curious about rooftop residential HVAC units? (Albuquerque, Santa Fe: real estate, rental, houses)
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Hey there Albuquerque, my wife and I visited last year and while looking over photos from the trip we always ask each other the same question - why so many rooftop HVAC units on the suburban homes? We're from the east coast and had never seen anything like that except on commercial buildings or downtown row houses. Everyone here has their HVAC units beside the house on the ground...
...anyways can anyone here solve this argument for us? We advance all kinds of theories to each other but have never found anything online to tell us one way or another. It's gotta be more expensive and slightly more complicated roof-wise to put them up there, so what's the advantage?
They are not air conditioners; they are swamp coolers. A swamp cooler passes air over a wet pad at high velocity, removing the heat from the air. The cool air is blown into the home, and ventilates out open windows. They only work in hot, dry climates.
They are not air conditioners; they are swamp coolers. A swamp cooler passes air over a wet pad at high velocity, removing the heat from the air. The cool air is blown into the home, and ventilates out open windows. They only work in hot, dry climates.
AHA! Thank you so much, that explains tons - kind of like those bazooka things people used to mount to car windows (especially VW bugs) way back in the day before automotive compressors were commonplace. Makes a lot of sense now that you mention it. There are some uses of those here in large commercial greenhouse settings but we didn't even know that sort of thing existed in a little residential unit. Sounds a lot more power-efficient than just a compressor alone (or like a great substitute for days when you can get away with it).
AHA! Thank you so much, that explains tons - kind of like those bazooka things people used to mount to car windows (especially VW bugs) way back in the day before automotive compressors were commonplace. Makes a lot of sense now that you mention it. There are some uses of those here in large commercial greenhouse settings but we didn't even know that sort of thing existed in a little residential unit. Sounds a lot more power-efficient than just a compressor alone (or like a great substitute for days when you can get away with it).
Neato.
Yeah, khyron, if you do a google search under "swamp coolers" or "evaporative coolers", you'll find a ton of interesting information on them.
They are pretty much only effective when the humidity levels are well below 35%, so they are really only utilized in desert cities like Albuquerque, or semi-arid cities like Santa Fe and even Denver a bit.
You'll find them commonly in other cities like El Paso, TX and somewhat in lower desert cities like Tucson, AZ Phoenix, AZ and Las Vegas, NV however, the swamp coolers really only cool the inside of the house by about 20 degrees to the air on the outside, so with cities like Phoenix routinely clocking in at over 110+ degrees in the summertime, the utilization of refrigerated air has become more and more popular in the really boiling, low desert cities.
Hey there Albuquerque, my wife and I visited last year and while looking over photos from the trip we always ask each other the same question - why so many rooftop HVAC units on the suburban homes? We're from the east coast and had never seen anything like that except on commercial buildings or downtown row houses. Everyone here has their HVAC units beside the house on the ground...
...anyways can anyone here solve this argument for us? We advance all kinds of theories to each other but have never found anything online to tell us one way or another. It's gotta be more expensive and slightly more complicated roof-wise to put them up there, so what's the advantage?
Naive folks from the east are wondering...
Actually, I just noticed this thread....not all roof-mounted units are swamp coolers.
I live in Alamogordo rather than ABQ, but my house (built 2007) has a combination refrigerated air and heating unit mounted on the roof. I'd rather it be on the ground, but that's how it was built. At the stage I looked at the house, the roof and the unit were already installed.
One advantage is that the filter can easily be changed from inside the house. There is another filter within the unit, but I will have that serviced, since it does need to be checked at least once a year.
I suppose the advantage is that they're less likely to be vandalized or stolen.
There are some refrigerated air units on the roof. And even some Swamp Coolers on the side of the house, some of them pretty close to the ground.
We went with refrigerated air last summer. I realize that is the rite of every New Mexican expose himself to the possibility of falling off his roof twice a year, but I just could not take the heat and humidity last Summer... I love my HVAC....
My swamp coolers are on the ground (sitting on some wooden blocks on a concrete pad).
Putting the units on the roof saves some real estate for a garden or pets.
It's more than just the space the unit takes up, but the space you need
to leave open to get to the unit(s).
Putting the units on a sloped roof seems nuts to me.
Putting the units on the sloped roof of a two-story house seems REALLY nuts.
The ductwork is imbedded in the concrete foundation.
We had it inspected when we moved into the house in June, 1997. There are some corrosion issues with the galvanized metal near the ducts, but after ten years, the ducts were in great shape. They ran a camera through the whole system.
There are a couple of gigantic Master-Cools which are twice as large as they need to be. This summer, we got by running only one of them since the circuit board controlling one of them died. This summer, we'll replace that board with a simple on/off switch.
They (almost) butt-up to the house with room only for the copper pipe and power cable duct. They are so friggin' big that I can barely slide my butt between the cooler and the property wall.
After ten years, however, there is no corrosion anywhere at all. Zero leaks. Lots of air flow in the house.
Our little rental house house has an appropriatley sized Ref. Air Unit... it looks REALLY small! I wonder what this summer will be like?
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