portable air conditioner or ?

[broadway]

The house is 2000 square foot.
The AC is at the NW corner.
The bedroom in the SE corner upstairs is the hottest room in the house.

I have seen the portable air conditioners.
Not only are they expensive, but they apparently don't work as well as the ugly in-the-window units.

Obviously, I have a fan in this bedroom.

What to do?

 

[travelover]

The house is 2000 square foot.
The AC is at the NW corner.
The bedroom in the SE corner upstairs is the hottest room in the house.

I have seen the portable air conditioners.
Not only are they expensive, but they apparently don't work as well as the ugly in-the-window units.

Obviously, I have a fan in this bedroom.

What to do?

The portables with two hoses work a lot better than the one hose units, but not as well as a window unit.

 

[marko]

I bought one a few years ago and returned it at 6:30 AM the next day.
What. A. Piece. Of. Junk!

It worked just fine. Until 2AM. When an alarm went off. To tell me that I had to drain the water it had collected before it could restart. The drain pan is at floor level. When full, you spill it all over the floor.

Maybe I just had a badly designed one.

YMMV

 

[broadway]

I don't understand why the window AC units are $100-$150, but the same BTU in the portable AC units are double and triple the cost.

 

[Texas Proud]

I don't understand why the window AC units are $100-$150, but the same BTU in the portable AC units are double and triple the cost.

My thinking (and I could be way off) is due to weight and having to have the ability to move often...

 

[Texas Proud]

I bought one a few years ago and returned it at 6:30 AM the next day.
What. A. Piece. Of. Junk!

It worked just fine. Until 2AM. When an alarm went off. To tell me that I had to drain the water it had collected before it could restart. The drain pan is at floor level. When full, you spill it all over the floor.

Maybe I just had a badly designed one.

YMMV

Some are designed to get rid of the water...

 

[SteveNU]

The biggest drawback to the ones I have used is having to deal with the condensate drain. Mine have this tiny tank which fills quickly so if you don't have a way to get rid of the water you end up having to dump the pan frequently which means it's pretty much useless unless you can babysit it.

I have put one up on blocks and used a large pan to collect the water so it will go for quite a while. I also had one located where I was able to use a hose to drain it into a crawl space. Ideally you need to be able to run a gravity drain hose or direct it to a pumped condensate collection tank.

They do work , not as good as a window unit but better than nothing.

 

[Sittinginthesun]

Two words for you - split ductless.

Had a system in my last house, worked amazingly well and I would buy another in a heartbeat. They are what cools half of Asia.

Quieter, does not block your window. More expensive but very effective.

 

[Red Badger]

Two words for you - split ductless.

Had a system in my last house, worked amazingly well and I would buy another in a heartbeat. They are what cools half of Asia.

Quieter, does not block your window. More expensive but very effective.

+1.

We had a portable - noisy as all get out. Step up one more level (to ductless) and you will solve your problem without adopting new problems.

 

[Peter]

Two words for you - split ductless.

Had a system in my last house, worked amazingly well and I would buy another in a heartbeat. They are what cools half of Asia.

Quieter, does not block your window. More expensive but very effective.

Agreed, but they are a LOT more expensive!

 

[freedomatlast]

The easiest solution may be to put a duct booster in the air duct going to the room in the SE corner. This is exactly what I did for a room in my last house with the same issue. It's basically a small fan that is mounted inside the duct work to boost air flow. I wired it to come on anytime the A/C fan is normally running and also added a switch to turn it off if I ever chose to do so. Worked great and cost under $50.00

 

[braumeister]

The easiest solution may be to put a duct booster in the air duct going to the room in the SE corner. This is exactly what I did for a room in my last house with the same issue. It's basically a small fan that is mounted inside the duct work to boost air flow. I wired it to come on anytime the A/C fan is normally running and also added a switch to turn it off if I ever chose to do so. Worked great and cost under $50.00

I did the same thing in a previous house.

For an even simpler solution, if your HVAC ducts are in the floor, you can get a fan that mounts on top of it and just plugs into a nearby outlet. They are thermostat controlled so only come on when needed. The big box hardware stores usually carry them.

