Dullsters

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Every year I install this sunsail to shade my ac unit. (dullsters.net)

submitted 1 day ago by admin@dullsters.net to c/Dullsters@dullsters.net

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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.

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[–] Machinist@lemmy.world 5 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Nice source! Thank you kindly.

Planting trees and shrubs close by a condenser may actually reduce system efficiency due to impedance of effective air movement. We conclude that any savings produced by localized AC condenser shading are quite modest (<3%) and that the risk of interrupting airflow to the condenser may outweigh shading considerations. The preferred strategy may be a long-term one: locating AC condensers in an unobstructed location on the shaded north side of buildings and depending on extensive site and neighborhood-level landscaping to lower localized air temperatures.

Tracks with the gut feeling. Shade will only marginally improve efficiency but constricting flow definitely hurts. Units are best installed on the North/Northeast sides of houses in the northern hemisphere.

[–] sevan@lemmy.ca 3 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

If your unit is a heat pump, are you then paying for that savings in the winter when it doesn't benefit from any solar warmth to help heat your house? If so, I wonder if it is a relatively balanced outcome or if one of the seasons has a bigger impact. I imagine it depends in part on which season is more extreme in your area.

[–] Machinist@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

I would think so. Another factor would be dropping leaves in the fall and winter so less shade, a good thing, in this case.