Every year I install this sunsail to shade my ac unit.
Every year I install this sunsail to shade my ac unit.
Shading the condenser unit keeps it cooler and increases it's efficiency and helps keeps my electricity costs down. The sail is high enough and mesh like so that it doesn't trap the hot air. In fact it creates a slight wind tunnel effect. The shade it provides lasts during the hottest part of the day and a tree helpfully blocks the sun for the remainder. The unit is never in full sun this way. Keeping the weeds and other debris away from the unit so that it gets good airflow and cleaning the condenser every year also help with the units efficiency.
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This is interesting. Gut says that it does increase efficiency. Thing I'm questioning is by how much?
Anybody got numbers or a good educated guesstimate?
Not going to give an educated guesstimate, but I do know our ac unit is in full shade of trees, with not much greenery around. It is probably 20 years old. We were told, ten years ago by a repair man, it was close to kicking the bucket, yet it's still going.
My neighbor, has the same unit, newer, leas than ten years old unit, in full sun with bittersweet growing all around it. Last summer they spent half the time trying to fix it, and this year I saw them install window units..
I'm guess, it helps to have it shadded with no plant debris. Purely anecdotal.
Knock on wood oh boy..
https://www.aceee.org/files/proceedings/2002/data/papers/SS02_Panel1_Paper24.pdf
Shading the compressor can help but it can also hurt.
Those units can draw enormous amounts of air. Unless the shading covers a very wide area around the compressor, it's likely to mostly pull in air that wasn't shaded and is still at normal ambient temperature.
If the shading obstructs airflow, it can reduce the efficiency of the unit.
Nice source! Thank you kindly.
Planting trees and shrubs close by a condenser may actually reduce system efficiency due to impedance of effective air movement. We conclude that any savings produced by localized AC condenser shading are quite modest (<3%) and that the risk of interrupting airflow to the condenser may outweigh shading considerations. The preferred strategy may be a long-term one: locating AC condensers in an unobstructed location on the shaded north side of buildings and depending on extensive site and neighborhood-level landscaping to lower localized air temperatures.
Tracks with the gut feeling. Shade will only marginally improve efficiency but constricting flow definitely hurts. Units are best installed on the North/Northeast sides of houses in the northern hemisphere.
If your unit is a heat pump, are you then paying for that savings in the winter when it doesn't benefit from any solar warmth to help heat your house? If so, I wonder if it is a relatively balanced outcome or if one of the seasons has a bigger impact. I imagine it depends in part on which season is more extreme in your area.
I would think so. Another factor would be dropping leaves in the fall and winter so less shade, a good thing, in this case.