A workable idea for an off-grid Airconditioner?

Re: A workable idea for an off-grid Airconditioner?

I agree totally worth it, even if the sump heater has to run a bunch, still way more efficient than just about everything else.

And yes Bill I have heard that shutting them off and turning them back on right before use isn't a good idea, especially in cooler weather. Our contractor said some units just won't run for a certain amount of time, some will run but at reduced efficiency and some have larger heaters that can heat up quickly and are also used for defrosting. To be honest I don't know which ours is, but I can run our totally off solar so I am fine with it

Re: A workable idea for an off-grid Airconditioner?

My system works pretty well: It doesn't use any electricity and doesn't cost anything to install, though if I had started with nothing it would have taken about 80 years to get it where it is today. As a bonus when components fail I can reuse them with the heating system!

I built my house in a dense forest of tall oaks and left them standing pretty close to the house. We get shade almost all day and none of the windows get direct sun in the summer. Last summer the interior temp did not go above 79 degrees when the exterior approached 90 and the temperatures in town down the hill were in the high 90s. It doesn't do anything for the humidity, but that never really bothered me.

Disclaimer: I've lived in south Florida and spent time in Kansas in July and will concede that this method might not work so well in those situations. Also, we''ve got miles of dense uninterrupted trees around the house on all sides, so it's probably a bit cooler at the ground than if we just had a few shade trees.

Re: A workable idea for an off-grid Airconditioner?

I have a similar deal with good forest in all directions, when it is 102 in the city its only 92 at my house, so usually its cooler than that most of the summer. Still need to do something about the humidity, though, so A/C is required.

I haven't converted to the mini-splits yet (but will soon), so last winter I flipped off the breaker to my A/C compressor to hopefully save some $ on the crankcase heater. I finally flipped it back on yesterday so we can use it today. BTW, I never saw a drop in my average useage, so I don't know if I saved anything by doing that.