4 ms·

My air conditioner is 12 kW. No chance.

by brc 11y ago

roel_v 11y ago
If your air conditioner actually draws 52 amps at 230 volts (or 110 @ 110 if you're in the US), you must be air conditioning a gym hall with a black, tin roof somewhere in a desert. But you're probably not, and that was my whole point - my stove top is rated at 10kW, too, yet even when using alongside all other appliances in my house I have never gone above 4kW actual use. Actual need != summing all the nominal maximum rated loads of all appliances. In other words, it's not because your AC is rated 12kW, that you'd need 3 of these battery packs just for the AC. You might need 2, or maybe 3, I'm not saying that 2 (or 4) kW is enough always, everywhere for everybody - but there is no 'normal' (middle to upper middle class) home anywhere that would need 5 or 10 of these units, as is suggested at various places in this thread.
- brc 11y ago
  To be honest, I don't know. It has 12kw on the outside. It's a DC inverter ducted system. I had to get the wiring to the house upgraded with 3 phase when it was put in. It doesn't use 3 phase but one of the phases is dedicated to the aircon. My electricity bill in summer is 20% higher.
kragen 11y ago
Is that the output or the input? If it's the output (i.e. the amount of heat coming out of the condenser outside your house), the input might be only 5kW or even less. (Probably some jackass is going to downvote me because they think this violates conservation of energy, but no — those 12kW coming out of the heat exchanger include the 5kW of electrical energy that went in, plus another 7kW of heat that’s being extracted from the air being conditioned; and if you were to try to run a heat engine off that 7kW of heat difference, you wouldn't be able to recover the original 5kW. All perfectly thermodynamically copacetic.)
kragen 11y ago
Is that the output or the input? If it's the output (i.e. the amount of heat coming out of the condenser outside your house), the input might be only 5kW or even less. (Probably some jackass is going to downvote me because they think this violates conservation of energy, but no — those 12kW coming out of the heat exchanger include the 5kW of electrical energy that went in, plus another 7kW of heat that’s being extracted from the air being conditioned; and if you were to try to run a heat engine off that 7kW of heat difference, you wouldn't be able to recover the original 5kW. All perfectly thermodynamically copacetic.) Either way: have you thought about insulating your house or tinting the windows instead of using 120 energy slaves to desperately battle against the sun on your behalf?
markvdb 11y ago
Not a chance without an investment in energy use optimisation and/or a change of habits. 12kW is a _lot_ of power.
fr0sty 11y ago
Thank you for mentioning this. Too many people in this thread forget that not everyone lives in a temperate coastal area.

My air conditioner is 12 kW. No chance.

by brc 11y ago

My air conditioner is 12 kW. No chance.

If your air conditioner actually draws 52 amps at 230 volts (or 110 @ 110 if you're in the US), you must be air conditioning a gym hall with a black, tin roof somewhere in a desert. But you're probably not, and that was my whole point - my stove top is rated at 10kW, too, yet even when using alongside all other appliances in my house I have never gone above 4kW actual use. Actual need != summing all the nominal maximum rated loads of all appliances. In other words, it's not because your AC is rated 12kW, that you'd need 3 of these battery packs just for the AC. You might need 2, or maybe 3, I'm not saying that 2 (or 4) kW is enough always, everywhere for everybody - but there is no 'normal' (middle to upper middle class) home anywhere that would need 5 or 10 of these units, as is suggested at various places in this thread.

brc 11y ago
To be honest, I don't know. It has 12kw on the outside. It's a DC inverter ducted system. I had to get the wiring to the house upgraded with 3 phase when it was put in. It doesn't use 3 phase but one of the phases is dedicated to the aircon. My electricity bill in summer is 20% higher.

kragen 11y ago

Is that the output or the input? If it's the output (i.e. the amount of heat coming out of the condenser outside your house), the input might be only 5kW or even less. (Probably some jackass is going to downvote me because they think this violates conservation of energy, but no — those 12kW coming out of the heat exchanger include the 5kW of electrical energy that went in, plus another 7kW of heat that’s being extracted from the air being conditioned; and if you were to try to run a heat engine off that 7kW of heat difference, you wouldn't be able to recover the original 5kW. All perfectly thermodynamically copacetic.)

kragen 11y ago

markvdb 11y ago

Not a chance without an investment in energy use optimisation and/or a change of habits. 12kW is a _lot_ of power.

fr0sty 11y ago

Thank you for mentioning this. Too many people in this thread forget that not everyone lives in a temperate coastal area.