07-23-2018, 01:32 PM
"I wonder if that radiant barrier is enough to make air-conditioning efficient, or if we will need actual insulation as well?"
You didn't mention how large of an area you are referring to or how cold you want to get it, but if it is just air quality you are focusing on, a cheap 8,000 BTU window unit can remove the humidity, clear the air, and make a pretty large room fairly comfortable so long as you have a solid barrier between you and the outside. Maybe all you need to do is install some shutters to close up the screened areas? The ACs list the size room they are rated for. I don't know what that means exactly. Cooling a room in hot humid Florida down to 70 degrees? But if your room is larger and it clears the air and lowers the humidity 20% you'll be a lot more comfortable even if it doesn't drop the temperature at all. If you locate yourself near to it, it will feel like whatever temperature its set at even if its much warmer on the other side of the room. We based our purchase on the amount of spare wattage our hybrid solar system can deliver but it turns out that we had more spare wattage than we thought we did. We got a 6,000 BTU unit and probably should have gone with an 8,000. On the other hand if we got an 8,000 BTU unit and couldn't use it on as many days I'd probably be whining that we should have got a 6,000 BTU unit. Get as large of a unit that you are comfortable paying to purchase and operate. You can always dial the usage of a larger unit down, you can't dial up the usage of something that is maxed out.
You didn't mention how large of an area you are referring to or how cold you want to get it, but if it is just air quality you are focusing on, a cheap 8,000 BTU window unit can remove the humidity, clear the air, and make a pretty large room fairly comfortable so long as you have a solid barrier between you and the outside. Maybe all you need to do is install some shutters to close up the screened areas? The ACs list the size room they are rated for. I don't know what that means exactly. Cooling a room in hot humid Florida down to 70 degrees? But if your room is larger and it clears the air and lowers the humidity 20% you'll be a lot more comfortable even if it doesn't drop the temperature at all. If you locate yourself near to it, it will feel like whatever temperature its set at even if its much warmer on the other side of the room. We based our purchase on the amount of spare wattage our hybrid solar system can deliver but it turns out that we had more spare wattage than we thought we did. We got a 6,000 BTU unit and probably should have gone with an 8,000. On the other hand if we got an 8,000 BTU unit and couldn't use it on as many days I'd probably be whining that we should have got a 6,000 BTU unit. Get as large of a unit that you are comfortable paying to purchase and operate. You can always dial the usage of a larger unit down, you can't dial up the usage of something that is maxed out.