1200 sq. ft. home in Texas

ToddT · 03-01-16, 05:13 PM

Regarding the storm windows, I found magnetic interior storm windows had a 38 month return on investment but that was buying them made and installed.

A few other tricks from decades in Louisiana and now back home to south Arkansas:
Water fog mist on the outside AC unit. If you have hard water, add a polyphosphate filter to essentially soften the water to avoid salts plating out on the metal.
Water spray on the roof. Even with our high humidity, an alternating wet/dry cycle didn't use much water but kept the roof temperatures down. It can increase the life of your roof and cool your attic. If you have really high R values in your attic insulation, the return isn't as great. But, it's cheap. I got a repeat cycle timer and a thermostat switch. When the attic temps hit 90 degrees, it started a repeat cycle of 30 seconds of applying water followed by 15 minutes of evaporating.
Shade the outside unit. The AC needs to get rid of heat, tough if your outside unit is being baked by the summer sun. You never want to block the air discharge above the unit nor put anything to restrict airflow from the sides. I made a shade screen out of 2x2's and black shade material from the home center. I left about 24" around the AC unit and had the shade panel on short legs so fresh air could be brought in freely.

03-01-16, 05:13 PM	#11
ToddT Lurking Renovator Join Date: Jan 2014 Location: Arkansas Posts: 9 Thanks: 9 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Regarding the storm windows, I found magnetic interior storm windows had a 38 month return on investment but that was buying them made and installed. A few other tricks from decades in Louisiana and now back home to south Arkansas: Water fog mist on the outside AC unit. If you have hard water, add a polyphosphate filter to essentially soften the water to avoid salts plating out on the metal. Water spray on the roof. Even with our high humidity, an alternating wet/dry cycle didn't use much water but kept the roof temperatures down. It can increase the life of your roof and cool your attic. If you have really high R values in your attic insulation, the return isn't as great. But, it's cheap. I got a repeat cycle timer and a thermostat switch. When the attic temps hit 90 degrees, it started a repeat cycle of 30 seconds of applying water followed by 15 minutes of evaporating. Shade the outside unit. The AC needs to get rid of heat, tough if your outside unit is being baked by the summer sun. You never want to block the air discharge above the unit nor put anything to restrict airflow from the sides. I made a shade screen out of 2x2's and black shade material from the home center. I left about 24" around the AC unit and had the shade panel on short legs so fresh air could be brought in freely.