steve99

Can someone please explain what the different types of air conditioning are over here, and what they physically look like.
Ive heard of Reverse Cycle, Evaporative, Ducted, Split system... some have heating some dont, some are supposed to be best for certain locations/climates....

In the house we've got there are two different types.
One which looks original when the house was built, its a big square thing on the roof, which seems to have water that gets sort of pumped to the top and then runs down a carboard type filter on each side of the square a big fan inside I guess pulls air through and the water cools it down, this has outlets in the ceiling of most of the rooms in our house. It doesnt do heating.

The second one is a Fujitsu which has a box on the wall outside the house and then one big outlet in the ceiling in the family room, a big flat 1 metre by 1 metre fujitsu outlet which blows air out of 4 sort of slits on each side of the square with a louvre thingy, it also does heating(thankfully!).

what have I got and what are the other types???

Any ideas on running costs of any of them?
Can additional outlet points be added to the second one ive got?

Cheers
Steve

Megalania

Evaporative: liquid (water) absorbs heat of evaporation therefore reducing in temperature, changing phase to vapour.
Reridgerative: gas / vapour is compressed, therefore increasing in temperature, passed through a heat exchanger in the room which transfers the heat to the air in the room, the cooled gas / vapour / liquid is allowed expand, therefore decreasing in temperature, passed through a heat exchanger in outside air which transfers heat from the outside air to the gas / vapour which is ... compressed, ...

Cheers
Steve [/QUOTE]
Reverse Cycle: reversable refidgerative heating / cooling.

Evaporative: evaporation of water.

Ducted: air passed through ducts.

Split system: increased distance between refridgerative heating / cooling heat exchangers.

Other: combustion, metabolism.

steve99

Umm Thanks for that totally clear now
Steve

Bix da Boss

Hi - we are in Cairns, Far North Tropical QLD

We are just learning about this ourselves
In the rented accom we are in at the mo, we have 'Daikin Split Systems' Varied sized units in each room depending on size of room, units on inside walls, the 'big operating box' which makes most of the noise is on an outside wall.We have been told by friends already living here, that 'split systems' are one of the better options.

Another type we are coming across more frequently now, (we are in the process of searching for our next rental and local builders are 'cutting corners') are what they refer to as 'room rattlers'! They are more square in shape and work on a completely different basis to 'split systems' so most of the noise they make is in the room with you!!!

Room rattlers - are the cheaper option for obvious reasons!
Split systems - are the more expensive better option in our opinion - and if you have the choice whilst renting that is!

In one display house we viewed recently, it had one of the best systems on the market, and most expensive of course, runs thru the ceiling of the house, air duct fashion, processing cool air evenly through all the rooms - brill system!

Dont know much about the mechanics of these systems but I hope the above makes some sense to you!

Not sure about any of the others, heater types etc as no need for them in Cairns - too hot already


Take care

Loopy

The one on your roof will be evaporative by the sounds of it & presumably has outlets in each room. That's what we've got and it certainly helps in the summer! I believe however that refrigerative systems can get colder.
Ours was here when we moved in but if I had to have it installed now I'd def. go for reverse cycle & have the heat in the winter too.

Megalania

Only difference in principal twixt an aptly named "Rrrooommm rattler" and a "split system" is the length of piping between the inside and outside air heat exchangers. Otherwise, the "split system" compressor is mounted outside the house to minimize vibration of the house and hence noise inside the house.

steve99

Thanks for the replies everyone, makes a bit more sense now!
Looks like ive got an evaporative (which is ducted) which we use in the Summer if it gets really hot, we were told when we moved in to leave the windows/doors open about an inch when its in use as this makes it more efficient in cooling down the air and stops condensation which can build up.
This system works fine for cooling although its a shame you cant completely cut off (apart from close the outlet vents) to certain rooms, we have 3 bedrooms we never use so its a bit of a waste. The main draw back is that it doesnt do heating.

It then looks like the other one we have is a split system, this only has one outlet running off the compressor thats outside, so will it be possible to add another outlet in another room if we wanted to?
(ie get some heat in our bedroom!)

Yes I agree heatings a bit pointless in Cairns, although I guess it could be used to dry that sweat out that pours off you when its real humid and sticky

Just had a couple of weeks holiday up that way, Cairns/Palm Cove/Port Douglas we loved it, very laid back and relaxing.

