Re: O.T. Portable air conditioner vs. Window unit

Frank Dodson · Dec 18, 2014

I hope you got it cheap. I have owned two over the years for our garage. One was an 8,000btu and the other a 10000byu. A 6000btu window unit will out perform these units. The tube is the exhaust and must be vented out the window. The hose should come with a frame that will allow the window to set on it to secure the hose and room. The experience I had with the units is inefficient cooling and short mechanical life.

Mark - IN. · Dec 18, 2014

Are pretty staright forward UNLESS you are missing a piece, and you just might be. We have two for the basement. Upstairs, central air, but not downstairs. The units themselves are what they are, portable on wheels, with exhaust tubes...that attach to a piece that the window closes down on. That piece consists of two pieces that fit together as sliders that can fit from like a 24" wide window to expand up to about 32". Its about 4" tall, and once expanded across the width, simply close the window down on it so that its sealed. There's a hole in it that the tube attaches to so that the exhaust is routed outside, sealed away from entering back into the cooled room. Both of my units need to be rid of condensation. One simply drips it down into a pan in its base that needs to be emptied periodically like a dehumidifier. The other has a small plastic tube with a nozzle that fits inside of the 4" exhaust tube, and sprays the condensation out as a fine mist when it needs to be rid of it.

Overall, pretty simple setup...IF you have all of the pieces. Good luck.

Mark

Mark - IN. · Dec 18, 2014

The three main components...unit, exhaust tube, window slider.

Straw Boss · Dec 18, 2014

Or you could go this route.

Dick2 · Dec 19, 2014

I notice that there are a lot of the portable's returned to the store.

MarkB_MI · Dec 19, 2014

There should be an adjustable panel that fits in the window opening so you can exhaust the hot air without sucking in air from the outside. If you're using a patio door or very large window that's too big for the panel you'll have to cut a piece of plywood to close off the rest of the opening.

The basic problem with these things is they pull the air out of the room they're cooling, which means replacement air has to come from somewhere. Unless the rest of the house is cool, they'll just pull hot air into the room. They seem to do a pretty good job of converting electrical energy to noise, but they're not much good at keeping a room cool.

We used one for a couple of years because there's no window in our bedroom for a window unit (just a patio door). The best investment we ever made was to install a ductless A/C unit. Silent and efficient.

hd6gtom · Dec 19, 2014

have 1 in our food factory, works well in there.

Suffolk1 · Dec 19, 2014

MarkB - What make/model are you referring to? I'm interested in checking out this option.

MarkB_MI · Dec 19, 2014

Suffolk, we have a Mitsubishi "Mr. Slim" mini-split. Our particular system has a 21,000 Btu/hr outside unit with two indoor units, one 9000 Btu/hr and the other 15,000 Btu/hr. In retrospect we could have gone a bit smaller.

Being a certified cheapskate, I opted to install it myself, something I don't really recommend. At the least you need to be prepared to leak check it and pull a vacuum on the system. (The outside unit is pre-charged, so once you've pulled a good vacuum on everything else you just open the service valves.) But these systems are common enough these days you should be able to get one installed by a local contractor. I bought our system from an outfit in Florida called "goductless.com" that sells direct to homeowners.

It is amazing how quiet the system is. The indoor units are nearly silent. The outdoor unit is installed next to our deck, but you can sit on the deck and not hear the A/C over highway noise from the interstate a mile away.

WGM · Dec 19, 2014

The Mitsubishi mini's are the only way to go. Expensive compared to the typical window shaker junk but well worth it.

IH2444 · Dec 19, 2014

Yep may people who buy them thinkn they can just sit them in the middle of the room and it will cool it down

Re: O.T. Portable air conditioner vs. Window unit

Frank Dodson

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Mark - IN.

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Mark - IN.

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Straw Boss

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Dick2

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MarkB_MI

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hd6gtom

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Suffolk1

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MarkB_MI

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WGM

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IH2444

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