Evaporative cooling vs reverse cycle. Thoughts?

[fgtpsi]

Id go a multihead split, its got one condensing unit(outdoor unit) and you can have about 5 indoor units running off it, so you can cool all your bedrooms and your living room.It will be more than 3k but it would be worth it

[calais]

If you are considering ducted reverse cycle, serious consideration needs to be given to;

-The brand and rated power of the compressor unit
-Refrigerant capacity
-Power source (Single or Three Phase)
-Motor control type (Inverter,Digital or Analogue)
-The size of the area to be climate controlled
-Your budget and tolerance to running costs

All in all, depending on your specific climate, reverse cycle can be the master of trades, but only if it is a robust and very well engineered system. Cutting corners for smaller units and expecting a whole house to be cooled off a single split is just asking for trouble.

Evaps also have a significant role to play where lower running costs are needed, however it should be noted that on a 40 degree ambient day, an Evap may be able to cool to 25 degrees, where an equally strong Reverse Cycle may be able to pull the temperature to 21 or 22 degrees also whilst drying the air. However you have to pay to play in that regard.

All the best mate, but really consider how you intend to use whichever system you choose.

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by ZA-289

We just got ducted evap fitted and its killer got an ove rsized unit so it cools our large home easily (40deg+ in Adelaide last 2 days) with your budget i would say its the way to go, its cheap to run you can leave it on all week without worrying about power bills, plus you don't need to shut the house up, PLUS it gives us a cool breeze under our verandah from the open windows

I think we will go with a new evap unit and make use of the ducts that we have already. Ran the old evap last night (out of sheer desperation) and it actually went ok apart from leaking like a sieve. The plan at the moment is to put a new evap unit on and then maybe put a R/C unit in the lounge area on an interest free type setup.

[Elks]

I'm going through this dilema at the moment myself. So this is interesting reading. We had an evap in our old house (melbourne) and it worked a treat. we had a split in the main living area for those extra hopt days and used it twice in two years.

Originally Posted by calais

Evaps also have a significant role to play where lower running costs are needed, however it should be noted that on a 40 degree ambient day, an Evap may be able to cool to 25 degrees, .

A 15 degree drop over oputside seems the norm. And whilst 25 inside is getting a bit sticky, by the evening when its 32 outside, inside the evap has brought it back to a cool 17 so a good nights sleep is possible.

[MarkAW]

In my house we have two inverter systems, the main unit is a 7.8kW Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, whilst the one in the main bedroom is a smaller inverter of the same make, somewhere around the 4Kw size.

The main unit replaced an old window box unit and despite it being twice the size and running 3 to 4 times longer, our electricity bill was no greater in size. The large unit is quite capable of cooling the lounge room dining room and kitchen all in one go but the small unit is really only good for the bedroom (5m x 8m) yet it can be run at low setting all night without much noise or cost.

When you do go to install any split unit make sure that the outside unit is in a shaded area. The cooler it is the better it will operate.

[NC1183]

Originally Posted by ZA-289

We just got ducted evap fitted and its killer got an ove rsized unit so it cools our large home easily (40deg+ in Adelaide last 2 days) with your budget i would say its the way to go, its cheap to run you can leave it on all week without worrying about power bills, plus you don't need to shut the house up, PLUS it gives us a cool breeze under our verandah from the open windows

That an awesome bonus of the evap unit's, because you have to open the house for them to work, it make just outside the house cool too, which in turn makes the inside feel a bit cooler too.

I have a probably 20+ year old evap on my roof and it will be replaced with a slightly bigger new evap unit that has a decent VSD on the fan motor. At the moment we have two speeds, Cat 2 Cyclone or Cat 5 Cyclone. When my girlfriend (now fiancee) moved in this time last year she complained about the temp in the house, but now prefers it to the freezer like conditions at her parents place.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by b2tf

I think we will go with a new evap unit and make use of the ducts that we have already. Ran the old evap last night (out of sheer desperation) and it actually went ok apart from leaking like a sieve. The plan at the moment is to put a new evap unit on and then maybe put a R/C unit in the lounge area on an interest free type setup.

