Northern Thailand sizzling: Hot enough to cook eggs!

[nightfox]

I would rather it be +40c then -40c any day of the week.

[Brunolem]

5 minutes ago, nightfox said:

I would rather it be +40c then -40c any day of the week.

Certainly, but this is purely theoretical. 

What we are dealing with is the reality of 40 degrees, today the heat index in my area is 45 degrees. 

At this level, things become dangerous for the health. 

Old and sick people can easily die in such a heat... don't forget that in Isaan villages, nobody has air conditioned (only some farangs like myself...). 

People have difficulties to sleep, because temperatures barely go below 30 in the night... 

[vivid]

17 hours ago, Brunolem said:

Certainly, but this is purely theoretical. 

What we are dealing with is the reality of 40 degrees, today the heat index in my area is 45 degrees. 

At this level, things become dangerous for the health. 

Old and sick people can easily die in such a heat... don't forget that in Isaan villages, nobody has air conditioned (only some farangs like myself...). 

People have difficulties to sleep, because temperatures barely go below 30 in the night... 

 

Sigh......a local station here in my country now is doing 31.8, 84% RH.  Another is 31.6, 79%.  That's 43-45 deg Heat index.  

 

Even aircon has to work even harder, because of the higher RH% and more condensation forming on the fins of the evaporator coil.

ie Condensation of water = release of heat, bringing down the cooling capacity of the aircon.  (vice versa is true, evaporation of water = more cooling).

 

In villages, even with well adapted folks, it's important that they keep in the shade + have some form of airflow over their bodies.

[KC 71]

Same here in the Rai
Rain coming at the wknd thank goodness
The air quality is not helping either!


Sent from my iPad using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[Brunolem]

9 minutes ago, vivid said:

 

Sigh......a local station here in my country now is doing 31.8, 84% RH.  Another is 31.6, 79%.  That's 43-45 deg Heat index.  

 

Even aircon has to work even harder, because of the higher RH% and more condensation forming on the fins of the evaporator coil.

ie Condensation of water = release of heat, bringing down the cooling capacity of the aircon.  (vice versa is true, evaporation of water = more cooling).

 

In villages, even with well adapted folks, it's important that they keep in the shade + have some form of airflow over their bodies.

I have an aircon unit only in the bedroom, which I turn on at sunset and not before. 

I takes hours for the aircon to do its work and let us feel some coolness. 

In fact, you feel the heat even more at night, with burning air making it difficult to breathe. 

I can't even imagine the number of fatalities, considering that, with much lower heat indexes, Europeans are dying in droves with every little "heat wave". 

Here, they don't do the counting, so people live in ignorance, and ignorance is bliss, albeit hot bliss... 

 

[Happystance]

On 4/30/2019 at 7:26 PM, marcusarelus said:

In the history of the earth 100 years is also meaningless - same as 2 years and of no value statistically. 

Here let me help you with that

[vivid]

5 hours ago, Brunolem said:

I have an aircon unit only in the bedroom, which I turn on at sunset and not before. 

I takes hours for the aircon to do its work and let us feel some coolness. 

In fact, you feel the heat even more at night, with burning air making it difficult to breathe. 

I can't even imagine the number of fatalities, considering that, with much lower heat indexes, Europeans are dying in droves with every little "heat wave". 

Here, they don't do the counting, so people live in ignorance, and ignorance is bliss, albeit hot bliss... 

 

Bro, just a little personal tip since we are on the topic of AC.......the cleaning of the aircon FCU evaporator coil/blower and external condenser coil really helps heaps.   Even if the house/furnitures has lots of heat soak, i think around 30-45 minutes of AC cooling ought to be able to bring the temps down, at least in my house, though for me over here my ambient is not as high as in N or NE thailand.

 

You'd reap as much as 30-40% reduced power consumption vs the specs ($$$ savings) and also get more cooling capacity.  Combined, we are talking about comfortably over 50-60% improvement collectively, perhaps even more with extremely clogged systems.   Not to mention risk of burning out components esp the compressor (overheat, and the > 35 even > 40 deg C ambient temps won't help).

 

If you are a retiree and can afford some free time, try to get one of those 150-200 PSI pumps and nozzle jets to clean.  Lots of youtube vids to get ideas from.   As for the coil cleaner, the cheapest is to get hold of your favourite smelling floor/all-purpose cleaner or windows cleaner.  If you have access to a no-fragrance floor or window cleaner, that'd do also.  They clean nicely as well, the basic ingredients are the same as the evaporative coil cleaners (eg ether glycols, ethoxylated alcohols etc).  Only issue with the floor and windows cleaners is that they tend to add a fair bit of fragrance to their products, so it might smell for a few hours after cleaning when you air the FCU in fan mode.    Use it undiluted for maximum cleaning effect, if not 1:1 or 1:2 dilution with water is fine.

After 3 or 4 DIY-grade cleanings, it should be pretty optimised already.  Wrap the RHS electricals with plastic bag, switch off the power when cleaning, it'd be fine.

 

A chemical wash for 2 FCUs + condenser coil wash costs about usd 150 in my country.  ????

If you are talking about the air quality in N/NE Thailand, it gotta be washed 3 to 4X annually, at least. 

[vivid]

On the Chiang Mai forum, there is a short thread on the cleaning of split-AC units.  Take a read if you are interested. 

 

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1097139-cleaning-of-split-air-conditioners/

Edited May 3, 2019 by vivid

[Brunolem]

49 minutes ago, vivid said:

Bro, just a little personal tip since we are on the topic of AC.......the cleaning of the aircon FCU evaporator coil/blower and external condenser coil really helps heaps.   Even if the house/furnitures has lots of heat soak, i think around 30-45 minutes of AC cooling ought to be able to bring the temps down, at least in my house, though for me over here my ambient is not as high as in N or NE thailand.

 

You'd reap as much as 30-40% reduced power consumption vs the specs ($$$ savings) and also get more cooling capacity.  Combined, we are talking about comfortably over 50-60% improvement collectively, perhaps even more with extremely clogged systems.   Not to mention risk of burning out components esp the compressor (overheat, and the > 35 even > 40 deg C ambient temps won't help).

 

If you are a retiree and can afford some free time, try to get one of those 150-200 PSI pumps and nozzle jets to clean.  Lots of youtube vids to get ideas from.   As for the coil cleaner, the cheapest is to get hold of your favourite smelling floor/all-purpose cleaner or windows cleaner.  If you have access to a no-fragrance floor or window cleaner, that'd do also.  They clean nicely as well, the basic ingredients are the same as the evaporative coil cleaners (eg ether glycols, ethoxylated alcohols etc).  Only issue with the floor and windows cleaners is that they tend to add a fair bit of fragrance to their products, so it might smell for a few hours after cleaning when you air the FCU in fan mode.    Use it undiluted for maximum cleaning effect, if not 1:1 or 1:2 dilution with water is fine.

After 3 or 4 DIY-grade cleanings, it should be pretty optimised already.  Wrap the RHS electricals with plastic bag, switch off the power when cleaning, it'd be fine.

 

A chemical wash for 2 FCUs + condenser coil wash costs about usd 150 in my country.  ????

If you are talking about the air quality in N/NE Thailand, it gotta be washed 3 to 4X annually, at least. 

I have the aircon cleaned every year, last time was a couple of months ago. 

 

I always have it at 25 degrees, and usually it cools the room in half an hour or so. 

 

But these days are not usual, the air outside is burning hot, even 3 or 4 hours after sunset, making it much more difficult to cool the room. 

 

The walls and the furniture trap the heat during daytime and release it slowly, injecting new heat in the room for hours...