Electricity bills adds more heat this summer

[Thad E Ginathom]

Don't try a water cooler together with an AC! Never!

why not?

I guess, the idea is...

--- An air conditioner does not only cool the air, it also de-humidifies it.

--- An Air Cooler cools the air by evaporation of water (your body works this way too).

--- Therefore: No point in using both.

You may do very well with Air ("Desert") Coolers up there in Delhi. Here, where our air is saturated with humidity, we must go for ACs ...or suffer.

I think Chennai has a record run of 40-plus days in its sights! Whilst we are getting shorter scheduled power cuts now, unscheduled ones continue, and late-evening/night-time voltages are very low.

Personally, I wouldn't swap Chennai's climate for Delhi's. A few weeks of summer suffering is the price we pay for not being frozen in the winter

 

[avidyarthy]

^ Perfect explanation @ Thad ...

ME prefers the dry heat of Delhi to Chennai's / Kolkata's / somewhat Mumbai's hot HUMID weather. This perspiration knocks me out ... makes me feel dirty .. sticky ... slimy!

AFA winters go ..... its perfect. The 'best' weather one can encounter in this country ... no sweat ... the woollens take care of the chill. Only issue ... the usual 'skin show' ends abruptly during the chill ..

But amazing .. someone from the 'Queen's land' giving a thumbs up to the heat and sweat!

 

[avidyarthy]

why not? I see lot of neighbors doing this. Even I am considering using air cooler as I have witnessed their houses to be very cool.
My living room is large 20x30x10 and also has staircase - so a single 1.5T split AC is not able to do anything in hot dry season.

Any suggestion for a larger split AC that can handle this big a room? I am considering a second split vs a single large one.

For a room of 'this' dimension .... go for the custom-built 'big' desert cooler for 'the current' conditions.
Else, yet another 1.5 TR split with the current one would take care during the upcoming July to October Chennai-type sweaty condition.

 

[anm]

but AC also has a compressor and can lower temperatures below what air cooler can. Does increasing humidity in air kills the AC? I guess not because AC is equipped to dehumidify. Will this load the AC too much? Sounds more like the pairing of a warm amp with dry speakers

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Nice analogy! I don't know the answer.

Actually, AC can't help but de-humidify, simply because warmer air can hold more water, so it has no choice but to condense as it passes through the AC cooling coils.

And yes, I think AC can beat cooler. It is the same mechanism as a fridge: room-size refrigeration! But, I have no direct experience of the coolers.

But amazing .. someone from the 'Queen's land' giving a thumbs up to the heat and sweat!

Yes, and my wife, born and bred here, hates it!

I now hate the cold, and to me, that's anything below 20C :lol:. I'm uncomfortable even breathing cold air.

 

[avidyarthy]

but AC also has a compressor and can lower temperatures below what air cooler can. Does increasing humidity in air kills the AC? I guess not because AC is equipped to dehumidify. Will this load the AC too much? Sounds more like the pairing of a warm amp with dry speakers

Have to bring myself down drastically to answer this .... thats too difficult

 

[anm]

Actually, as a first step, I am looking to cut down on the heat entering through the glass doors. Though there are curtains inside, and the glass is reflective, the 4 glass doors face west, and sun shines over them for very long hours.
I once saw outdoor curtains at home town that were made of thick synthetic material, and claimed to reduce temperature by 5-10 celcius, but I can't find them anywhere now.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Two* possible solutions...

1. Apply sunfilm.

2. replace glass with reflective, heat-resist glass.

3. change to double glazing

*Monty Python mode... among the possibilities...

To begin with, best try the sunfilm. You might get some good bargains now it can't be sold for cars!

 

[Kevian]

In a duplex house, the ground floor is much cooler but forget about the first floor, its practically a blast furnace. The top floor slab is directly exposed to Sun from the rise to set. This heats up the bed, furniture, my hifi, the air etc. If I open the windows, hot air coupled with dust and sand blows in. Any ideas to beat this?

 

[anm]

In a duplex house, the ground floor is much cooler but forget about the first floor, its practically a blast furnace. The top floor slab is directly exposed to Sun from the rise to set. This heats up the bed, furniture, my hifi, the air etc. If I open the windows, hot air coupled with dust and sand blows in. Any ideas to beat this?

sheet shed on roof, but it can be quite costly

 

[anm]

Two* possible solutions...

1. Apply sunfilm.

2. replace glass with reflective, heat-resist glass.

3. change to double glazing

*Monty Python mode... among the possibilities...

To begin with, best try the sunfilm. You might get some good bargains now it can't be sold for cars!

