Quote:
Originally Posted by AC_Hacker
What is the capacity of your AC system right now? 4 Tons, 6 Tons?
-AC
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"1.75 tons." Originally equipped with 2.5 ton downstairs and 2 ton upstairs units. We have the downstairs unit disabled for basement renovations/relocating and operated our 5BR/3.5BA house solely with the upstairs unit and a little help from a 8000btu portable unit from time to time. The upstairs unit has one of the four cap tubes soldered off (yes-soldered, not brazed!) due to formicary corrosion, plus it is in the attic. This cuts down its capacity to at most 1.75 tons. The energy star rated roof we put on last year really helped. The upstairs unit ran almost 24/7 and maintained 74-80 on all but the hottest/most humid days. Then the temp sometimes got to 83-85 in the house but was still comfortable using ceiling fans because the nonstop running kept the humidity under control.
I am replacing both units with a zoned 23 SEER Nordyne(Tappan brand) inverter drive system, variable between 1.75-3.5 ton output, which will be up and running for next season. Combined with a 7.1kw water cooled off-grid capable PV system preheating the field for a hacked GSHP with a large buffer tank, I am pretty sure I will be energy bill free, similar to what Randen speaks of. My electrical co-op only pays 2.5cents/kwh for surplus production, so I may leave it off grid-I have to sell over 900kwh/mo back to the utility just to offset the monthly fees.
I thought about the ice storage for surplus solar production, but the most efficient icemakers will take somewhere around 80kwh to make a ton of ice. It would work, but I'd rather put the money into an extra 48v string of golf cart batteries. Thought a watercooled icemaker would make a great donor for GSHP parts, though.