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Portable AC Unit
bowen
How you doin'?Registered User regular
How you doin'?Registered User regular
Hey all I'm looking to get ahold of a portable AC unit in the super near future (like today if possible).
Does anyone have any recommendations for units that are roughly 9000 BTUs? I need something that's portable A) because we're not allowed to have ACs in our windows
I need to move it to room to room because our central air just does not cool upstairs enough, and I'd like to be able to sleep when we have 101% humid days in upstate NY.
I'm okay with a fair amount of noise, but if there's quiet, I'd love that a lot more.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/LG-Electronics-9-000-BTU-Portable-Air-Conditioner-with-Remote-Control-White/23310886#
So far that's what I've come up with, but apparently it puts out a lot of the heat it's trying to vent, and, is noisy. Any better?
Does anyone have any recommendations for units that are roughly 9000 BTUs? I need something that's portable A) because we're not allowed to have ACs in our windows
I need to move it to room to room because our central air just does not cool upstairs enough, and I'd like to be able to sleep when we have 101% humid days in upstate NY.I'm okay with a fair amount of noise, but if there's quiet, I'd love that a lot more.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/LG-Electronics-9-000-BTU-Portable-Air-Conditioner-with-Remote-Control-White/23310886#
So far that's what I've come up with, but apparently it puts out a lot of the heat it's trying to vent, and, is noisy. Any better?
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
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Uh, last I knew all of these have hoses that you direct outside to vent waste heat created in the cooling process. Most of them have these plastic things that go into windows. They aren't exactly portable on a daily basis.
When I looked into these the big difference is between two hose and one hose models. One hose just dumps out waste hot air through the hose and draws air from the room itself. This creates a big of negative pressure, you'll draw air from the entire house towards the unit. The two hose units use the second hose to draw the initial air from the outside and avoids this.
Mine came with a hose and window attachment, which basically you stick against the window screen and shut the window on to keep the hot outside air from leaking back into the room. The hose blows the warm air outside and away from the room the unit is cooling, and I didn't notice any reverse heat leakage. (Beyond the hose itself heating up slightly.) It also had some sticky insulating foam to stick over the edges of the attachment, but if you're going to be moving it from room to room I do not recommend using it.
Many have a "vapor exhaust" feature that is a load of shit, you still need to drain the unit every so often.
Have you tried putting an umbrella or moving some foliage arround to put some shade on the AC units outside? That can bring down the temps that the AC can put out. Doesn't do much if the HVAC doesn't have proper load ballancing.
Its not super portable, it needs to be close to a window as it has the above mentioned hoses to vent hot air outside. Its kind of a pain to create a seal that keeps the window in question open enough to vent the hose but does not allow for hot air from the outside to leak back in. Also, the hose its self can come loose from the back of the AC unit, which may have been a fault of the brand i had. but was annoying.
Also the process creates water, lots of water. so you will need a hose to drain the water somewhere.. there is no pump so you will need gravity to help you. OR a bucket, which is usually included. However depending on humidity, the bucket can fill up very quickly. Once it does most units will auto shut off to prevent flooding. My experience was that this could happen every few hours, which meant that you would have to get up a few times a night to empty it. After a while you get used to the noise, and are exhausted because of getting up every few hours, and what wakes you up is that the room is hot again because the window is poorly sealed and the unit has been off for a while.
All that being said. It was better then no AC unit.
Which, I assume, is part of the overall problem without an upstairs zone.
Most that I've seen are on wheels. You could probably contact the manufacturer and just buy another of the stupid plastic housing things that go in the windows.
They say you'll have to drain the condensed water out of them but I've never had an issue with mine. Though it is in rooms that are very dry to begin with.
CNY weather gets super humid though, so I'll expect to have to elevate and put like a 5 gallon bucket to drain on it at the worst.
I guess the negative reviews on these things aren't so much an issue with the floor models (besides the draining) and really just a problem with ACs in general (loud).
Thanks all, pretty sure I'm going to be snagging one of those LG or Honeywell units! Might upgrade to 11K BTU, seems the BTUs on floor models tends to be lower because of the decreased efficiency with the hoses and seals. Anyone recommend putting pipe/tube insulation on these things to maybe keep the heat in them?
We move it to our bedroom every night and back to the living room every morning. It's really not that much trouble, so you should be fine.
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Lowes had a 3000 BTU one the other day. That's not going to help me much.
Looking like I need to internet this puppy probably.
In that case, a one hose model isn't nearly as big a deal, as the negative pressure created by venting your waste heat / air will help to circulate the cooler air from the rest of your house into the warmer upstairs. A two hose model and some fans would probably be ideal (actually, zoned central air is best but probably not an option).
Also, look into energy efficient shades. The back of our house (with big upstairs windows) faces the evening sun, adding energy efficient shades and curtains dropped the temperature upstairs by 15* all on its own. Anything passive you can do like that is a huge help.
I was able to fix my issue by blocking off several downstairs vents, so that the cool air flowed more upstairs. I went the cheap route: I taped cardboard behind the existing vents.