Natural Gas air conditioning???

[Rob Young]

Well thanks for explaining that old system to me.

I always wondered how it worked.

I know it was expensive to run, at the end.  Any savings from using NG was completed flushed down the drain with all that water usage.  Water even on a great lake has gotten so expensive as treatment costs have increased.  That, and the local gov'ts have figured out a million additional fees they can tack onto water usage.

When installed in the late 1960's it was competitive.  And ALL maintenance was included, yearly stuff, blower motors, etc.  Really, for the first 10 or 20 years it was probably a wash in cost vs. conventional system for them.  Gas was super cheap in SW KS for a long time being relatively close to the Hugoton gas fields.  Heck, irrigation pumps were run of NG out there if you had a gas well somewhere on your farm property.

I have a vague recollection of Dad telling me once that the gas company owned the equipment, sort of the way the phone company used to own the telephone in your house.  Except there was no surcharge on the bill, just paid through regular gas rates.

[JDuke]

Excerpt from the article that I saw from 1996 quoting 27 seer

http://articles.latimes.com/1996-05-26/r...nditioning

"
If you have natural gas, there are gas-powered air conditioning units that use a no-compressor absorption process. These also heat your house in the winter.

Another super-efficient gas central air conditioning and heating unit uses a compressor. With an equivalent SEER of 27, it can cut cooling costs by 75%. It looks just like a standard electric central air conditioning unit outdoors and is quieter.

A small natural gas-powered engine runs the compressor. Since an engine can run at any speed, its microprocessor continually, fine-tunes the cooling output (17 levels) to the precise cooling needs of your house.

In the winter, this year-round gas air conditioning unit heats your house at more than 100% efficiency. It combines the heat pump principal with the excess heat from running the engine. This can cut your heating costs by half too.

Write for Update Bulletin No. 528 showing a buyer's guide of super-efficient gas and electric central air-conditioning manufacturers listing efficiency, cooling capacity, compressor type and number of speeds, features and a savings-selector chart. Please send $2 and a business-size self addressed, stamped envelope to James Dulley, Los Angeles Times, 6906 Royalgreen Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45244."

What may be that efficient in SoCal may not work as well in East Texas.

Still would be interested in knowing if these are available and have proven to be as effective as promised and like tankless water heaters are just slow to take off, or if the 27SEER was just empty promises.

Duke

[Robert Adams]

Rv fridges still have triple power cooling. 110v 12v and propane. I have tried the propane and it's a fail. 

     As to the cooling systems that used city water for cooling... Only works up north where it doesn't get hot and the city water is cold. It's summer here and I don't even use hot water when I take a shower as the city water is that warm. The ground temps are quite warm. Was still 84* at midnight... 

     If you use the water to cool a condenser it works incredibly well. However few systems on the market other than GSHP ones. The best and most efficient I have seen were ones that were home built.

[Splinter Puller]

I've always wondered why I couldn't route the hot refrigerant lines running to my outside compressor through an exchange tank to preheat the water going into my water heater?

[Herb G]

My parents had a gas a/c unit for about 20 years. There was no water running in or out of it either. It used anhydrous ammonia as the freon for the chiller.
It used natural gas to power the evaporator coil. Naturally, it had electricity to it for running the coil fan as well.

[Robert Adams]

I've always wondered why I couldn't route the hot refrigerant lines running to my outside compressor through an exchange tank to preheat the water going into my water heater?

There is such a thing.  It is soldered in line of the high side of the line set then has two 3/4 fittings for the water jacket. They work better on the older ac units that had hotter high side liquid temps. But the colder your incoming water the more effective it will be. 
    
          Most GSHP (ground source heat pump) units have it as an option as well.

[blackhat]

Adding in what amounts to a partial water cooled condenser can cause a lot of different issues to the refrigerant cycle. Head pressure, system volume, variable pressures at the metering device, etc etc. It's doable but needs a good tech to design, size and setup.

[Robert Adams]

Adding in what amounts to a partial water cooled condenser can cause a lot of different issues to the refrigerant cycle. Head pressure, system volume, variable pressures at the metering device, etc etc. It's doable but needs a good tech to design, size and setup.

  Very true. And then it's not consistent. It's going to vary depending on when there is water flowing and when there isnt. I'd have no problem using the desuperheater that's part of a GSHP but the add on ones for conventional units could be a pain. 

       Really the best place to heat water here is on the roof. At my friends shop years ago he had a shop sink out back and we wanted hot water.  We took a 120' commercial garden hose and put it on the roof and in line of the sink. Well it worked great except the water temp was extremely hot. So it took very little hot water to do what you needed. The hose lasted over 10 years until he passed away.

[Dave Mc]

Just a story.

Humble Oil hit a gusher in 1933 in the town just north of us. They sign a contract with the town that said everyone would have free water and natural gas for 90years in exchange for drilling on city property.

There was a time everyone in town had NG powered A/C.

[Estrogen Hostage]

There is such a thing.  It is soldered in line of the high side of the line set then has two 3/4 fittings for the water jacket. They work better on the older ac units that had hotter high side liquid temps. But the colder your incoming water the more effective it will be. 
    
          Most GSHP (ground source heat pump) units have it as an option as well.

Yes, i have it on my heat pumps.