 

[Big_Hitter]

what's wrong with a 115 window unit?

 

[broadway]

The easiest solution may be to put a duct booster in the air duct going to the room in the SE corner. This is exactly what I did for a room in my last house with the same issue. It's basically a small fan that is mounted inside the duct work to boost air flow. I wired it to come on anytime the A/C fan is normally running and also added a switch to turn it off if I ever chose to do so. Worked great and cost under $50.00

Would that mean cutting apart the duct to put in the fan?

what's wrong with a 115 window unit?

Heavy.

For an even simpler solution, if your HVAC ducts are in the floor, you can get a fan that mounts on top of it and just plugs into a nearby outlet. They are thermostat controlled so only come on when needed. The big box hardware stores usually carry them.

I did a search on 'duct fan' on HomeDept.com but I don't see what you mean.

Nevermind, I found them by searching 'vent fan'.

 

[Walt34]

what's wrong with a 115 window unit?

Some people think they're ugly, and some HOA's (where all the houses have CAC anyway) ban them for that reason. Others don't like them because they block half the daylight from the window.

 

[Just_Steve]

I did a search on 'duct fan' on HomeDept.com but I don't see what you mean.

Inductor 8 in. In-Line Duct Booster Fan-DB208 - The Home Depot

 

[Which Roger]

Some are designed to get rid of the water...

My LG has never left a drop of condensation. I thought all were like that.

 

[Big_Hitter]

My LG has never left a drop of condensation. I thought all were like that.

the primary purpose of an AC unit is to remove water from the air

i'm not sure how they cool otherwise

something about the equation PV=nRT

 

[EastWest Gal]

We bought a portable AC unit after seeing how effective it was in my dad's room in assisted living, which got too much afternoon sun. We've used it occasionally when DS is home, as his room is right over the garage. There is a setting for dehumidifying, which we don't use, as it means emptying the condensation chamber. It vents into the window with a hose and has a frame that mostly seals the window opening. It's ok but bulky. I'm going to check into a vent fan for his room.

 

[broadway]

Apparently there are two types of vent fans - one where you remove the register and put the register w/fan in and one where the fan goes over the register.

Both get about 4/5 star reviews.

Because the local Home Depot has the latter, that's the one I am going to try first.

 

[jimnjana]

We live in Florida and had a small window unit for the last 4 yrs. A few months back we switched to a portable, self evaporative one. Switched because we got new Windows and didn't want to void warranty. Happy with it, DW likes it cold while sleeping. We do not have to worry about emptying water reservoir.

 

[ERD50]

the primary purpose of an AC unit is to remove water from the air

i'm not sure how they cool otherwise

something about the equation PV=nRT

I think they evaporate the condensate and vent it outdoors with the hot air stream.

-ERD50

 

[broadway]

A few months back we switched to a portable, self evaporative one.

Would you share the make and model number?

 

[FIREd]

In our 2-story home, we just play with the air vents to distribute the cool air more evenly throughout the house. In the summer, we almost close the vents on the first floor (which stays naturally cooler than the second floor), and direct most of the cool air to the second floor (the cool air will find its way downstairs anyway). We also keep the vents in the second floor bedroom facing north almost closed (it stays pretty cool too, plus we do not use that room much). And we open the vents wide in the second floor rooms facing south and west (the warmest rooms in the house). So most of the cool air flows to those rooms. I am currently sitting in the south facing second floor bedroom and it is nice and cool in here (despite it being a hot, humid day outside).

 

[Nightcap]

I have just connected up our portable bedroom AC. The windows are sliders and would not support a window AC, nor are they permitted under the condo master documents. There was provision made for through-the-wall units on each floor, but the previous owner never had the holes cut, one of the reasons we bought this place. The intent is to install a mini-split, but this year the rears are going to be reshingled and the deck replaced, so it would be folly to install a mini-split before the work is finished.

Which means that there will be nights when my sleep is troubled by a persistent annoying high-pitched whine in the bedroom. The portable AC is loud, too.

Seriously, these things are lousy. If you can do a window AC or a mini-split, either is superior.