Portable A/C ?

[Brent T]

Anyone with experience with something like this? Planning on a mini-split at some point, but thought this might be a stop-gap until I can get the 220v run. Or am I just wasting $550? 750sf garage in Phoenix, AZ. Doors are insulated now, attic and walls are not, but will be by next spring. I don't expect to keep the garage 70 degrees, but below 90 would be nice in the summer. Many days it's over 110 in the garage during the summer months now.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Honeywel...t-with-Dehumidifier-Fan-Black-Silver/23091461

 

[dcg9381]

I haven't used one, but have considered one.
Two things:
1) You need to vent them to the outside (heat has to go somewhere)
2) They produce condensation, so you either empty the pan or need a drain.


AZ is pretty hot - might need two of em, what is the BTU rating?

 

[Brent T]

I have the vent issue taken care of and I can deal with the drain. It's a 14k unit. Just not sure how well it will work when the intake air is over 100? Kinda seems like these are meant for cooling down a room in a house that's already air conditioned, just can't keep up situation?

 

[Wrench97]

We have one in a 6' x 12' office vented though the ceiling(false ceiling in a shop) that opens up to the shop area not great if she keeps the door closed it cools the room down but not as well as the old 5,000 btu window unit that used to be in the wall blowing hot air into the shop. Open the door for a bit it takes awhile to recover and yes on a humid day dump the water at lunch time and before you leave.

 

[FlyFisher1]

I have one in my double car garage with a 10’ ceiling. Got it a few years ago when my dog developed breathing problems. Keeps the uninsulated garage around 85 when it’s triple digits outside but it is undersized. Next step is to insulate walls and get a mini-split system now that I am retired and the garage is more about my comfort and not the dogs.


Sent from my iPhone using The Garage Journal mobile app

 

[Bert_]

Been a couple threads about them recently. General opinion is they work to an extent but are far less efficient than a window unit

 

[rlitman]

The three hose units are HORRIBLY inefficient. Four hoses are much better, but are very noisy.

I say they’re a waste of money.

 

[shade]

I'm also in Arizona. It will work fine.
If you want to cool a 5x5 space.
Super inefficient
Save your money for a mini split

 

[Brent T]

Sounds like I should just hold out for the mini-split. Guess I better get the 220v run before next spring. Thanks all for the feedback.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

I'm also in Arizona. It will work fine.
If you want to cool a 5x5 space.
Super inefficient
Save your money for a mini split

X2. If you stand directly in front of it 5' away, you might be comfortable.

Tommy

 

[Corndoggeh]

I live in the east valley and house faces south I have about a 500sq ft garage. Insulated door, brick walls, uninsulated ceiling. I use a DUAL HOSE 14k unit. On triple digit days, 105+, I would turn the unit on the night before to cool the garage overnight. The coolest it would get is between 82-84. Letting it run all day as i fo work in the garage the hottest it would get up yo is atound 94-96. Theyre not too efficient BUT coupled with my dual 30" shop fans it takes enough of an edge off that I can do work without dying. This time of year where the highs are under 100 i can cool the garage into the low 70s overnight, just know that heat transfer rate increases as temperature increases so for those in other atates that only get highs in the 90s a portable like mine may work.

I would get a portable only if you have no other choice like me where i live in a rental and want to leave as little of a mark after i leave. In your chase i doubt a portable would get you close to 90 on a hot day with no insulation in the ceiling or walls. Money better spent buying multiple pedestal 30" shop fans at HF and have them aimed at you

 

[ford33]

Save your money.

I have used two of those at different times in bedrooms and living areas all under 200 sq ft. They barely keep the rooms cool. While they will take the edge off the heat they don't cool sufficiently. They are expensive to operate.

Insulate and install a proper AC unit.

 

[1rahamay]

I have one for my single car CMU garage. It does not cool the space. It provides comfort if you are sitting in front of it. That’s about it. As far as being worth the money, I gave up on it since it just wasn’t worth the hassle and it has been sitting for 10 yrs.

 

[coleman10]

A timely thread as I was just talking to my wife about possibly giving a portable AC a shot in the garage. Guess I’ll pass. We live in south Florida. In our old house, the garage seemed much more cool, but I had installed an insulated garage door. When we moved a few years back, the garage door here is uninsulated. The garage is stifling. I can walk out there at 10 PM and before too long, I’m drenched. We just purchased a portable AC as part our hurricane gear to cool one bedroom if the power went out. That’s why we had thought about getting a larger unit for the garage.

The AC on that side of the house is a little oversized. I am wondering about adding an AC drop into the garage with a baffle I can close during the week when I’m not out there and can open on the weekends. Shouldn’t cost too much, I’d think.