2 is already done. There are 2 glass doors, and 2 fixed glasses. The two fixed ones have double glass layer, with a layer of air and iron grill sandwiched. All four have green reflective saint gobain glass.

Should I apply the sunfilm on the outer surface? In cars they are put on the inner surface.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

In a duplex house, the ground floor is much cooler but forget about the first floor, its practically a blast furnace. The top floor slab is directly exposed to Sun from the rise to set. This heats up the bed, furniture, my hifi, the air etc. If I open the windows, hot air coupled with dust and sand blows in. Any ideas to beat this?

--- Paint the terrace white. no, seriously: even if you only manage to reflect a little of that heat, it's better than nothing.

--- Paint the terrace white with special heat-reflecting paint. This is what we did. You can tell the difference just by walking bare-foot on it. May include waterproofing too, if you have drips.

--- Moving up the choices from there, there are heat-resistant, reflective tiles, and all sorts of coating and treatment, some of which might be more appropriate for inclusion in a new building.

2 is already done. There are 2 glass doors, and 2 fixed glasses. The two fixed ones have double glass layer, with a layer of air and iron grill sandwiched. All four have green reflective saint gobain glass.

Should I apply the sunfilm on the outer surface? In cars they are put on the inner surface.

If you already have reflective glass, I'm doubtful it will do much more


.

 

[anm]

which paint did you use? I need it as well for my roof. Mine is a lighter grey shade but I am sure heat reflecting white paint may make it better.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

It was one of those small ads in the newspaper here: yours probably has them. Advertised as "German technology," or, err ... something like that. One man business, and with that kind of thing, I guess one gets lucky or not, but we had leaks too, and had to do something.

There may be better technologies, in fact I'm sure there are, but I'm also sure they are more expensive. Still: it's your roof, so get the best you can afford!

Ours has worked out ok, and the guy has been back a couple of times to touch it up for us, and one complete repaint, after we screwed it up experimenting with another layer of cement on top.

Our house is single-storey, about 1,000 sq ft, and the cost was about 13,000.

The big thing was when I tried walking on it on a summer day. Previously, it would burnt the skin off my feet, now I can walk on the surface with no discomfort at all. That has to prove something

 

[grubyhalo]

It was one of those small ads in the newspaper here: yours probably has them. Advertised as "German technology," or, err ... something like that. One man business, and with that kind of thing, I guess one gets lucky or not, but we had leaks too, and had to do something.

There may be better technologies, in fact I'm sure there are, but I'm also sure they are more expensive. Still: it's your roof, so get the best you can afford!

Ours has worked out ok, and the guy has been back a couple of times to touch it up for us, and one complete repaint, after we screwed it up experimenting with another layer of cement on top.

Our house is single-storey, about 1,000 sq ft, and the cost was about 13,000.

The big thing was when I tried walking on it on a summer day. Previously, it would burnt the skin off my feet, now I can walk on the surface with no discomfort at all. That has to prove something

If it's THAT effective, it's something I could very well use! The 13K you mention, does that number include the 'anti-leak' part of the job as well? Also, any idea what this process is called locally? Thanks for the pointer!

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Yes. Our roof was never "properly" finished by the guy who built it and who we bought it from. It was just left as cement, with no level of broken stuff over that topped off with tiles. The cement had cracks.

Our guy filled the cracks with silicon sealant, and then painted his white stuff over everything. Not the neatest or most beautiful job... some of the sealant came out, but he did honour the bargain and come back and replace it. Frankly, some of our cracks were big enough that, technically, sealant should have been built up in layers.

It's a kind of paint, so I'd guess it should be redone every three years or so, maybe five years max.

As to the appearance, as with all paints, the better your surface, the better it will look.

There is no such thing as a miracle: the house still gets hot. I just dread to think how much hotter it would get without it!

For Chennai folks, if interested, I'll dig out the phone number. That will have to wait until Wife is awake

I neither make, nor pass on, any claims about this "technology." All I can say is that we believe it has helped us.



And it does wonders for the hifi ... but only for digital sources

 

[grubyhalo]

LOL. Any and all information is appreciated, with the required caveats. A difference of even a degree would make it worth the while for me. Thanks again!

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

for Chennaites...

Sun Cool Coating MFG and Marketing Enterprises,
Velachery.

KE Rajamannar: 2243 1838, 98400 32817.

Tell him to send the commission to the foreigner with the cats :lol:

 

[grubyhalo]

Will do! Thank you very much!

 

[andy78]

My electricity bills doubled this month.