how much inverting power would you need to run your whole house 100% of the time
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MajicDiver
Solar Enthusiast
Our home is much more comfortable in summer with mini-splits than the traditional central ac system we used for 30 years until 2022. Winter is no different, if house gets cold the old system comes on and helps the mini-splits.
With the old system, ducts in attic, when temps were in 90’s the system could not get the house cooler than 72 until 10-11 at night. With mini splits the bedrooms never get above 70 - quality of sleep no comparison whatsoever. Mini splits are very quiet compared to the roar of the compressor in old system and rushing wind out the vents.
How much total mini split tonnage do you have?
cs1234
Solar Wizard
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The problem with most central air is entirely lack of zone control and duct work placed into horrifically hot areas. Just because it's easy to run duct work in an attic, doesn't mean that is where it should be.
MajicDiver
Solar Enthusiast
4 tons. We have one son left at home. One of the 4 bedrooms is uncooled. We don’t use it and it’s on north side of house, if someone slept in it I’d install another MrCool.
Our original systems is a 3 ton and a 4 ton. Mini splits kick its butt hands down.
That's why I did a conditioned attic so all the duct work is in the insulated space.The problem with most central air is entirely lack of zone control and duct work placed into horrifically hot areas. Just because it's easy to run duct work in an attic, doesn't mean that is where it should be.
Wow. Nice. have 5 tons and a smaller house than yours but i'm not convinced my HVAC units can maintain 70 degrees. I keep my house at 78 though and if it gets below 77 during the day I start feeling cold
.To be fair I haven't tried it this year. Last year they wouldn't go below 74 no matter what I set them to but then I found out they were all about a pound low on refrigerant. I've fixed that and they seem to work better but I haven't tried this year to set that low. I set it to 74 for sleeping
Right. We even doubled the 1/2 fiberglass insulation to not much difference in the end. Might need 6" around each pipe to make a difference.The problem with most central air is entirely lack of zone control and duct work placed into horrifically hot areas. Just because it's easy to run duct work in an attic, doesn't mean that is where it should be.
Air conditioning and EV charging are our biggest challenges. Mini-split solved the A/C at night issue. Still need a solution for EV charging form excess solar if we can do it.
If I didn't want to practice any load management at all, three 8k Radians should do it, I think. Just a guess based off of how many big ticket electric appliances we have (stove, dryer), the central air, and then all the other stuff that we need to run, and I wouldn't want to be pegging the limits too often.
If we needed more than the 3 mini splits we have in the house I would choose a central air system all day long, with modern insulated ducting zone control and so on I can see it being far superior to mini splits in every way, technology has moved on alot in 30 years so it's no wonder people think mini splits are superior but efficiency, serviceability and power a modern central air system beats an army of mini splits by a large margin especially on a decently constructed house IE concrete/stone not so much in the glorified timber framed Wendy houses that generally get built these days.
Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
16 months for house system, basically off grid as the only grid power (25 Kwh) used was last winter with 3 weeks of limited sun available and battery bank depleted.
Official Loads Tester can run sustained 6Kw per leg, I've seen it. But we have never had either inverter cut out. LV6548's with 6.5Kw output.
I think many times the battery bank size isn't large enough for surges and where problems occur. The other issue is when Official Loads Testers turn on too many loads at once. One can't run the dishwasher, washing machine, vacuum and electric dryer all at the exact same time.
ricardocello
Watching and Learning
For the blue smurfs:
Using Victron VRM CSV files to measure AC Consumption
In this thread https://diysolarforum.com/threads/how-much-inverting-power-would-you-need-to-run-your-whole-house-100-of-the-time.85829/post-1123993 I decided to use VRM to show my AC consumption and determine the peak power used in the house (400A) service (close to 30 kW). While the chart is...
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Quattrohead
Solar Wizard
I am struggling with what I think is a power factor issue with my ACIQ inverter system, my LED lights are flickering something insane and the AC waveform has big chunks taken out of it. How many other people are running inverter AC units and seeing problems? I think I might do a new thread about it.
