Anyone have one of those indoor portable air conditioners?

[Wag]

I purchased one at BJ's and will be picking it up tommorow. It's a Haier 12,000BTU, and I've been hearing varying opinions on them.

I live in a condo and have no choice. I can't put a window in because the rules don't allow it.

 

[Raincity]

The back will have a hookup for a exhaust tube like one on a dryer that will mount in your window frame.

 

[Eeezee]

Portable air conditioner? Oh god, something tells me there are people who wheel these around their homes without hooking the exhaust tube up to the window. Poor, despicable bastards

 

[GeekDrew]

Originally posted by: Eeezee
Portable air conditioner? Oh god, something tells me there are people who wheel these around their homes without hooking the exhaust tube up to the window. Poor, despicable bastards

It doesn't *have* to go to a window, it could to to an exhaust vent.... :|

 

[jtvang125]

I don't have one but was considering one myself. The only complaint I've heard so far is that they didn't buy one with enough air flow (BTU) to effectively cool the space they were using it in.

On a similar note, avoid the water evaporating coolers if the room you're using it in has electronic equipment, especially computers.

 

[Wag]

I know about the tube. My windows open vertically so hopefully the venting kit will fit.

It's supposed to not need to be drained, but I suspect it will still have a built in water tank that will need to be drained when full. I guess I'll just wheel it into the bathroom if that's the case.

I just hope it does a halfway decent job. As it stands now I have 1 15,000BTU wall unit handling my entire top floor apt (under an attic), which is totally inadequate.

 

[Raincity]

Originally posted by: Wag
I know about the tube. My windows open vertically so hopefully the venting kit will fit.

It's supposed to not need to be drained, but I suspect it will still have a built in water tank that will need to be drained when full. I guess I'll just wheel it into the bathroom if that's the case.

I just hope it does a halfway decent job. As it stands now I have 1 15,000BTU wall unit handling my entire top floor apt (under an attic), which is totally inadequate.

You need to calculate how much btu you need by room size, insulation, direct sun light and climate.

 

[geecee]

Originally posted by: Wag
I know about the tube. My windows open vertically so hopefully the venting kit will fit.

It's supposed to not need to be drained, but I suspect it will still have a built in water tank that will need to be drained when full. I guess I'll just wheel it into the bathroom if that's the case.

I just hope it does a halfway decent job. As it stands now I have 1 15,000BTU wall unit handling my entire top floor apt (under an attic), which is totally inadequate.

I don't think you need to wheel it anywhere. If it's like the one I was thinking of buying for my parents' house from Home Depot, then it has a removable water tub that you can just slide out and dump in a bathtub, sink or whatever.

 

[olds]

We have one that is a portable "swamp" cooler.
You can add ice and water to it in separate chambers. It's OK for small closed rooms, like a home office but that's about it.
Haven't used the refridgerated type.

 

[Wag]

Some of them don't have a removable tank, just a place to connect a hose. I suspect this one is one of those units, and will only need to be drained if operated as a dehumidifier.

 

[Raincity]

Originally posted by: Wag
Some of them don't have a removable tank, just a place to connect a hose. I suspect this one is one of those units, and will only need to be drained if operated as a dehumidifier.

If you live in a high humidity climate your still going to get condensation from the moisture building up around the coils.

 

[BobDaMenkey]

Haven't had experiance with one of those particular kinds. However, I have a bigarse evap for my garage. The thing works wonders. Never got the 'auto fill' hose attachment to work right, cuz it always leaked, so ya just have to make sure that you fill it up every now and again.

 

[GalvanizedYankee]

Originally posted by: Raincity

Originally posted by: Wag
Some of them don't have a removable tank, just a place to connect a hose. I suspect this one is one of those units, and will only need to be drained if operated as a dehumidifier.

If you live in a high humidity climate your still going to get condensation from the moisture building up around the coils.

:light: The condensate off the cold evaporator is pumped over the hot condenser where
it evaporates and is blown out with the warm exhaust air. Many window units are like this.


...Galvanized

 

[Wag]

Let's just hope it works. I have a mighty big apartment and a single window unit would have solved all my problems.

 

[Raincity]

Originally posted by: GalvanizedYankee

Originally posted by: Raincity

Originally posted by: Wag
Some of them don't have a removable tank, just a place to connect a hose. I suspect this one is one of those units, and will only need to be drained if operated as a dehumidifier.

If you live in a high humidity climate your still going to get condensation from the moisture building up around the coils.

:light: The condensate off the cold evaporator is pumped over the hot condenser where
it evaporates and is blown out with the warm exhaust air. Many window units are like this.


...Galvanized

Sure that?s what they where design to do but the hot condenser can work only so hard. I have a Maytagg unit that will have some condensation buildup when the humidity is real high.

 

[jwebj]

I have 2 of them, one soleus and one everstar. They don't work as well as an equivalent btu window unit, but they do work. The Everstar has a bucket that has to be dumped everyday, the soleus has an evaporator and has not filled the bucket yet.

 

[OutHouse]

no, my wifes girlfriend got one last weekend and it blows the circuit breaker. I isolated a circuit with absoutly nothing else plugged in and in 30 min the circuit blows. the box says it pulls 10.5 amps and the breaker is 15 amps. i took it back and got a new one and same exact sh*t. I then replaced the breaker and POP! those units have to pull more than 10.5 amps, i wish i had a amp meter so i can see exactly how many amps that thing pulls.

this is the one she got.

 

[Treyshadow]

We used one for lan parties at my buddies house. Great for getting the excess heat out of the room. Worked quite well actually. He had to put in a new circuit for his theater room, and this rides on that circuit (it takes a good bit of power).

 

[Wag]

Thanks for all the input. They are apparently becoming quite popular since many people are now living in condos.

I know they are very popular in Europe because of the construction of the older buildings.

If the venting kit isn't long enough for my casement window, I'll have to cut a piece of cardboard and block up the window with that.

 

[0roo0roo]

Originally posted by: Wag
I know about the tube. My windows open vertically so hopefully the venting kit will fit.

It's supposed to not need to be drained, but I suspect it will still have a built in water tank that will need to be drained when full. I guess I'll just wheel it into the bathroom if that's the case.

I just hope it does a halfway decent job. As it stands now I have 1 15,000BTU wall unit handling my entire top floor apt (under an attic), which is totally inadequate.

nothing duct tape and a bit of cardboard can't fix

 

[B00ne]

They work, but not well and waste a lot of energy.
If you have to get a portable one, get a split portable - but dont expect wonders from those either. Oh and both versions are very noisy - forget about using them at night

 

[Chrono]

yeah. i just bought one a couple of weeks ago for my room... and so far it's not doing a good job at all whatsoever. i mean it's cool in theory and for those unfortunate to be unable to mount a windowed version to their windows, but ... yeah.