Cheers
Steve

ABCDiamond

Unlikely. They do make systems that can have two or three indoor units off one outdoor unit, but unlikely they would have used that type with just a single installation.

Have a look at http://fujitsugeneral.com.au/air.php and see if your model number is listed to see what may be possible.

steve99

Cheers for that link, i'll go have a look outside at the compressor thingy and see if I can work out what it is.
Steve

Megalania

Principal advantage of evaporative cooling (equivalent to a person sweating) is that it costs little in energy charges to run - just an approx 0.25 kW @ $0.10 / kWh = $0.025 / hour. So there is no compelling reason to shut off rooms. Simply closing the doors on the rooms will substantially reduce the flow to those rooms anyway - which is why the internal doors should not be closed when the evaporative cooler is working. For comparison, a 2.5 kW reverse cycle system at 100% capacity costs 10 times as much per hour - still not a lot.

One additional advantage of evap is that fresh reasonably well filtered air is introduced into the house - drastically reducing the buildup of mildly toxic vapours emitted over years by many common household materials, paint in particular. Houses cooled by refigerative systems tend to be closed up with little fresh air introduced.

The downside of evap is that while it creates cooler air it also creates more humid air which, with a fan, feels cooler while you sit around but will make you sweat more when you perform work.

The downside of refrigerative is that your body swells with water and you do not acclimatize so that when you go outside in the heat you sweat much more profusely and feel the heat more. Using refrigerative to mainly remove humidity from the air reduces these effects - and costs less to run.

Bix da Boss

QUOTE
Just had a couple of weeks holiday up that way, Cairns/Palm Cove/Port Douglas we loved it, very laid back and relaxing.

Cheers
Steve [/QUOTE]



Glad you enjoyed your holiday in 'sunny Cairns'!!! We're hoping to go to Port Douglas this Saturday - nice place eh!

When the sun does shine thru its hot innit

steve99

Certainly is, have'nt been up that way for about 4 years and its developed nicely, thankfully its not gone tacky which was a worry we had given the amount of backpackers etc up that way and its proximity to getting out to the reef.
We stayed at the newly opened Breakfree Resort right in the centre (Aqueous
on Port) great location, great apartment and superb value for money can highly recommend it.
Oh to be sitting up on the balcony of the court house hotel with a nice cold one

Warm, hots a Febuary day in Perth when its 42C

Steve

Soi Oz

Remember also that evaporative cooling is pretty useless on a humid day. If you have the money, ducted reverse cycle is the way to go. I have that in my house and its great summer and winter. Set the controller and forget it. My parents have ducted evaporative and I don't find it nearly as effective, but it works pretty well in Perth which doesn't get too many really humid days. In winter you need something else too, so you'll only use evaporative cooling for about 20% of the year. Roughly speaking, reverse cycle ducted will cost you about three times as much as ducted evaporative.....

Reverse cycle is also much more efficient in heating mode, probably the most energy efficient form of heating.... nothing like a nice warm house in winter.

Oh and one more thing.. If your house does not have insulation in the roof, do that first. It makes a huge difference and will greatly increase the efficiency of any air-conditioning system you install.

CornishPasty

Does anyone know what kind of money we are talking for these systems? I have just bought a 2 bed + sleep out Queenslander in Brissy and I need to install aircon (hot and cold). Long term I intend to raise the house, but currently it has a lounge, 2 beds, sleep out, kitchen, bathroom and dining area.

I am not sure whether to put a a few stand alones in, or have the place ducted. Would it be wise to wait till its raised to do downstairs too?

steve99

We use our evaporative in the summer, normally just in the evenings and for an hour or so as were going to sleep, probably only 20 or 30 times during the summer. We're right on the coast so dont have any humidity issues.

For the little we're inside in the summer it doesnt warrent using the reverse cycle, we swop over in the winter and run this as it heats the main lounge up very quickly.
You say the reverse cycle is very efficient to use in heat mode, any ideas what it costs to run? we've had our on every night for the past week or so for 3 or 4 hrs and we're worried we're gonna end up with a huge electricity bill.
On the compressor unit its says heating capacity 9300 W(A) and heating input is 3000 W
How do you convert that into $'s
steve