I wanted to tell you a short story.

I bought a house 6 years ago.  It had been used as a weekend house sitting
empty for over 15 years.

About a year after moving in, the AC starting blowing the breaker every few
days, it continued until it started doing it every day.  I did not have the
money to replace it so I put one of those sprinklers that is just a plastic
ring with holes in it on top of the outside unit.  I turned to water on to
the slowest trickle I could get and consequently ran the unit for two more
summers. (I am on the coast of Texas --very hot, verrry humid)

The water made many Amps difference, I never quantified it, but it was alot.

The calcium buildup finally got to it, or I might still be running it. This
was so bad, I have resisted trying it on my new $4000 unit.  I have a water
softener now, but it adds enough salt to make me worry about rust.

I have an Engineer friend who uses the atomizer nozzles on his ac unit and
has done so for years.

He had read an article on this method somewhere and tried it.  I suspect it
was in the "IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications" - In the early 80's
there was alot about power saving, cogeneration, etc,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: pic microcontroller discussion list
> [mailto:PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU]On Behalf Of Rick C.
> Sent: Monday, June 10, 2002 10:31 PM
> To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
> Subject: Re: [OT]: Using well water to air condition home
>
>
> Rather than tying up the list, one can link to the development of
> the system at:
> http://www.pic101.com/projects/acwatersys.htm
> Rick
>
> "M. Adam Davis" wrote:
>
> > So, Rick, any new news on spraying water on the condenser unit?
> >
> > I'm interested in doing something similar, and was going to send a
> > general message to the list but checked the archives just in case.  I
> > thought we had someone mention it recently.
> >
> > -Adam
> >
> > Rick C. wrote:
> >
> > >This is currently being done commercially now. It hasn't
> caught up yet to the
> > >home (domestic) market as it should, but I've seen the numbers
> and they are
> > >promising. A large warehouse I know of in Frederick, MD, has
> such a system and
> > >their heating/air conditioning bill is about $50 a month compared to a
> > >conventional system in a comparable size building of about
> $450 a month. The
> > >initial expense is a bit higher though, but it has already
> paid off. Plus, no
> > >Freon involved.
> > >
> > >I have spray nozzles on two sides of my outdoor condenser unit
> that sprays well
> > >water on the coils when the compressor comes on. This has made
> a noticeable
> > >difference in the time the compressor runs (less on time and
> less cycling) when
> > >cooling the house during the summer. I'm getting ready to make
> some measurements
> > >to see just how much of a savings this will make.
> > >Rick
> > >
> > >Rod Phillips wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >>Hello to all,
> > >>
> > >>Here's an idea that I wanted to run past whoever is interested.
> > >>
> > >>I have 2 unused water wells on my property that are seperated
> by 100 feet.
> > >>One well has a 30 inch diameter concrete casing and is 36
> feet deep.  The
> > >>other well has an 18 inch diameter casing and is about 25
> feet in depth.
> > >>
> > >>My idea is to pump water from well # 1 into a small,
> insulated pressure
> > >>tank.  At the tank outlet would be a solenoid valve to let
> the water flow
> > >>into some sort of heat exchanger in the furnace plenum.
> Another valve would
> > >>be located on the other side of the heat exchanger to
> discharge the warmed
> > >>water into the second well.  The plan would be to monitor air
> temperature in
> > >>the plenum and when it has reached a certain limit open both
> valves to force
> > >>the warmed water out.  Additional temperature probes in the
> input and output
> > >>lines could be used to determine when the exchanger is full
> of cold water.
> > >>I have a probe in well # 1 now and the water temperature is
> 51 degrees.
> > >>
> > >>I would welcome any comments or experiences anyone has had along these
> > >>lines.
> > >>
> > >>                                   Rod
> > >>
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