ReCycle AirCond Water System

[Ashore]

Split reverse cycle?
It does have a waste pipe but I dont recall ever seeing water dripping?

The drain that drops water in a reverse cycle or split system comes from the evaporator coils , those are the coils on the unit inside your house, not on the compressor outside.


Rgds

[Bleedin Thumb]

So it still works on the principle of evaporation?:confused:
Sorry I know SFA about AC. You have a compressor that compresses gas that expands through a venturi (sp?)... Boyles law, hey presto cold pipes with a fan blowing air over them...cooles the room.
where does the evaporation happen.

Does an AC unit dry the air? or is the moisture loss occur as a result of the cooling process?

This question is even more relevent in a car. You can see how much water is dropped from them in relation to the size of the cabin that they're cooling.

Sorry to be so vague, I feel like I'm having a blond moment .

[ozwinner]

So it still works on the principle of evaporation?:confused:
Sorry I know SFA about AC. You have a compressor that compresses gas that expands through a venturi (sp?)... Boyles law, hey presto cold pipes with a fan blowing air over them...cooles the room.
where does the evaporation happen.

Does an AC unit dry the air? or is the moisture loss occur as a result of the cooling process?

This question is even more relevent in a car. You can see how much water is dropped from them in relation to the size of the cabin that they're cooling.

Sorry to be so vague, I feel like I'm having a blond moment .

Evaporative, Refrigirative, two totally different beings.

Al

[Barry_White]

Lesson in air conditioning.

Evaporative air conditioners cool the air by passing the air through four big pads made from various types of porous materials e.g. Wood strings made into a pad and held together with a material something like shade cloth.

As the air passes through the pads moisture is actually added to the air and actually increases the humidity of the air hence Evap air conditioners are useless on the coast where the air is already humid. They have a reservoir tank to hold the water usually with a float valve to replenish the tank as the water is added to the air and is actually connected to the water supply and has a pump to pump the water up to the tops of the pads and the water trickles down back to the reservoir.

Reverse cycle air conditioners have a compressor to pump the refrigerant around the closed system and as Ashore says the water in the air and actually condenses on the cooling coils and that is where the water comes from in a refrigerated system. This is why refrigerated systems are so good in humid climates.

Evaporative are good in dry climates and are much cheaper to run because all the electricity is driving is a big fan and a pump. They also rely on greater volumes of air and you have the windows open in the house to make them work more efficiently where as on refridge air conditioners are more efficient when the house is closed up.

[Bleedin Thumb]

Thanks Barry, that makes perfect sense.

[Ashore]

To add a tad more to Barry's post in an ac system as you have ( split System) the compressor ( outside ) compresses the gas , as it does this it makes the gas hotter and the fan on the outside unit pushes outside air over the hot gas as it goes through coils reducing its temp . this gas then goes to the coils inside your house going through a TX valve which expands the gas as it enters the inside coils reducing its temp, air from inside your house passes over these coils reducing the air temp and any water vapor in the air that reaches its dew point condences and drains away.
Hope this makes it all just a bit clearer

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

The drain that drops water in a reverse cycle or split system comes from the evaporator coils , those are the coils on the unit inside your house, not on the compressor outside.

Exactly. For anyone considering buying a split system, I sincerely recommend that you plan on hanging the header (inside unit) on an external wall. This allows the drain to run straight through the wall to the great outdoors, along with the rest of the plumbing.

When a header is mounted on an inside wall, there's nowhere to run the drain! Unless you're willing to pay the extra costs of removing plaster, running an internal drain, etc. the only practical option is adding a sump-pump, which is basically the same cheap'n'nasty beast as the air-pump for a fish-tank, pumping condensate from the sump into the ceiling cavity and drained from there.

This has inherent problems, besides the "fish-tank buzz" when it operates. They don't last forever. Being a small dia. hose, they can also block easily in dusty environments. Worse, when they finally do fail, whether burnt out, blocked or whatever, the first obvious sign is moisture running down the inside of your plaster. :eek:

I really, really, really recommend that you do NOT install 'em on an inside wall! Trust me on this.

[Gavin04]

To confuse the term a little the outdoor unit is called the condenser because it condenses the refrigerant to a liquid after it has been compressed by cooling it on outside air. The internal unit is called the evaporator because as the liquid goes through the TX valve it evapourates and expand and cools due to the latent heat of evaporation and the Joule effect.

Now because the evaporator is really cold (close to freezing) it cause moisture in the air to condense on the outside and this could be drained to the garden. Of course in a reverse cycle airconditioner the whole thing is reversed in winter with the TX valve and evaporator being outside and the condensor being inside. In humid climates this can cause ice to build up on the evaporator and reduce efficiency.