Thats what i'd be doing.
As you said, you can utilize the existing ducts which may make the system a bit cheaper to start with.
Fitting a suitable split in the main living area will help make those extreme days comfortable (and really in 3-4months of hot weather, how many days are over 40c anyway?)
It will also double as heating.

The Evap system is ok if used correctly.
When we had ours we always
-put it on early or left it on for consecutive days.
-start it on full, but slow it down as the air gets cooler the slower it is drawn through the pads.
-Its recommended that you leave a window open in each room approximately 2x the vent size. What we did was keep the windows on the windward side closed and open the others slightly more to compensate. this helps prevents warm air entering.

[MercurySilver]

we are just about to start building in sa
im building the same house as a mate from work (pure coincidence)
they gave us the ducted evap in with the deal
i asked my mate how he went over the last week when we had days of 40+ degrees
he said the house was nice and cool, he left the sliding door open about 4inches and cracked all his windows an inch too
he said his misses actually kept turning it off when she got cold and then turning it back on when the house heated up
what this did was cause the unit to dump its water each time she turned it off, its designed to do this apparently so the salty water doesnt sit in the unit.
the house builders hooked that dump hose into his gutters, which caused the water to go into his rainwater tank
he pulled it out and extended the hose over his gutters into a wheelie bin which he then uses to water certain plants and vegies

another guy at work who built with the same company went with ducted refridgerated and as he had just had a new baby with his wife they constantly had the air con on...their first electricity bill was $900+!

we're going with the ducted evap AND getting a split system reverse cycle for the large media room.
we'll also be running a large combustion heater for the winter.
evap is alot cheaper to run compared to refridge
we plan on going solar as well, so with any luck we'll have no elec bill anyway

another mate has evap in his house and its at least a 15 year old system
his house is always cool, even on stinking hot days, he just cracks the windows and back door slightly.
we are confident that evap will be ok for us
plus the misses has mega experience in window tinting, so we will be tinting all the windows in the house, plus the whole house internally and externally will be insulated

[Simple6]

I know it's a thread mine, but I thought I'd post up a shot of how my evaporative cooler was working today to give prospective buyers an idea.

Temperatures and humidity readings shown and it was very comfortable inside today.



The outside humidity is key to the success.

[damo76]

I got evap installed last year, we live in bunbury and i opted for the large unit which pushes a lot more air, it's only extra $400.
We pretty much run it 24/7 as i love being cool but also like the airflow through the house.
Evap is cheap to run, we hardly notice it on our bill but i have heard that refrigerated is very expensive to run.
We only get a couple of very humid days here thats when we open the windows up more and turn the water off.

[MercurySilver]

wow old bump
we are in and all built obviously
our ducted evap will be cranked on ten today
36 and then a couple of days of 40 then back into the mid to high 30s next week

wonder how the OP went?

[vztrt]

Funny enough got an oversized evap unit installed in the house just before Christmas (as ducted refridge was gonna cost 12k and its not hot enough of the year in Melb to justify it). But yesterday was the first real test for it as it hit 40.6 out here.

Looking at the temperature inside the house it was 23.5 all day. We were both happy with the temp and overnight we didn't notice that the lowest it hit was 28 deg.

I was worried about the whole humity issue and evap coolers but I was tols to turn off the water pump when the humity gets high and you will still get cool air....which has worked previously. So now were in day to and were pushing another day of 40+ deg and house is comfortable. Especially when I go out for a smoke and you relise that its not cool outside.

[Silver Ghia]

Had Breezair ducted evap cooling installed in Sept 1999 (had to look it up). Yesterday was the first time this summer we've had it on, only had it on for a few hours on 1/2 setting. Have it on manual so it doesnt go to ventilation when I dont want it to. When time to go to bed I close all the windows thus locking the cool air in the house, then switch it off for the night. So the house was cool enough all night.

