Outside condenser

17 years ago

I just got a new apartment and I am having some issues with keeping it cool. I live in central FL. the outside temperatures reach over 100 in the hot part of the summer. Right now it is 82 at the local airport and by outside thermometer reads 94.

The temperature inside the apartment is 82. I would like the temperature to be low 70s.

I have two huge windows facing the sun rise. At the moment they are only covered with blinds (the big one is 7 feet tall and 9 feet wide and has vertical blinds. The smaller of the two is 4 feet wide by 7 feet tall and has mini-blinds.) I know one step is to get some good thermal drapes for thoes windows.

Outside on the patio there is a utility room. In that room there is the AC condenser. That room gets hot enough to make me think it would melt plastic.

My first question is this, if that room is hot would that reduce the ability of the AC unit to cool the house? I am thinking that if that room is hot then the condenser coils could not exchange heat with the air (as there would be less temperature diffidence).

Second question. Could curtains make that much of a difference? (10-20 degrees)

The maintenance people stopped by and checked coolant levels. They also cleaned the evaporator (the inside part). That did make a noticeable difference.

Right now the AC is running 24x7 trying to reach 75 degrees. I have seen smaller units in bigger apartments hit 75 with no problem. Heck my grandmother has a window unit for a two bedroom apartment and it can hit 60 with little effort.

Any tips/tricks would be appreciated. Right now i have the compressor "room" door open with a fan blowing in to it trying to exchange some of the hot air. No idea if that is going to make a difference yet.

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Comments (7)

srercrcr
17 years ago
The condensing unit should not be in a room, it should have ambient air intake and room to exhaust hot air freely. You are correct about in that it can't remove indoor warm air if i is surrounded in hot air. It might help the stopgap measure to put a box fan in the room blowing the hot air out. The drapes will only help some. It would be better to block the sun before it enters the room...like on the outside, perhaps a bamboo roller shade.
veesubotee
17 years ago
You probably don't have room to put a fan in the utility closet. Perhaps, you could wedge the door open a few inches.

In any case, if the ductwork inside the closet is not insulated, it needs to be; the more the better.

V
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coteyr
Original Author
17 years ago
I can put a box fan in the room, it's rather large, but still gets very hot. I understand why the ac is in that room, I just wish it wasn't.

The duct work in the apartment is insulated, there is no duct work going to the compressor. It's a spit system(I think I got that right, part is inside and part is outside).

I will put a box fan blowing the hot air out the vent in the room, and I will leave the door open.
srercrcr
17 years ago
I think we have some misunderstanding here. There wouldn't be any ductwork anywhere around a condensing unit, just insulated tubing and wiring.
coteyr
Original Author
17 years ago
Yep thats what I mean. The condenser is outside in a utility type storage room (to protect it from weather and animals, I live on the water, both can cause serious problems). That utility/storage room gets exceptionally hot.

Inside the evaporator (I think thats what is called) is upstairs. The duct work from that part is quite insulated.

The lines between the two are pretty well insulated as well. (the metal lines).
srercrcr
17 years ago
Condensers are built to be out in the weather. If you owned this place you could modify the utility room so it could breathe real good.
jakethewonderdog
17 years ago
You can't put the condenser in a shed and expect it to work. It's not going to, that simple. Even some of the fences and shrubs I've seen around units restrict airflow enough to reduce effectiveness.

In addition, the units in the shed will cost a fortune to operate and will have big-time maintenance issues. The head pressures would be really excessive and would destroy compressors in short order. There's no way to properly charge such a unit unless you weigh-in the refrigerant either.