Like I said, I wasn't convinced but now I believe there is a benefit. I'm wondering if Krylon makes a chrome or aluminum paint. If so, then why not spray paint the Max-Air on the exterior to reflect the heat. Maybe prevent the vents from becoming brittle because of heat. Who's going to Wally world today? Check the paint section.
I took a roll of the aluminum duct tape and I covered all of my vents on the outside. Then on the inside, I made vent covers and attached them via velcro, it made a 4 degree difference with 4 straight days of 100-101 here in Texas. We did not have any shade until way late, so it was a straight sun test. I then put reflectix in the windows, it took it down another 4 degrees 4 straight days. So from an average of 85 during the peak of the day, it is down to 77 constant. I will now add the air conditioner mod and see what happens. Anytime you can reflect or insulate, it must make a difference.
We used Reflextix in out pop-up. We put it outside over the tent area to keep the heat out in the summer and under the mattresses and inside the tent area in the winter to keep the heat in. This worked well. Placing it inside the a/c shroud may infact be holding heat. I wonder about long term effects on your a/c. JMO based on my pop-up days.
There is a fan in the a/c unit constantly circulating air. Cant see the reflextix holding heat in? Think it is more used to stop/ minimize radiating heat from direct sunlight on the covers. My 2 cents anyway.
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I agree that adding the reflectix to the exterior of the covers would be better than the the inside as I did but I was concerned about the rain and wind. I just couldn't figure out a good way to attach to the exterior, not really knowing if it was even going to help.
In Central Florida we have been having some quite high winds with associated heavy rain so keeping it attached is a real question for me. As I mentioned before I'd love to run a full roll front to rear on my roof.
I did this little test this morning.
I have an indoor/outdoor thermometer. The outdoor temp is taken from a probe on the inside of a window. reads through the glass. I went on the outside and placed a 3in square of reflectix over the glass to block the suns rays from hitting it. At 11am the o/s temp was 111deg before I covered it but dropped immediately to 78 deg after it was covered.
I guess it then picked up the inside temp but I was amazed at the immediate temp reduction by that little 3x3 piece. Not very scientific but it did show a definite temp reduction. (Oh, once the sun passed the direct hit on the temp probe, and the probe was then just in the shade, and I had removed the 3x3, the temp showed the normal 95deg for most of the afternoon)
It is 11pm right now and the o/s temp is 81 deg with the inside temp at 75.2 (a/c is not running) inside humidity is 37 percent. a/c is currently running about 15 minutes every hour now..
We are very comfortable..
Randy, I totally get it -- you put the reflectix on the inside of the a/c cover, without blocking any of the vents. I like the idea, and I think that it should not hold in any of the heat, since the vents are still open.
Thanks!!
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What would be interesting to find out is before and after values of:
1. Outdoor temperature
2. Air temperature at the return of the A/C
3. Air temperature at the outlet of the A/C
Measure the above three points at a couple of times on several days before the modification and after the modification. If you find the difference between 2 and 3 after the modification is larger than before the modification, there is no question you made some improvement.
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Ok, I received my electric bill and did some rational analysis. What I came up with was that over the period of 28 days I saved about $25.00 after my a/c and vent reflectix mods for the month.
I had a major consideration I had to include which was that when I compared to last month, last month we had significant rain, almost every day for over 15 days (mostly afternoons but we had a depression move over us for several days). I am sure this also cooled off the roof of our TT.
During the last 28 days, we had little rain and mostly 95 degree days and hot nights.
So my electric bill actually increased but if I took the average during the dry days only and the average after the dry days started and the reflectix was added, then I had a decrease of some $30 for the days that were equivalent.
I rounded the savings down to $25 to make my claim for the month. What I am saying, my bill should have increased (due to the dryer conditions and higher temps) to at least $30 more than it actually did.
all other aspects were the same so I can claim the reflectix saved me at least $25 in electric usage in my first month.
That is a worthwhile investment.
Alright, NOT very scientific or an engineered result but I feel it is worth someone else doing this mod and taking care to do better before and after measurements. (I now wish I had, but I am not going to remove it just to get better data).
I do hope this helps and someone else can/will confirm or dispute the results after they do an install of the reflectix on the vent tops and a/c cover.
I'd rather not argue, theoretical results as I can only speak for what I did and how I did it.
Ok, I will post my August results and we will see what happens. Based on my July numbers I would expect to have little or no increase in electrical usage as the weather seems to have steadied out.
If I have a slightly higher bill, I will assume my lower savings number was closest ($25) and if I have a lower bill, I will assume I could have claimed a better savings result ($30) per month.
Now, If I have much larger bill, I will assume, I am unable to make any such determination at all about any savings on this project
BUT, if I have a lot lower bill, (and all other items remain as is) I will assume I am just another lost genius out there..
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