Can plants help to allow for better subcooling? I Think that plants can be attractive around the condensing unit and can actually help with the subcooling. Intro music was composed and played by: Champagne Millionaire. Visit his myspace page at: profile.myspace.com
HVAC Can plants help to allow for better subcooling?
April 11th, 2010 
admin 
Posted in Videos 
Tags: air, betterthanbob, Champagne, Condensing Unit, conditioning, DrZarkloff, HVAC, HVAC/R, Intro Music, Millionaire, plants, Starkloff, subcooling
True. Hopefully, you’d have the suction line wrapped in armaflex anyway. Maybe I should grow some flowers around the line set. It would even look pretty.
lol who said air-conditioning could not be a beautiful thing…
I know that grass has a natural cooling effect and i’m sure plants do too. Contrast your setup to a package unit on an asphalt roof. Good video and thanks for sharing!
Yeowch! Roof top package units can be real hot to work on.
some people just dont care about condensing unit and let the weeds vine up on it to
the point that it starts looking like the unit was installed in the middle of the costa rican forst i even seen one with rust on the fan grill.
nice unit how old is it and got any room for an apt in that back yard i want out of maine lol
LOL. The a/c is 6 years old.
is that a dang lennox… err dave lennox
It’s an Amana.
goodness. yea amana did have the one unit the somewhat resembles a lennox. whatever. i hate the valve access. too tight..
if i had paid attention when you said its amana.. goodness im an idiot.
Those trees are great for shade. Do you have any of those trees in your area that have the bright pink leaves? Man those leaves are like paper and are so light they plug the entire face of coils when one of them trees are anywhere near a condenser. I forget the name of the tree/bush. But if you say the name I’d remember.
I think you’re referring to the bougainvillea. They don’t grow very well around Northern Florida. They’re all over the place in South Florida. Naturally, I wouldn’t grow a messy shrub anywhere near a condensing unit. I’m fortunate that the shrubs in this video don’t shed leaves. They’re ideal for this purpose.
Bougainvillea. That is defenitely the tree/bush or whatever it is. Pretty to look at. But wow do they shed a BUNCH of paper light leaves that suck right into them condensers! Not a good plant to have near a condenser, that is for sure! :p
HvacrTalk . com welcomes Techs contractors and consumers to join free and discuss and trade info and learn meet others in the trade. good links and resources…all you need is a valid email to activate your account.
are you going to change the condensing unit
Probably not anytime soon.
I’m sorry, but a few plants around the condensing unit are not going to help with subcooling. the ambient air passing over the coil is going to be the same. Now if the AC is in the shade you may get slightly more capacity from it, due to the less heat it has to try and reject.
what about an automated sprinkler/mister system that sprays down onto the fins, and only turns on when the cooling unit is tripped on?Would that help with the subcooling on those really hot days?
I remember we had an old roof top package unit that had fins that were all tore up so we did just as you were suggesting with the misting system until we could replace the unit.
It’s about outdoor ambient temp, how many degrees subcooling do you think your achieving by your plants?
Maybe one degree. Now maybe if I had the condensing unit under a big tree it would be more worth while. I know that I’d have to clean the condensing unit a lot more often, but it might be worth it.
everybody in hvac knows that shade is important on your hvac, dont you realize ambiant air temperature will be cooler in big areas of shade. Not to mention the light that heats up the actual unit, which doesnt have to come from straight above. More shade the better.
good vids
Good video- we just had a lot of plants and shrubs removed from our property but it’s left our unit out in the open sun- might have to replant some things and give it some shade.