Switched it on again about 11am this morning, is still set at 1/2 setting which keeps the temp inside at around 25 deg. Happy with it, everyone is happy, cats are happy, its economical on power and the air is fresh.

[peaterj]

Hoping to get a Breezair ducted evaporative system installed early next week, had a quote from a well known company with their rite price for a supposedly top of the range system.

Rang an independant local air cond company yesterday explaining the system i was quoted on only to be told that was an old model and only just big enough for the job.
Their quote was $300 dearer for the latest unit in the next bigger size with an extra outlet.

[aussiblue]

Always go a larger size; you'll appreciate it on humid days.

[Itsme]

Originally Posted by Silver Ghia

Had Breezair ducted evap cooling installed in Sept 1999 (had to look it up). Yesterday was the first time this summer we've had it on, only had it on for a few hours on 1/2 setting. Have it on manual so it doesnt go to ventilation when I dont want it to. When time to go to bed I close all the windows thus locking the cool air in the house, then switch it off for the night. So the house was cool enough all night.

Switched it on again about 11am this morning, is still set at 1/2 setting which keeps the temp inside at around 25 deg. Happy with it, everyone is happy, cats are happy, its economical on power and the air is fresh.

Had my Breezair (Installed 2013) on last night on second lowest setting with two windows slightly open, slept comfortably with blankets on, cranked it up to half setting this morning for the heat, house temp now sitting on 24 degrees with out side temp of 37 degrees.

While the humidity is down these evaporative units are great, only suffered two high humid days where I have had to use the old Air cons.

[galaxy xr8]

I had evaporative air installed about 7 years ago now and I wouldn’t be without it, should have done it sooner, for me it keep’s the house in a comfortable range and at times almost to cold (especially if you sit under or near a vent) but it’s the night’s where it has really paid for it’s self, it makes it very comfortable to be able to get a good night sleep, even just have the fan on with outside air only is comfortable enough.

[aussiblue]

I have a large commercial sized Breezeair specified for 20 outlets but with 11 outlets. On High speed it blows like a cyclone but I only ever use on high speed on humid days. Only downside is I have to keep the pads in good order (replace every 2 years min) or it sucks air into the vents which then leaks into the ceiling (took me a few years to work that one out).

[Shambles]

For those of you with ducted evaporative and ducted heating make sure you keep a window open in each room if you have the door closed. A mate of mine got a massive heating bill in winter because the pressure of the evaporative aircon was sufficient to pop a heating duct in the ceiling. As a consequence the heater wasn't reaching thermostat temp, just heating the ceiling cavity.

[aussiblue]

For those of you with ducted evaporative and ducted heating make sure you keep a window open in each roo

The evap cooler ducts will also blow without outlet. The best approach is to put closable (close in winter) ceiling vents (these http://www.bunnings.com.au/haron-340...-vent_p0813811 or these http://www.bunnings.com.au/haron-250...-vent_p0810083 ) in each room as far away from the evap outlet as possible and vent the ceiling space with either whirlybird roof vent and/or eve vents. The cold air going into the ceiling will help keep the ducts cool and increase cooling efficiency by around 35%.

[Simple6]

Yeah I've actually taken the man hole cover out and made up a wooden frame with some fly screen which works really well for cooling the roof space. During the day I'll also have the rear door open slightly and that's all I do. The photo above (with temps) was taken from the opposite end of the house to the man hole space and rear door,

[aussiblue]

And this is a handy little book: http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Cooler-Ca...sy+Cooler+Care

[aussiblue]

For those with or contemplating evaporative air this is a new innovative product out of Mt Isa that manages the risk of water leaks into or out of the dropper and rust and corrosion of the dropper duct: http://www.droppersolutions.com.au/ddk2.php