Maytag Portable A/C

[Jeff May]

I had a Maytag portable A/C give to me.
When I first tried it out it would blow 68 to 70 degree air out. Not great, but I thought it would be ok for the shop. After about an hour it was over 80 in the shop, when I turned it on the shop was 73. It was vented to the outside also.
Are these things worth having looked at to see if there is a problem?
I thought maybe I'd give it a shot of Freon, I'm not an A/C man, but I could not find any fittings to attach a Freon hose to.
I think its an 8000 btu unit.
I did take the cover off and blow out the coils and inside. It didn't seem to bad. I had it sitting on my bench, so after blowing it out I plugged it in and left it run on the bench for about 30 minutes. The temp did drop down to about 63ish .
Is there anything I can look at, check or do to make it work a little better.
If the 63 degree temp is in the ball park I will go ahead and runa vent to exhaust the hot air and water drain.
Any help or suggestions will be appreciated.
Thanks,
Jeff in Hagerstown

 

[Falcon67]

My experience with them is at work, using them for emergency cooling in places like a data closet that lost it's small dedicated AC. My impression is they are not worth the cost. Most small AC units would do really well to even put out 60F air. My units stuck through the wall run about 60.

 

[Syberia]

My experience with any type of portable A/C is they don't cool worth a damn.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Unless it's a commercial unit it's not worth servicing...

Tommy

 

[NoMoreGreen]

I have an LG 12K BTU unit in my room that my wife and I use to cool our room when we sleep. it works. If yours has failed its probably cheaper to replace. your basically paying for the coils when you buy one.

Single exhaust portable ac > Dual exhaust/intake portable units > Window AC units

 

[stimpy]

if its one with the external air hose connections ( 2 hose unit ) , they work better if its plumbed to pull the outside air thru it, as it will pull hot air in the room thru cracks from the unit pulling air thru it and exhausting it outside, the little fan in them is very efficent on suction , we have one for our townehome ( 950sq) and when run sucking air from the room,
the room will not cool below 75* , but have it source from outside works great can get down into the 60's , also on the outlet line they make insulating sleeves as it does get hot and will radiate heat back into the room .
as for water most units use the water it pulls out of the air to help cool the condensor coil and drips it over it and then it gets blown outside with the exhaust air , mine has a water pump in the tray that ocassionally needs the inlet cleaned as the crud plugs it up . check to see if it has the pump and its working the water flow over the condensor will really cool things off from the heat exchange .

 

[stimpy]

oh and if it is the 2 hose design try to keep the lines short and straight as possible and when venting try to vent the hot line higher than the intake hose and 2-3 feet apart ( they make a adaptor for windows that works well ..