Home Improvement

Siliconemelons · 2026-08-10T11:37:28-0400

The thing is a heat exchange unit at its core.

Ambient temp matter, as if the coil is naturally 90 degrees, the decompressed heated fluid is 100, thats only 10 degrees of change able to be had. You reduce via shade that 90 to 80, its now 20.

To me, the common sense argument for shade works.

Yes, make sure not to restrict airflow in and out.

Siliconemelons · 2026-08-10T11:39:35-0400

Haus said:
That reminds me..... I need to acquire me a couple of those nicer sized ProPain tanks myself. One for generator standby, and one for my metal casting area for furnace.

And yeah, there's a ton of conflicting opinion. So I just decided it wasn't THAT complicated and ran my own testing. In my testing , which i admit is my specific scenario and YMMV, the shading caused a reduction in the output temp of the system. Which logic says means they system wouldn't need to run as long to cool a space, which should mean less strain, and lower cost in the long run.

Gatta do math but ace has 100lb refil for 99… seeing if U-Haul via per gal is cheaper or the quicki mart

Haus · 2026-08-10T14:54:30-0400

fris said:
do these really do anything? i've heard that airflow is more important than the actual temp of the machine. the temp differential of the coolant when it evaporates and condenses is so high, that shading your coils really isn't doing much.

I mentioned up earlier the testing I originally did with the "big umbrella" approach. It notably reduced the temp of air coming out on the inside. From an engineering standpoint it would probably be explained by reducing the ambient outdoor coil temp means the compressor gets more compression out of the same amount of work as it's not working against as much heat generated pressure resistance. So I have means tested positive results from just using an umbrella (which wasn't optimal). As for airflow, neither of these solutionss inhibit airflow into the outside coils at all.

I look at it this way, if the AC is putting out colder air then it has to run less to cool the house. If it runs less, that means lower electricity usage. If I can as much as reduce my AC electrical cost by 5% a year, I estimate that saves me around the cost of this shade. (Looking at electrical bills over my year I estimated I spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $2500 a year on AC power) And if the shade lasts multiple years that's pure savings. And I did those financial estimates operating on the pessimistic side.

Haus · 2026-08-10T15:00:21-0400

Siliconemelons said:
Gatta do math but ace has 100lb refil for 99… seeing if U-Haul via per gal is cheaper or the quicki mart

Yeah, there are a few services around that can handle it and deliver refill service for me in Dallas. But I also need to acquire the tanks themselves. My little metalcasting hobby can run through a lot of gas when I really get into things.

Siliconemelons · 2026-08-10T15:24:56-0400

Haus said:
Yeah, there are a few services around that can handle it and deliver refill service for me in Dallas. But I also need to acquire the tanks themselves. My little metalcasting hobby can run through a lot of gas when I really get into things.

Got mine from Amazon - but make sure it comes with the top/adapter/thread/reg-hp-lp that you want - mine had some "not BBQ Grill" thread, and I just had to get a 10$ adapter, still was quite cheaper than other locations to purchase a 100lb.

I need to find a filler that comes to me... I called one during hurricane and they were like "only a 20lb minimum" and I was like "I have 1x 100lb and 4 30lb" and they were like "We cant do that," and I was like "Oh I get it, we just had a hurricane, but like in a month or so" - "Nah, bye" I was very confused.

Oblio · 2026-08-10T16:05:03-0400

Haus said:
Wow... so I got my "Shit costs more now.. YO!" moment today.

There's a long dormant/dead sprinkler system under my lawn at Chez Haus. It hasn't been turned on and run in over 15 years. (had some issues, and rather than fix those I decided to just start using one of those tractor sprinklers manually.)

Now I decided I want to have a sprinkler system I can run late at night on a timer again. There's a good, highly recommended company in the area so I called them out to quote the job. In my head my dream was they re-use the existing pipes, replace heads and ends, replace the controller, replace the valves.

The guy comes out, only way they can put their warranty on it and feel confident putting their name on the job will essentially be a ground up new build. Coming in at right around $6k. I have the cash for it, I know I want to do this, but still.... damn....

That sounds cheap, but the question is how big of an area. I was quoted 18k two years ago for about 10,000 sqft.

Siliconemelons · 2026-08-10T16:15:08-0400

PVC like everything is up- but its not outrageous - PVC is also easy to work with, the primer-glue and cutter aint hard - rent a "ditch digger" and it essentially is perfect for sprinkler systems - it nibbles away the ground, you just drag it around then lay the pipe etc.

Kajiimagi · 2026-08-10T17:01:13-0400

Siliconemelons said:
PVC like everything is up- but its not outrageous - PVC is also easy to work with, the primer-glue and cutter aint hard - rent a "ditch digger" and it essentially is perfect for sprinkler systems - it nibbles away the ground, you just drag it around then lay the pipe etc.

PVC has gas/oil as a component and will rise/fall as gas/oil does.

Yeahs73 · 2026-08-10T17:34:53-0400

As long as your unit is properly charged and your refrigerant is changing state from liquid to gas, it likely isn't doing much. But it isn't hurting anything. Could use a mister on the condenser as well if its struggling.

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