Shading the condenser unit keeps it cooler and increases it’s efficiency and helps keeps my electricity costs down. The sail is high enough and mesh like so that it doesn’t trap the hot air. In fact it creates a slight wind tunnel effect. The shade it provides lasts during the hottest part of the day and a tree helpfully blocks the sun for the remainder. The unit is never in full sun this way. Keeping the weeds and other debris away from the unit so that it gets good airflow and cleaning the condenser every year also help with the units efficiency.
You must log in or register to comment.
I doubt it will make it more efficient. The air it sucks in is still the same temperature.
It might help with longevity of the device itself though, as it doesn’t stand in direct sunlight.
By keeping the sun off it, that helps with keeping the equipment cool which the radiator is part of so there’s less heat the fins have to dissipate no?
There’s no radiator, it’s a heat exchanger.
You have two sections in your heat exchanger. One part wants the cooling agent cold so it can effectively imterchange heat from your room into the cooling liquid. The other part wants the cooling agent hotter than the air outside so it can effectively dissipate the heat to the outside. To achieve that the liquid gets compressed. On the cold side it gets cooled with airflow.
I don’t think sunlight will change anything significant in that mechanism.
deleted by creator
This is interesting. Gut says that it does increase efficiency. Thing I’m questioning is by how much?
Anybody got numbers or a good educated guesstimate?
Not going to give an educated guesstimate, but I do know our ac unit is in full shade of trees, with not much greenery around. It is probably 20 years old. We were told, ten years ago by a repair man, it was close to kicking the bucket, yet it’s still going.
My neighbor, has the same unit, newer, leas than ten years old unit, in full sun with bittersweet growing all around it. Last summer they spent half the time trying to fix it, and this year I saw them install window units…
I’m guess, it helps to have it shadded with no plant debris. Purely anecdotal.
Knock on wood oh boy…
Shit, my AC unit is on the south side of my house. Should’ve built the house with the furnace on the north side.
Same goes for heat pumps, a little shade can prolong their life and increase effectiveness.
I’m curious why you rehang it every year and don’t just install a retractable awning. Hell, putting some smaller retractable shades over the windows, especially the sunnier ones, would probably also save you a chunk of change on those bills.
Snow weighs quite a lot! So it must come down after a/c season is over. This was $20 4-5 years ago. I wish retractable shades were in the budget, that would be awesome.
Makes me think of this gem
Have you been able to quantify how much more efficient your unit is because of the shade?
Sadly there are just too many variables in play. Many other changes have been made to help keep costs down such as different thermostat settings, extra insulation, and duct sealing. It does all add up to quite a bit of savings.
I reckon at least three
Boy I’ll tell you what, 3 is alot.
If you’re hot, they’re hot!
I have mine under some trees. It’s shaded in the summer and in the sun in the winter, which helps because it’s also a heat pump
And your HOA just lets you?
My neighborhood is just too dull to have one I guess. Although once per month the city workers come and pick up leaves and sticks if you place them by the curb, which is pretty exciting.
It’s a sad reality when people assume having an HOA is a given.
Feel bad for those subjected to it but I’d never purchase a property under the thumb of an HOA. Sucks how ubiquitous they have become.
Not all HOAs are bad… mine pretty much only exists to take care of our neighborhood pool, they’ve even loosened some of the few restrictions that had been in place since the 70s (restrictions on the type of fencing or sheds has been lifted). And it tends to run with a flat budget so our rates are very low for the area.
For now.
The fun thing about HOA’s is that they can change and are absolutely dynamic. You never know when Karen’s crew is going to come into power.
Assuming they live in an HOA. Also, this looks like a backyard. HOAs don’t typically (at least in my experience) have domain over the back yard.
IIRC, my AC guy said the vertical throw of those units is far higher than that, I wonder if that translates into it sucking in more of it’s own air (less efficient, higher cost)? Then again, UV seems to destroy everthing…
I doubt it. That’s quite far and it’s open so there’s plenty of room for it to spread out. You wouldn’t want part of your building to be in the air stream because the air from the condensing unit would heat it up, but it’s fine if the tarp gets warm.
Heat rises so the plume these put out really is tall, the buoyancy of air does most of the work – put a fog machine next to it and you’ll see it reach higher than the house.
The biggest benefit here is probably the shade to the siding, I’d focus on that (read: more trees) going forward instead of a black mesh shade that will absorb more sun and radiate heat back out.
Hot AIR rises. And it can also move sideways, and both are possible with this mesh. Looks like the hot air would go up and out in 3 directions (plus through) and cooler air would be pulled in from the yard. Wouldn’t it be interesting to test it with colored smoke? Or as you said a fog machine
This is clever, but I don’t think my HOA would allow. On the other hand, today was my once-per-three-year day to clean the coils, and boy do I hope that made a difference.
Fucking smart
As expected for someone who uses a heat pump!
Nice! Do you have to purchase a new sunshade Everytime? Or reinstall the same one? I wonder if a more fabric tarp would last longer.
It’s lasted 4 years so far and was only $20! It’s a nylon mesh material that let’s water flow right through without absorbing it so it doesn’t get too heavy.
I only recently learned these need to be shaded. People have started trying to come up with some solutions. No clue if this works https://cooleriscooler.com/
