Portable home air conditioners

[Jeremy Cottrell]

Well, summer is here!!! We are experiencing some pretty high temps. here is So. Cal. and I fear it is just the beginning. I am considering one of those portable air conditioners, since our bedroom really cannot accept a window mounted unit. Also it would be great for tinkering on the 911 in the garage. has anybody out there had any experience.

[Hugh R]

Don't know much about them, but for any A/C to work, you have to get the waste heat out of the room/house, otherwise all you'll do is heat the room up. Want to know a good way to heat up your kitchen? Keep the refrigerator door open.

[widebody911]

I've used spot coolers in data centers when experiencing HVAC issues, and we would duct the exhaust air up through the ceiling tiles. Unless you do something similar with yours, you're just whizzing in the wind, so to speak.

I've also tried one of those swamp cooler fans, the ones in which you add water and it pumps it past a wick like a real swamp cooler. It didn't work for squat. I ended up getting a real window mount A/C unit and cutting a hole in my wall.

[RickM]

Most of the portable ACs I've seen have a duct hose about the size used for a driers exhaust. I don't see why they wouldn't work well provided you can properly duct.

BTW, previous to me have central air installed I couldn't use window AC units either. Between sliding doors in most rooms and awning windows I didn't have many options. I did come up with a relatively inexpensive way to use a window unit in a sliding door though. If you have sliding doors in the rooms you want to cool let me know and I'll explain. You could probably buy 3-4 window units for the price of one portable.

[Jeremy Cottrell]

Rick, I don't have sliding doors, but sliding windows. They are the horizontal type.

[RickM]

Jeremy,

What I had done (on a temporary basis on the back of the house) was slide the "stationary" slider glass inward to leave an opening. It's not desigend to be opened from that side but after removing a few screws I was ables to do so.
I then cut a piece of melamine the height of the doorway and the width of the AC unit +3" on each side. Then I closed the "stationary" door back to meet with the melamine so it was held in by the frame channel and the door. I added some 2x4 bracing to act as a shelf for the unit. Worked great.

Perhaps you could slide one side of a window open and utilize a similar approach. Thet even make skinny AC units called Casement Slider AC units starting at 14" wide http://www.discountmaven.com/phpdocs/ajtest/item_list.php?dept_id=00033 . Sears, Wally World and most other electronics outlets carry them.

[kang]

Do you have an attic? If so, consider a whole house fan. It installs in the ceiling. Turn it on in the evening, when it gets cool outside. The fan sucks cold air in through the windows and into the attic. This forces all the hot air that is stuck in the attic out the attic vents.

Here are a couple of sites with some info. Note that you can get a fan cheaper at your local home depot, and install it yourself.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=howTo&p=Improve/wholehousefan.html

http://www.quietcoolfan.com/index.html

http://www.wholehousefan.com/

[singpilot]

I use one of the portable units on my boat (I stay there a lot in the summertime). Yes, there is a dryer-sized hose that ducts the heat outside. I cut a porthole-sized piece of plastic, and then cut the opening in it for the heat duct. I have discovered that it keeps the humidity down as well. The condensate drains into a tray that has a capped drain hose, but it does not need draining in the relatively low SoCal humidity. My usual $35/month electric bill doubles when it runs 24/7.

[She said:]

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[928ram]

Something I saw on one of those home improvement shows that is made for situations like yours( no details on brand or sizing); there's a unit on the market that uses a low-profile fan/evaporator unit that you hang much like a picture on the inside, and what looks like a small central A/C unit on the outside. The unit only needs one smallish hole drilled thru the wall for piping/wiring.

[RickM]

Originally posted by She said:
idea - visit a home expo. They usually have several companies offering portable AC's for a very reasonable price.

I've recently seen them at Hoem Depot and Costco as well.