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Date:         Wed, 9 Jun 2010 22:34:45 -0400
Reply-To:     David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET>
Subject:      Re: AC's are noisy!
Comments: To: Rowan Tipton <uther@DRAGONHOME.ORG>
In-Reply-To:  <A75F28CA-D017-4060-8234-D77EFF827B8F@dragonhome.org>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

At 09:55 PM 6/9/2010, Rowan Tipton wrote: >That is a really good point. I don't think I've ever seen a db rating >for a window a/c like I have on generators. My Honda generator is >rated at 53-59 db. I wonder how loud my cheapy a/c is... I bet it's >louder than my generator. I've looked for window a/c ratings and >never found much. It would be really nice to be able to find good >stats on them. Things like noise level, starting amps, running amps, >etc. Has anyone had any luck finding such?

Dear Greg,

This is all stuff that AHAM (American Heating & Air-conditioning Mfrs Association?) would rather you didn't inquire into too closely. The nameplate amperage ratings are based on a test protocol that is quite lenient (moderate temp, low humidity). However they were forced a while ago to publish EER which is the ratio of BTU/hr to watts (under what test conditions I don't know). Remember that in AC circuits inductive loads like motors draw a good deal more current than they consume in watts. Ratio of Volt-amps to watts is called Power Factor, and if you're bigger than a residential customer the power company will make a power-factor surcharge because although power factor doesn't matter much to you, it matters a great deal to them -- they have to absorb the cost of resistive (I^2R) losses in their lines even if you're effectively consuming zero power.

Two major factors in power consumption are high humidity and low line voltage.

CU rates air conditioners from time to time, can be helpful. IIRC Panasonic units tend to be quite quiet -- although I have to say that most modern 5000 BTU/hr units are quite remarkably quiet from outside, at least in a residential setting.

Two good friends of yours would be a Kill-a-Watt EZ integrating wattmeter (available as little as USD24, possibly from your power company) and a Radio Shack audiometer 33-2050. No point I can see in the digital version -- disadvantage if anything. The A weighting rolls off response to low frequencies; C weighting is more or less flat.

Yours, David


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