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5 Mar ’12
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My wife is ~6 months pregnant with our 4th kid and we have had some warm days... which means it is time for an air conditioning unit! We bought this slightly used off of Craigslist -- 8,000 BTU and Energy Star rated. It uses just under 800 watts when running full tilt. We discussed this as a family and will only turn the A/C on when our battery bank is floating... which doesn't happen until around 1 PM or so, just in time for some of the hottest times of the day.
I just installed it yesterday and we didn't need to run it -- temp outside was 85 or so and temp inside was 74. I really hope we only use this on the killer 90+ degree days.
It is installed in a second floor window above our stairs. We know it can't cool the entire house but we just hope it can knock off a few degrees from the interior temp. We'll see how it works.
15 Feb ’12
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nice, interested to see how this works for you
5 Mar ’12
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Hah, we ran it like twice. Worked well enough. When the sun was shining my wife ran it, when the sun went behind the clouds she turned it off. The remote for the unit didn't work from down on our first floor -- the sensor just couldn't pick up the remote until you were more in line with the AC unit.
15 Feb ’12
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were the batteries on float able to maintain easily enough without draining them? speaking of being on float, I have heard of people converting hot water tanks with a 12 volt heater element to generate hot water during peak, you do anything like that at all?
5 Mar ’12
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They could float and do the A/C easily. We have 2,880 watts of power and the AC only used 700. The batteries usually only need ~200 watts or so during float, so plenty of headroom for other loads.
Yeah, my Outback charge controller has a port for controlling something like a diversion load but I have never gotten around to it. I just don't know what I would run -- remember my barn with all of my solar equipment is far from the house. I don't know what I would do with the hot water since I can't use it at the house (too far away, need water return lines, pressure, etc.). I am open to any suggestions.
15 Feb ’12
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outdoor hot tub for the wife bro
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