That Is Shocking! Blog | Jeffries Electric | Serving North Texas for over 27 Years

As far as the name on this post goes, I don’t know which is best, but my electric bill will go down quite a bit.

Years ago I helped a restaurant to keep the lights on in their business by lowering the electric load to the air conditioning. The main breaker had tripped on a hot day and the whole restaurant went dark.

As I diagnosed the reason the main breaker was tripping, I found the building was not designed to handle the heat load from all the people and the stoves that had been brought in for the kitchen. When they added extra AC units to keep the dining room cool, it overloaded the main system and the breaker tripped.

I suggested they use a water hose on the roof  to lower the temp to the overheated AC units. When they sprayed the AC units, the electric load dropped immensely. I learned that day, that the cooling effect of rain or water on the AC unit is quite large. My measurements showed an energy savings of 22% and more.  WOW ! This saved the day for the resturant and they were in business for many years and never did upgrade the electrical system.

You may not see the mister connections on this simple PVC pipe ring that I made, but I purchased the parts at the local big box store and glued them together. I used ty-wraps to hold the ring in place and lowered it just a bit so the water mist would not be wasted and only spray the coils as the fan sucks air across the coils.

The water is turned on and off with a simple 24Volt sprinkler  valve. I got this at the hardware store too. This is the part you may want professional help doing.

There are air activated water valves on the market and this may be the way you want to go.

Add a calcium filter to the end of the water hose and a few plastic fittings, and you have the biggest money saver I have seen in years. This is really great for the dry hot days we see here in Texas. All of this is available at the local hardware store with the blue sign.

By the way, this technique has been used for years and years before this. As a kid growing up, my father would have me go and check the water level in our ” Swamp Cooler”  We didn’t  know the real name of this great device that kept our our house cool. The evaporative cooler was replaced by the current AC systems in the early 60′s.

Water cooling will probably never be replaced.

Jeffries electric has great residential electric repairs and commercial electric repairs. We install 200 amp panels and replace federal breaker panels. We install landscape lights and recessed lights. We fix electrical plugs and electrical switches and 3 way switches. we are your Denton electrician, Coppell electrician, lewisville electrician, highland village electrician, Frisco electrician, Plano electrician, corinth electrician. We fix gfci plugs and repair breakers. We install whole house surge protector. Licensed electrician and insured electrician. Add phone outlets. We repair landscape lights. We fix light switches. Install ground rod. Electric repair work should be performed by a licensed electrician. Be safe and turn off the breaker first.