Stormz

Whenever we put it on it seems to make it more humid in the house, and we sweat loads. Any idea how we`re supposed to work the thing?

currently (as per the thin manual):
- open the patio door a little for air to move around (otherwise it sounds like a cyclone... anyone explain this vacuum thing with ducted air-con?)
- turn on `cool` for 5 minutes (let`s water go through and clean out whatever).
- turn on the fan.
- nice breeze, but we still sweat.

Only things I think I know about ducted air-con is that it`s supposed to be the most economical, and one of the best types. Air get`s sucked in from outside past the cold water pipes and cools the house. You need to open a window or door to let the air back out again.... even though that let`s hot air in (?).

ABCDiamond

That's not the ducted air con system that I know !

Doors and windows must be kept closed to keep the hot humid air out.

fraser

That sounds like evaporative cooling so you do have to have some windows open.

ABCDiamond

I just remembered - West Coast Air Con is different to East Coast, and uses the evap system ?

Not much use in humid weather.

Stormz

If it is evaporative, is it supposed to make you sweat??? What can we do to make it actually cool us down without having to stand right in the way of the blowing air?

Amazulu

We have Evap. AC in our rental & it's crap. It doesn't work. It's basically a glorified fan. A complete waste of money. Just open a couple of windows & have a breeze blowing through the house is all that you can do.

ABCDiamond

As far as I am aware, an Evap unit puts water into the air, and is good for very dry hot conditions. But will just increase your stickiness in humid conditions.

In humid conditions you need something like we have, a refrigerated Air Con unit which takes the water out of the air, and reduces the amount of sweating.

In fact some units have options for: Heating, Cooling and drying.

What I have found recently is that I set mine at cooling for 1 hour, then switch it to drying only ( I assume this uses less electricity) for the rest of the time needed.

Sorry that this doesn't help you

NickyP

We have evap air and will have ducted evap when we move to our new rental. It is fine when the humidity is low but even then it only reduces the temperature by a maximum of about 10 degrees so won't really chill a room when you get into the 40s. Once there is a humidity problem the aircon is useless as the water doesn't evaporate and the house feels damp. We have bought pedestal fans which are much better when we get humid weather but as far as I am concerned, we will get refridgerative when we get our own house, especially as the weather where we are is getting more and more humid all of the time.
Nicky

Simone

Ah, that explains it, we've got evap cooling then! I thought it was just another crap thing on the house....(though it did seem nice and cool when we tested it during the inspection)
Only turn it on now when it's really hot/humid.

So, we have open a window?


At night we now only put on the ceiling fan in the bedroom, which is quite nice.
Luckily it hasn't been a hot summer(yippeeee!!). Don't know how we survived last year with no aircon, and it was hotter, ha ha!

fraser

We haven't got any here apart from a small unit in the family room, I reckon ceiling fans will do here in Melbourne.

ABCDiamond

You do know thast most ceiling fans have a switch to reverse the direction, so that the warmer air is pushed back down to you ?

Useful for down there

fraser

Yeah I did thanks mate

vics

Stormz,

I may be teaching you to suck eggs here, so apologies if you already know this, but have you checked that the water supply to the air con is turned on? There may be a tap on the outside wall of your house that someone has accidentally turned off, or the previous owners might have turned it off before they left - maybe worth checking.

Hope you cool down soon!

Keebs

Well guys, what can I say, after a night shift last night and a loooong day today this thread has really made us both laugh out loud.

Cheers

Keebs & Mrs Keebs

Stormz

Glad our sweat and ignorance gave you some jollies you freaky ppl.

Anyway, have found out a window needs to be opened a little in every room the vents are. Will try that out.