 

[themiller]

The two hose units are decent. The single hose are universally **** - they HAVE to pull in makeup warm air from somewhere - and it isn't the exhaust hose.

Everyone I've met with a two hose unit that complains hasn't installed it correctly. Either they haven't sealed around the window, or they install it with the hot air hose on the bottom, or they put the small hose for the intake and large for the exhaust.

I have a 11k dual hose that works about as well as a 8k window unit. I also have two 10k windows units that both work much better than the 11k. I have a single hose unit that I use at work. All **** compared to central AC - YMMV.

 

[Rc_Guy]

We have a smaller one in our BBQ vending trailer and it is supposed to cool about 300 sqft, our trailer is 8'x12' and it does not cool it, it takes the humidity out but that is it.

 

[Bigbandguy]

I have one that won't make a dent in a 12 x 16 shed. Don't waste your money or believe the hype. They are mostly junk IMHO.

 

[American Locomotive]

The single hose units are a complete joke, and I don't even know why the EPA allows them to be sold. They pump their hot air outside through the hose, but every cubic foot of air they pump out of the house means a cubic foot of hot humid outside air has to leak back in to the house somewhere. They can typically cool one room down at the expense of making the rest of the house hotter.

The two hose units are better, but are often poorly designed and don't work as well as they should. It utterly baffles me why these things are apparently impossible to get right.

 

[jimmie jam]

The AC on that side of the house is a little oversized. I am wondering about adding an AC drop into the garage with a baffle I can close during the week when I’m not out there and can open on the weekends. Shouldn’t cost too much, I’d think.

PM sent.....

 

[LS6 Tommy]

The AC on that side of the house is a little oversized. I am wondering about adding an AC drop into the garage with a baffle I can close during the week when I’m not out there and can open on the weekends. Shouldn’t cost too much, I’d think.

I wouldn't. It's a safety issue for both fire and fumes, not to mention a code violation.

Tommy

 

[coleman10]

I wouldn't. It's a safety issue for both fire and fumes, not to mention a code violation.



Tommy

Interesting. I hadn't thought about that. I don't use the garage to park or work on cars, only as a workshop and for storage, but this does sound logical. I'll have to read up on it a little. I don't want to do anything that would be a safety hazard.

 

[dereksummers]

Here is my experience with these things:
- as others said, 2 hose is better than 1
- they are loud. Like, really loud. I had a Whynter unit that sounded like a jet taking off in the room.

The biggest problem with these units:
1) The exhaust hose gets hot, and it's basically negating some of the cooling. In some cases that will negate a lot of cooling, especially if you extend the hose to reach a window.
2) The mount for the window is going to leak a lot of outside air in because it doesn't seal.
3) And if you are blowing out of a window that doesn't have a screen, every bug in a 50 mile radius is going to enter through the hoses and live in your A/C.

So these are decent, but in the end I gave it up as well.

 

[Bmw0323]

Well I have this unit and yea it makes a lot of noise but it cools down our second story master bedroom that is 19 x 15 and that is with 4 German shepherds in with us. I did put in a 5 inch copper vent just for this type of unit.We keep at 66 and works fine.

 

[b-boy]

I'd pass. I have one and it can barely keep up with the heat. It's only good if you stand in front of it.

 

[Stuey]

We had one once, for a grad school apartment that had bad AC performance and no ability to add a window unit.

It didn't cool things down very well at all. $500 on adjustable fans, or fans and a dehumidifer would have been a better buy.

 

[Xpectation]

I purchased a Chigo 8,000 BTU portable A/C. I read and read and read information for almost 2 weeks and scoured through hundreds of reviews to come to this decision. The reason I picked the Chigo is because it is the only portable A/C I could find that uses the remote control as a “smart”thermostat. In other words, I can place the remote control inside my grow tent and set the desired temperature, and the A/C will automatically control when the compressor runs in order to maintain the temperature that I set based on the environment that closely surrounds the remote control.

All the other portable A/C’s that I looked at utilized 24-hour timers which the user has to set. So basically, you have no way of knowing how long to run the A/C to achieve the desired temperature without constantly checking the temperature inside your grow space and making a lot of changes until you figure out how long it should run in order to achieve and maintain a certain temperature inside your grow space. It would involve a lot of trial and error, and if you’re not paying attention, you could easily lower the temperature inside your grow space to levels that could be counterproductive to your plants.

I plan on running a large diameter dryer vent from the front of the A/C directly into the tent rather than cooling the entire room where my grow tent is. This way the A/C will have a much smaller space to cool and won’t run as long.