Are those freestanding A/C units worth the money?

[wayned]

1 hour ago, Henryford said:

Useless, no better than a fan for 1/4 of the price. Plus you soon get fed up with filling it with ice/water.

I would  have to disagree with you!

 

First of all you don't put water in free standing air conditioners, you put water in evaporation air coolers.  They are two totally different machines and the cooling principles are totally different.

 

I have two "evaporation coolers".  Both have large water tanks and only one has a place to put ice.  The cooling is done through the evaporation of water that is passed through the cooling pads and using cold water actually defeats the principle since it takes longer to evaporate.  It will only give you short term cool air.  I've never put ice or cold water in my coolers.

 

I fill the tanks with tap water, one 32 liters, the other 40 liters.  I wheel them over to the bathroom door and fill them with a hose that I have installed in the bathroom, takes about 3 minutes each. I'm sitting here typing this in my living room which is about 86 square meters.  The temperature displayed on the digital clock/thermometer on the wall on the other side of the room is 37 degrees.  The cooler is currently on high, about 1.5 meters from me, blowing cool air.  The digital thermometer on the desk beside me registers 29,3 degrees.  So I'm sitting in a 37 degree room with 29.3 degree air blowing on me which makes it very comfortable  If I were sitting here with a floor fan blowing air on me I would be blasted with 37 degree air.

 

The unit draws 150 watts so at the current electric rate if I use it 10 hours a day it will cost 1800 baht/month with no installation costs.  If I were to air condition the same area, 86 square meters,  I would need 60000 BTUs of cooling.  Assuming 10 hours/day at 30% duty cycle it would cost  about 21,600 baht/month.  I would also have installation costs, would have to upgrade the above ceiling insulation and rework the electric distribution system to provide the extra power required and I'm not sure that the local supply could support running four 15000 BTU units at the same time which would be necessary to properly cool the 86 square meters.

 

So, IMHO, they are not useless if used as air coolers, they are not air conditioners designed to cool an entire room and cannot be used as such in this high humidity environment, but they are definitely better than just a fan!

[abab]

Totally useless of course, so funny that some still don't know.

 

[abab]

8 hours ago, Henryford said:

Useless, no better than a fan for 1/4 of the price. Plus you soon get fed up with filling it with ice/water.

 

 

So true ! how can anybody say something different is beyond understanding. But this is Thailand, yes...

 

 

 

 

[kannot]

On 4/21/2017 at 6:13 AM, wayned said:

Look at post 23.  I made a typo on the power consumption it should have said 1200 to 2000 watts not 200. 

 

Assuming 30% duty cycle , 10 hours/day, and 4.0 baht/KWH the unit using 2000 KWH (12000BTU)would cost 7200 baht/month. (2000 x 10 x 30 x 0.3 x 0.04).

 

I've seen inverter 12000 BTU split units advertised at 880 watts.  This unit would cost 3168 baht/month (880 x 10 x 30 x 0.3 x 0.04.

 

The 150 watt evaporation cooler that I have would cost 1800 baht/month.

 

I  cool a 50m2  house with just one 9000 btu aircon, the trick is  insulation in the ceilings and double  block  walls + trees for shade, my   bill is 1300 a  month and its  almost permanently on. Its  cheaper to leave it  on permanently  than stop start it.

I also only set it to 25c as this is bearable, i doubt  it would go much below 22c flat  out its  not really big enough

[wayned]

I made a total botch of the calculations above but didn't correct it due to the follow on comments.  The decimal point should move i place to the left, 2000 watt unit = 720 baht/month, 880 watt unit =  316.8 baht/month and the 150 watt unit =  180 baht/month.

 

I agree with your above  statement about proper insulation and leaving the units on 24/7 and looked at a single unit with distributed air when I built my house 18 years ago but my wife put an end to that as she did not want air in the living area.   The house that I built in the US was in Southern Mississippi where the weather for 3 months of the year is actually hotter and more humid than here.  It was wood frame with brick veneer with R4 insulation in the walls and R6 in the ceilings and lined curtains on the windows and exhaust fans in the gables in the attic.  It was over 500 square meters and was cooled by a 48000 BTU unit which was integral to the natural gas heater. with the thermostat set at 72 degrees F.

[jeab1980]

Those of you who have said they are useless and other comments in the same vain. I completely disagree and semi agree at the same time. We use an Hitari freestanding water cooled unit in our shop were Thais appreciate it. I as a non Thai would say they cool the air slightly but the fact is at 2200bht compared to 14000 to 30000 for full split air-condition unit which would cost more on electricity charges. These units used correctly will and do cool the air. As for filling it up its not exactly hard work. 

[meatboy]

9 hours ago, jeab1980 said:

Those of you who have said they are useless and other comments in the same vain. I completely disagree and semi agree at the same time. We use an Hitari freestanding water cooled unit in our shop were Thais appreciate it. I as a non Thai would say they cool the air slightly but the fact is at 2200bht compared to 14000 to 30000 for full split air-condition unit which would cost more on electricity charges. These units used correctly will and do cool the air. As for filling it up its not exactly hard work. 

couldnt agree with you more,we got the next model up to yours,bought to help our dog[who has a double coat so therefore needs something better than a fan,these cooling systems are ideal,there is a big difference between a fan and these cooling systems.

[Ace of Pop]

couldnt agree with you more,we got the next model up to yours,bought to help our dog[who has a double coat so therefore needs something better than a fan,these cooling systems are ideal,there is a big difference between a fan and these cooling systems.

Perfect for Dogs n Cheap Charlie's..Electric n Air Cons are so cheap here can't see the point.Saw one in Macro ,24 K, up to you I guess.It was blasting away doing absolutely fa.


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[jeab1980]

28 minutes ago, Ace of Pop said:

Perfect for Dogs n Cheap Charlie's..Electric n Air Cons are so cheap here can't see the point.Saw one in Macro ,24 K, up to you I guess.It was blasting away doing absolutely fa.


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Oh so anyone who buys one are cheap Charlie's are they. Must be nice being so rich you can throw money away. How very patronising of you.

[Ace of Pop]

If the Cap Fits.

[Crossy]

OK, I think this has run its course.

 

Closed.