One thing I never see mentioned on here that is an alternative to air conditioning (I personally worship my ac units every night so its against my religion personally) are attic fans. My grandparents house for instance has one. Its amazing how well it actually cools the house at night. After the sun has been down for an hour or at least right before bed time my grandfather would flip the thing on and this giant metal louvered panel in the ceiling at the center of the house would open and it would draw a ton of air up into the ceiling there forcing air into any open window in the house. The air coming in felt a bunch cooler than the outside temperature too. I'm sure it uses a fair amount of power moving the massive fan in there but it can't be as bad as the central air running or window units.
Just thought I would mention it since I hadn't seen it talked about on here. Thing really does work.
Just thought I would mention it since I hadn't seen it talked about on here. Thing really does work.
As noted this is the goal not there yet but its for :
12 charge controllers and 36 crypto miners minimum.
Attic fans are nice (had one growing up), but a few caveats....
1) your attic needs good venting. Large eave vents work well, not sure how well little ridge vents would.
2) you may suck in a LOT of little gnats through the screens. Most likely won't survive getting yanked through like that but be prepared to clean up in the morning under your windows lol.
3) if it stays warm and muggy overnight like it did here last night, well, you're outta luck for any relief!
The only part of that I remember dealing with was the humidity part. It didn't feel humid as much as the bed sheets felt a little damp at times. It moved allot of air which probably helped keep you from noticing it as much.
Still prefer regular ac but I spend so much time with computers where the climate is controlled around them it makes for what I feel comfortable in now.
I own the house that has the attic fan in it now so I need to do a youtube video of that thing in action... well if it still works that is. I have no idea when it was last turned on
So your not offing inmates from limestone then?
They had me interested until you said this
Insects here are a major issue we have to sweep literal tonnage off the patio some mornings.
That's like 7 months of the year
Yes. Maybe we need to differentiate between "attic fans" that cool the attic and "whole house fans" that cool the house. "a whole house" fan can bring cool night time air into the house. "Attic fan" only vent hot attic air to the outside as I understand it. Swamp coolers are also good and use a lot less power. Can lower incoming air temp by 30F. Helps to be in an area with low humidity.
As I write this, it's 94 out with a "feels like" temp of 104 due to humidity. We have two occupied buildings of about 1200 SF each of "lived in" space. Mini-splits are running in each to keep indoor temp @ ~74. Dehumidifier in each as well (basement/ garage). Three refrigerators in one building, one in the other.
Under 1.5 KW total right now, in each building. Over past 13.5 hours, under 12KW in either building.
Building new place as well. Plan is for 9KW per day other than heating.
Under 1.5 KW total right now, in each building. Over past 13.5 hours, under 12KW in either building.
Building new place as well. Plan is for 9KW per day other than heating.
Nobodybusiness
Solar Sponge.
I’m surprised at that.
Have 30kw array and our batteries are full by noon.
After that I just crank ac down to 69 with over cooling on for Humidity on both floors.
How much is you system producing?
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timselectric
If I can do it, you can do it.
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I have a whole house fan. It does very well in spring and fall.
In the evening, like you said.
I don't use it anymore, because it also brings dust, pollen, and other particles in to the house.
But if the AC's ever failed, it's still there for a backup.
dougbert
Solar Addict
I use the basement cooling method
94 yo 1100 sq ft house on a basement I dug
Large window on the east side. I place 2 20" box fans in the window. Behind them I have 2 furnace filters to clean the incoming air. Air passes through the entire length of the house up the west stairs and into the living floor. On the east living room I have 2 windows (almost directly above the input window in the basement
in those 2 windows I have a remote controlled fan in each. Selectable 2 mini fans in each.
Options are:
- 2 fans input
- 2 fans exhaust
- 1 fan input, 1 fan output
time now is 12:30pm, outside temp is 85f, inside is 74F
Update: time now is 3pm, outside is 92f, inside is 75f
I have seen 96F outside and 76F inside
live at 5500 ft with dry air
if it gets bad I add water mist in the window well
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