Watering your Air Conditioner for Improved Efficiency.

I heard of this a while back but never really gave it much thought until today. I gave my AC a lot of thoughts today because at 2:30am I woke up and the AC was not working. Me being me, I figure out what was wrong. At exact 12:35am, the run/start capacitor decided to stop working. (Thank you TED 5000.) I searched the Internet for a replacement. I can buy them, but not on Saturday. Plan B was to call the guy down the street in the morning that runs his own HVAC business. $100 later my AC works like it should.

That brings me to watering my AC. I noticed it was a little dirty. So I got the hose. But before I got the hose I looked at my TED 1000 attached to just the AC circuit. Before I brushed out the fins, 2770 Watts. After brushing, 2730 Watts. A small difference of 40 watts. Then I hosed it off really well. After hosing, 2330 Watts! That is 400 Watts! Almost 20%! WOW!

There are products on the market that do just this. Cool-n-save. The problem after looking into it is, mineral build-up. But that all depends on your water quality. At a cost of $100 I think I could make something better. Maybe I will do just that? I could possibly use the 24VAC from the thermostat, already at the AC unit. Just maybe?