs themselves last 20 years or more.
IMPROVED HUMIDITY CONTROL
GHPs are very effective in humid areas. GHPs improve humidity control while maintaining a 50% relative indoor humidity.
EFFICIENT AND QUIET
A two speed GHP system is so quiet. There are no tell-tale blasts of cold or hot air, as with other systems. Imagine, no A/C noise bothering the neighbors or buzzing the patio. With geothermal systems there are no outside condensing units, hence no constant hum, as with conventional air conditioners.
DESIGN IN MIND
Geothermal heat pump systems allow for design flexibility and can be installed in both new and retrofit situations. The hardware requires less space than conventional systems and so equipment rooms tend to be smaller. Imagine all the valuable home space freed up for other uses! The system also provides “zone” specific conditioning. Different parts of your home can be heated or cooled to different temperatures using GHPs.
There are so many advantages when you install a geothermal system in your home. First and foremost the immediate advantages will be for you, the consumer. Savings in utility costs will be from 20-70%! But, also consider what you will be doing for the environment with reduced emissions and reduced energy consumption. Every 100,000 homes built with geothermal heat pump systems reduce foreign oil consumption by 2.15 million barrels annually! What more do you need to know? An investment in a geothermal system for your home is undeniably wise for you, your future, the future of our planet and generations to come.
Andy Asbury
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/geothermal-heat-for-your-home-green-clean-and-lean-285106.html
Nov 18
I have a 3 door cooler and I want to install the Air Conditioning and convert it to the cooler. I know it preset to lowest you can go is 60 degree. I want to rewire to by pass the setting. Can any one help me? I greatly appreciated.
The system is not designed to cool that low.
Nov 15
Window Evaporative Coolers fit into your window and help cool your home. Learn why these can be more energy efficient and help create more breathable air for your home as well as help allergy sufferers.
Today, many people are looking for alternate sources of energy and more cost conservative and environmentally friendly ways to power their home. You can also cool your home in a friendlier way to your pocket and your environment.
Evaporative coolers, also called swamp coolers have great features to naturally keep your air cooler, create clean, constant circulating air, humidify your room (which can even be done in dry winter heat) and operate at lower noise levels than a refrigeration type air conditioner.
Window evaporative systems have cooling pads that are absorbent and turn heat into cool air, have slats or louvers to allow you to direct air flow, have a kit to allow you to slide the unit into your window and the design of the window cooler allows it to help cool your home without being bulky and in the way such as with a portable unit.
What other reasons are there for using window based evaporative coolers?
There are many reasons to use window evaporative coolers. They are generally installed in a window like an air conditioning unit but with many features that set these products apart from regular refrigeration Air Conditioning units. The evaporative air cooler uses hot air and water to dramatically lower your room temperature. They are significantly lower to operate electricity wise over regular air conditioners and they are cleaner to operate with the bonus of being better for the environment and creating cleaner air in your home. You can have a portable evaporative cooler, a window based unit that cools a room or a system installed in your home that cools your whole house. They also exist in commercial sizes as well.
There are great advantages to your electrical bill being reduced with a healthy flow of air and without damage to the ozone. This is a much more natural process of cooling your house and units even exist that have additional features of fighting dust and pollen. The hotter it is outside, the better the unit will work with evaporative technology.
There are varying materials inside the unit that can impact the performance of it such as materials that may or may not be susceptible to corrosion or rust. There are different types of absorbent pads with varying materials and levels of thickness, there are fans and blowers that will vary as well as a water reservoir that can determine how often you need to fill it. Some coolers can be fed water directly from your plumbing as well.
A window evaporative cooler can look as sleek and stylish as a new air conditioning unit. Be sure that you buy a unit large enough to cool the entire room you plan to use it in and be sure to maintain the unit regularly to reduce scale build up and continued absorbency of the water pads. Pads need to be replaced regularly depending on what type of pad your machine uses as well.
In closing, an evaporative cooler that’s in your window can cool your room in a natural, environmentally friendly way that can also lead to a reduction in energy costs as well as cleaner air for your home. Maintenance is not complicated and can be completed a few times per season if you are even just a little bit handy. There are many options available in window coolers for varying prices.
Phil Caxton
http://www.articlesbase.com/home-improvement-articles/window-evaporative-coolers-a-better-way-to-cool-your-home-137406.html
Nov 13
I have a 2005 dodge and I recently noticed a foul (sour dish cloth smell) when I turn on the Air Conditioning. HELP!
Auto manufactuerers have been battling this issue for years and to my knowledge there still is not a 100% permanent repair.
This odor is caused by fungi growing inside the evaporator core and when your ac is on the blower will distibute this smell through the ac system. It’s much worse in high humidity states, and may not even be noticable in other climates.
Dealerships do have a flush type chemical that can be used to at at least minimize the smell, this chemical will dry out the evap core and stop the smell, at least temporaily.
One important tip to minimize is to make sure you run your ac on fresh air mode as much as possible, this fresh air will help dry out the evap core and reduce the fungi from forming.
Jerry Christopher
http://www.usedcarwise.com
Nov 9
The Air Conditioning only works in my car in the area where the defrosters for the windshield are for some reason. They don’t work in the panel anymore. What would be the average price to get that fixed? My car is an older one, a 1990 Ford Tempo.
The problem with your car is probably due to a vacuum leak, a bad vacuum check valve or a bad mode control switch. Take it to a shop and have it checked out.
Oct 25
I have a BMW 730iL ‘E32 1987. My problem is about air-conditioning. The compressor will suddenly stop while I was driving or when I stop the car for especially when the traffic jam. There’s no problem with the gas which if it works normally, it was so cool and checked by the authorized Air Conditioning dealer that the gas was enough to run the compressor . And it ( the compressor ) will takes few minutes or after several distance to function back. But before it functioning back, I’m in the car already half boiled. How to solve this problem?
In order for your a/c to function properly, you need to regularly service it. Clean and replace drier. Check the following in your a/c system
1. check for leaks first
2. check your drier if its clog
3. check your expansion valve if clog
4. dirty filter and evaporator
5. low or too much freon gas, too much freon gas will cause high pressure in your a/c system producing poor cooling
6. auxiliary fan should be working properly to cool the condenser and to avoid high pressure.
Have this check by a good a/c technician. Hope this helps!
