Split systems - how they work - is this info right?

Had an interesting experience recently as our new Split system was not very cold. Had the technician back out and appears the split unit will essentially take out a % of heat based on the air temp in the room. eg If its 35 degrees in the room the air con will spit out about 8 degrees lower. The idea is it will take some time to start reducing the temperature.

Does this sound right to people or are your split units putting out icy cold air from the start?

That doesn't seem quite right to me. With my system, I just set it to the temperature I want it at and it pumps out cold air until the area is down to that temp. Then it just maintains that temp.

Are you talking about evaporative cooling, BestBuilder, or refrigerated? Big difference.

mmmm...maybe I'm on the wrong track. I was talking about refrigerated split systems.

That doesn't sound too good then. Refrigerated, as far as I know, cool the air to the exact temperature you want. They are a lot "stronger" in cooling air compared to evaporative ones. Did you check specifications for your particular model online?

I've been advised with modern split systems, its best to set them to how you want them and never use them on 'auto' settings- both for temp and fan controls.

BestBuilder,

I think the idea is the it will spit out air that is 8 degrees lower then is currently in the room. As the room cools, so the air that it spits out is cooler compared to outside.

If it is 40 outside, it starts blowing air that is 32 degrees. When the room has cooled to 38 degrees, it will be blowing air that is at 30 degrees. When the room temp is down to 35, it will be blowing air out at 27 degrees etc . until it reaches your desired temp.

You need to make sure your unit is properly sized for the area and your desired level of coolness. Too weak a unit and you will never get the temp down properly. I personally tend to go with a slightly larger than recommended unit and haven't regretted it.

I also recommend that anyone thinking of getting a refrigerated air conditioning system research inverter technology. This is cheaper to run and much nicer to live in - less sharp heating/cooling cycles. Basically in a nutshell, an inverter does not switch on and off as a normal ac does, it varies the amount of compression (cooling) dynamically so that a more constant tempreature is achieved.

3timesbuilder

Think about it people, the method is this, the fan in the indoor unit circulates the current room air temp at whatever it happens to be through the refrigerated evaporative coil. As the air flows through the coil it is cooled down proportionate to the size and capacity of the unit installed.
Perhaps 8 degrees difference is a fair bet, you could measure it simply by putting an accurate thermometer in the return air path and another one in the supply air path.
I know I have measured my unit in heating mode and it can output a temp of 58 deg c , but of course on a cold morning it is unable to perform this down to the point that it will do constant defrosts of the outdoor unit in winter. What they call loss of efficiency.

Hopefully a heat calculation was previously performed so that the unit is indeed able to work proficiently for the job at hand. Obviously a really hot day will therefor cut down its efficiency.
As the air continues to circulate it gets cooler with every pass through the coil.

And guess what when using it for heating purposes a change over solenoid valve will reverse the coils making the condenser the evaporator and the evaporator the condensor, in simple terms.



rob