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Can anyone provide feedback about Evaporative ducting, is it worth the money or is it better to pay the extra and go refridgerated.

go refridgerated.....might cost more initially but is far better..........

I have just put in a airco system in my new house - full ducted reverse-cycle. I have 2 units, 1 for upstairs and 1 for downstairs. I thought about going one huge unit for the whole place, but 2 units gives me better control as far as zones and efficiency. My downstairs unit works sensational, cools the place down very quickly. The upstairs is obviously alot harder to keep cool though, but the system keeps it fairly cool, as long as you keep it ticking over rather than try and blast the temp down quickly. Mind you, the whole system cost around $20k, so it should work well. I put in Daikin units, 2 x 12kw.

My last place (which was single storey) had evaporative, which i actually thought worked excellent. Obviously it struggled on humid days but i found that by having just the fan going, it would keep the house fairly bearable. The evap is much cheaper to run aswell.

Im dreading my next power bill, due in March...

Refridgerated full stop

My field.

Evaporative aircon does not "condition" the air,by that it does not change the temperature of the supply air it merely adds moisture to it. It then works just like your own sweat the more you sweat the coller your body is kept. Sweating is the bodies evaporative cooling device. This is also why people who have evaporative complain that on humid days it doesnt work. It does,but the high moisture content of the air coupled with adding moisture creates a much too sticky environment to be happy in.

Refridgerated does change the air temp,not only giving you better control but a better system.

Run your refridgerated at 24 or 25c for maximum efficiency.

Evaporative works well at night, but struggles during the intense daytime heat.

Refridgerated easliy the better of the two.

If you can afford the initial cost, and running cost, of refridgerated, then do it.

I work in a DC with large Evaporative AC.works well in straight heat days(when the temp is 25 or over it must be on , a new rule).But any humidity in the air and it becomes like far north qld .

mypaddock wrote:Evaporative works well at night, but struggles during the intense daytime heat.

Refridgerated easliy the better of the two.

We have an evaporative cooler chez Pseudo.

It is true that it doesn't get overly cool when the heat is extreme. There's only so far you can cool 40+ degree heat by passing it through water.

The system works well enough in the evenings. However it requires some windows to be left open so the humidified air can escape. This restricts its usage overnight, unless you are comfortable with windows being left open while you sleep. Fortunately our windows are secure.

I have studied Building Science at university and the boffins there told us that Evap effeciency rapidly decreases in the high 30's for Adelaide. It works best in Broken Hill due to the dry air and is useless in Darwin and Far North Qld

Refridgerated all the way......

i would move out if my parents ever got Evaporative.

We had this debate just over a year ago when building our new house, we had evaporative for years and loved it...but on extreme heatwaves is struggled and in humidity it struggled...we got refrigerated in the new home and its great and they are much more efficient power usage wise than the old systems, still costs more than evaporative but not significant as we initially thought

I find that when exposed to a refrigerated air-conditioner for long periods my eczema plays up. So it was a no brainer for us ducted evap,
although I did relent and we have a refrigerated unit in the family unit.

At night we sleep fine, and have in fact switched off the unit every night this week as it gets too cold......

Does anyone know of a decent a/cond service company that serices Warradale area. I have a Bradway RR225 attic ducted reverse cycle a/cond that keeps blowing glass 10 amp fuse inside actual unit.

TroyGFC wrote:Does anyone know of a decent a/cond service company that serices Warradale area. I have a Bradway RR225 attic ducted reverse cycle a/cond that keeps blowing glass 10 amp fuse inside actual unit.

Mate, if its just blowing fuses, then an electrician should be able to help. As you can imagine, most are flat out in this weather, but airco companies would be more so.

I suggest looking in the local paper, get someone who charges minimal call out fee. It could be a 10 minute job, or a several hour one.

Felch wrote:

TroyGFC wrote:Does anyone know of a decent a/cond service company that serices Warradale area. I have a Bradway RR225 attic ducted reverse cycle a/cond that keeps blowing glass 10 amp fuse inside actual unit.

Mate, if its just blowing fuses, then an electrician should be able to help. As you can imagine, most are flat out in this weather, but airco companies would be more so.

I suggest looking in the local paper, get someone who charges minimal call out fee. It could be a 10 minute job, or a several hour one.

Agree get the cheapest call out fee you can
My brother charges $118 call out and that gets you the first 15 mins!
Then its $118/hr after that
Bloody crazy!

Refridgerated for sure.

In rented properties I've had Refridgerated, Refridgerated ducted, and Evaporative ducted.

Evaporative ducted was okay on a clear hot day, but a tiny bit of humidity and it was no good at all.
Evaporative, in the wall, very effective.
Evaporative ducted.... HEAVEN (until the electricity bill comes in)

I have a friend who put Evaporative ducted in half their house, and once they did extensions put refridgerated ducted in that part of the house, so in the clear heat they use the evaporative, and in the humid heat they use the other.

I had the choice 18 months ago Refrigerated vs Evaporative

Refrig: $10,000 supplied/installed - 0.60c/hour running costs
Evap: $3,500 supplied/installed - 0.10c/hour running costs

I went Evap...if its that bad during the humidity I will jump in my pool.

is refridgerated worth that much money $10k? Geez glad mine did have one already in roof, though not working it now gives me reason to get the fkr fixed!!!

Value for money and its evaporative all the way.
We have a 15 yo evaporative ducted and it does the job 99% of the time, and believe me I like my house cold.
It only does struggle to cool the entire house down on stretches like we have at the moment and extremely humid weather, both of which occur for less than 10 days a year in total, and then we have an old reverse cycle in the lounge which takes the water out of the air and give that extra punch to cool down in weather like today.
Believe me if I was the slightest bit uncomfortable I'd fork out tens of thousands of dollars to be comfortable but theres no need.
We just about have our evaporative going 24/7 4 months of the year and our power bill doesn't even go noticibly up.
Ducted evaporative in the summer and combustion heater in the winter is the way to go IMHO but like us having a small reverse cycle as a backup for those tiny periods like we currently have is the way to go, always comfortable and stuff all cost.