An Experiment - Mistbox

[easye]

I had a hard time finding any info on the web. Like a real person who shared concrete info. That's what I plan to do. I got my Mistbox today. If you decide to get one, $50 off with code IB-63b0e605. other than that they have a website and a couple of you tube videos. Best I can tell its pretty new. It's a solar powered control box that mists the air around your air conditioner. I'm kinda a geek so I decided to order one just for poops and giggles. I figure my info may help myself and others decide if it's for real or another scam.
All according to my digital thermometer
Current temp - 102F
Humidity 30%
Air conditioner exhaust with mister off - 111F
Air condition exhaust with mister on - 97F
Air intake with mister on - 75F

It takes me 3 days to get electricity usage from my smart meter, so I'll update in a week or so since every day has been just about the same temp and forecast is for it to stay that way so it should be easy to make a comparison. It will be a couple of months before I will really know what the impact is on my water bill. I'll let you know.
Also - just so you know I set up an additional in line water filter in addition to the one supplied by the mistbox. I wanted to remove as many minerals as possible.
Wish me Luck!

[Mike90250]

Good luck. A mist system will cool the ambient air going through an air conditioner condenser coil, and give you a bit more cooling power. I does not improve efficiency, just uses water to chill the air on the outside loop which can save money if the water and filters cost less then the electricity.....

[skipro3]

Unless you use distilled water, your AC coils are gonna look like something resembling a coral sea floor as the water evaporates and the minerals in the water build up.
Also, water will pull contaminates out of the air and stick those to your AC. Your AC is mostly aluminum. Water is going to corrode it pretty fast even if it was 99% pure distilled water.

Read the reviews. Mist systems on AC is as old as time. If they really worked and didn't destroy an AC coil or cause so much rust that the thing fell apart in a year, every AC manufacturer would be hawking them.

Also, you might be able to get near-real time readings from your smart meter using a Rainforest Eagle. Check with your electric company or on their website to see if they support HAN. This is a 2nd radio channel built within the smart meter for customers to utilize the readings.

You can find the Rainforest Eagle on Amazon for about $100 and then sign up with Wattvision to host and archive the data on the WWW so you can view it anywhere. They even have a smart phone app you can use.

[easye]

So here is the deal. It saves ME about 5kwh per day. I figure I would get about 4 months of use a year out of it. That would save me about $60 a year. The filters cost $40 ( I used another one in line). In addition it made everything around the unit wet and started to scale with minerals even though I used two filters. The scale is not easy to remove like the website says. With all that in mind I returned the unit for a refund. Nice experiment, but at the end of the day I didn't want to damage my unit and the mold was getting out of control. Now we know!

[vudu]

So here is the deal. It saves ME about 5kwh per day. I figure I would get about 4 months of use a year out of it. That would save me about $60 a year. The filters cost $40 ( I used another one in line). In addition it made everything around the unit wet and started to scale with minerals even though I used two filters. The scale is not easy to remove like the website says. With all that in mind I returned the unit for a refund. Nice experiment, but at the end of the day I didn't want to damage my unit and the mold was getting out of control. Now we know!

Bummer! Anything that keeps things cool(er) during the hottest part of the day is worth a shot at least.

[J.P.M.]

Bummer! Anything that keeps things cool(er) during the hottest part of the day is worth a shot at least.

Not if it causes the cooling equipment to fail.

Mist systems seem like a good solution - to those ignorant of the problems they can cause if not addressed during design.

Folks who design heat transfer equipment know that while such applications can work, the details and necessity of avoiding problems unknown to most DIY'ers and civilians can be costly and maintenance prone.

A place to start as a primer: Check out cooling tower design, particularly the part about fouling and cleaning, and how those thing are addressed in the design phase.

[vudu]

Not if it causes the cooling equipment to fail.

Agreed!

You know what has been most helpful to our system - a radiant barrier. Before, our attic was getting above 140 - now it barely breaks 100. Our ducts run through the attic. Now our system is much happier.

[J.P.M.]

Agreed!

You know what has been most helpful to our system - a radiant barrier. Before, our attic was getting above 140 - now it barely breaks 100. Our ducts run through the attic. Now our system is much happier.

Radiant barriers and insulation are two effective ways to keep heat from going where it's warmer to where it's colder.