About your heat pump and 100/plus degree heat

[ACC]

Heard this on a morning talk show a few weeks ago when they were talking about cooling your house. I have always known our unit when the temps and or the heat factor goes into the high 90's and above will not cool the house no lower then 80-81. The expert on the show said that when a unit is sized for the cuft to be heated and cooled in a house that there is a chart showing cuft and the max tonnage that should be used. He said that even his house when the temps are in the 100's will not cool the house lower then 80 degrees and stated that he was an expert. This being that to over size your unit makes the system less efficient. Just thought I'd pass this bit of information on. I guess this means our home is properly insulated with the correct size unit. Wonder if putting a few window units in for use on these extream hot days would be worth whiled. Right now the indoor/outdoor temp is 102 outside and 80 inside. Thermostat is set on 80 which allows the unit to at least shut down and not run all the time. Twenty degrees below the outside temps is the rule of thumb.

Acey

[undertheradar]

My house is in the middle of a cornfield with NO BREEZE, 100 degrees in the shade of the porch and my house is 74 degrees with a heat pump. That 20 degree difference is a rule of thumb. Your cars a/c cools the car down lower than 20 deg too.
I can get the house down to 72 deg if I wanted. Last year I did an experiment. I bought a misting nozzle for the water hose and let the the cold mist blow all over the coils. The A/C did NOT work as hard during the day. It would be a 100 deg out side and the unit would cut off satisfying the TSTAT at 72. Insulation makes a big difference. Also place of your AHU. My upstairs AHU will ONLY do the 20 deg differential and it drives me nuts. but the attic is 112 deg and that is where the air handler is...

[ACC]

Russel, I do like your idea about running a hose with a misting nozzel. Did you just let the mist go down thru the fan or did you remove the pannel which covers the coils to get it there?? Our unit sits on the southeast side of the house, which is the back, next to the deck and it is in full sun most all the day. Very, very hot with no breeze. I guess one would only need to turn the hose on from late morning till early afternoon. What' if any, did you find was the down side of doing this.

Acey

[undertheradar]

Just let the mist blow next to the unit. I didnt find a downside. Maybe longterm there could be some damage from being wet all the time???