So an incandescent light bulb that might 20% efficient all the power ends up as heat and no power is converted to light ? Or the LED that might be 90% efficient to 10% heat and 90% light.
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Portable A/C in the garage
- Thread starter Matth3w
- Start date
American Locomotive
Well-known member
What I'm saying is, it doesn't matter. A 10 watt incandescent and a 10 watt LED will both heat the room the exact same amount. However a 10 watt LED bulb will emit much more visible light than a 10 watt incandescent, which will emit more invisible infrared light.
Think about it like this: The light bulb is continually emitting light into the room, correct? How come the room doesn't just keep getting brighter and brighter as the light builds up? The answer is the materials inside the room absorb most of the light. Every photon of light absorbed gets turned into heat.
The same is true for electric motors. Take something like a saw. Cutting requires a lot of power - it requires that power because of the friction and force needed to tear the wood molecules apart. As you tear those molecules apart, heat is generated. The amount of heat generated matches exactly the amount of power required to cut.
Even the same thing for a fan. If you have a 200w fan blowing in a room, does the air blowing around the room continually get faster and faster? No. The air encounters friction when it hits a wall, cieling, floor, objects inside the room. Etc... The friction manifests itself as heat.
Basically any bit of electricity you use inside your home will manifest itself as heat.
Think about it like this: The light bulb is continually emitting light into the room, correct? How come the room doesn't just keep getting brighter and brighter as the light builds up? The answer is the materials inside the room absorb most of the light. Every photon of light absorbed gets turned into heat.
The same is true for electric motors. Take something like a saw. Cutting requires a lot of power - it requires that power because of the friction and force needed to tear the wood molecules apart. As you tear those molecules apart, heat is generated. The amount of heat generated matches exactly the amount of power required to cut.
Even the same thing for a fan. If you have a 200w fan blowing in a room, does the air blowing around the room continually get faster and faster? No. The air encounters friction when it hits a wall, cieling, floor, objects inside the room. Etc... The friction manifests itself as heat.
Basically any bit of electricity you use inside your home will manifest itself as heat.
dfiler2
Well-known member
I'm not sure why everyone is so against the portable air conditioners, I use one in my 26 x 38 ft shop and it works great. It is well insulated but this summer with weeks in the mid to upper 90's it keeps it very comfortable.
American Locomotive
Well-known member
The reasons were explained very clearly in this thread. With a portable air conditioner, you basically get about half of its listed cooling capacity.I'm not sure why everyone is so against the portable air conditioners, I use one in my 26 x 38 ft shop and it works great. It is well insulated but this summer with weeks in the mid to upper 90's it keeps it very comfortable.
dfiler2
Well-known member
Just like a window air conditioner except I have no windows.
...and it works great.
...and it works great.
Window Ac is much more effective than portable AC. The window ac puts all the hot parts outside the house. Also doesn't blow conditioned air outside like single hose portablesJust like a window air conditioner except I have no windows.
...and it works great.
American Locomotive
Well-known member
No. Single-hose portable air conditioners do not effectively deliver their rated BTU because they take air from inside your building, and blow it outside through the hose. Every bit of air the unit blows outside has to get replaced inside your building, otherwise it would run out of air. Right? Obviously you don't run out of air, so where is all that replacement air coming from? That's right. Outside. So every cubic foot of air that portable AC blows out the hose ends up pulling a cubic foot of hot humid air back inside your building.Just like a window air conditioner except I have no windows.
...and it works great.
On the other hand, a window AC separates the components. The "hot end" of a window AC is contained entirely outside and the cold end is inside the building. The cold end just recycles the cold air inside, and the hot end exclusively uses the already hot outside air to do its thing.
In general, in a place with 90 degree days, a portable AC will have be 1.5-2x larger than a window or through-wall air conditioner to provide the same amount of cooling. Basically if you have a 14,000 BTU portable unit, an 8,000 BTU window unit will provide the same amount of cooling while using much less power.
It's great your portable unit keeps your shop cool, but unless it's a two-hose unit, it's using far more power than a window air conditioner would.
dfiler2
Well-known member
ok
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