Portable AC is useless

[HotRodBiker]

I wish I had read up on portables before I purchased one. ALL HYPE!

If you are thinking about one, stop this instant and save your money. I'm "lucky" I guess because I purchased a refurbed unit from woot! for $300, retail is $600.

I'm off to Craigslist to see if I can make a few bucks off of this unit and put it towards a mini split.

 

[Falcon67]

Sorry that didn't work out - *****. Hope you get something out of it.

 

[Pathfinders]

I wish I had read up on portables before I purchased one. ALL HYPE!

If you are thinking about one, stop this instant and save your money. I'm "lucky" I guess because I purchased a refurbed unit from woot! for $300, retail is $600.

I'm off to Craigslist to see if I can make a few bucks off of this unit and put it towards a mini split.

Portable sucking device for sale

 

[Weird Tolkienish Figure]

Try wrapping a blanket around the tube. That's what I do. Mine keeps me cool all summer long.

The problem is that the vent tubes heat up and the system works against itself.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

Portable sucking device for sale

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

You do realize they're designed for small areas right?
It's a portable window air conditioner.

 

[firworks]

My roommate had one because he said his bedroom wasn't cold enough even though we have central air. It did make his room much cooler but it was cooling a single bedroom with the door shut.

 

[lutter94]

Gf bought one on Craigslist for 120. Retail was maybe 250. Worked good for a non ac one bdrm apartment. Then she gave it to her dad. Since he was in a different unit before she moved into a house. She wants another one for the finished non ac attic

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[PCustoms]

Have one as an emergency backup while we get the central unit fixed. Room is 30x25, multiple computers and other equipment, 2 doors and people in and out all day. Been at 75 for the past 2 months.

 

[dsimatt]

I tell everyone that asks not to get one because for what it costs to buy and run plus the stupid hose setups. I have mine in my bedroom and at 4 when I turned it on it was 75* in there and right now its 70 and when I go to bed at 10 it might be 68* and its a small bedroom.

I get pissed off at it but really its my ******* that bought a house with no ac or didn't notice the dumbfuck previous owners that updated the windows went with the stupidest ones possible, so while it doesn't do a great job it still does cool down my room.

 

[WhiffySpark]

I tell everyone that asks not to get one because for what it costs to buy and run plus the stupid hose setups. I have mine in my bedroom and at 4 when I turned it on it was 75* in there and right now its 70 and when I go to bed at 10 it might be 68* and its a small bedroom.

I get pissed off at it but really its my ******* that bought a house with no ac or didn't notice the dumbfuck previous owners that updated the windows went with the stupidest ones possible, so while it doesn't do a great job it still does cool down my room.

Mine keeps our oversized bedroom at 66 all night long? Single hose setup too lol

 

[dsimatt]

Mine keeps our oversized bedroom at 66 all night long? Single hose setup too lol

Mine can get the room down to the low 60s to when it cools off early morning, thou if you read the reviews on a lot of these different models its been in borrowed time the last few years so I should really complain.

Mines the dual hose setup that's supposed to be so much better but I don't really buy into it, the last few weeks with this nasty humidity I've come to decide that there will either be a more permanent AC system installed in my house or it on the market come next summer.

 

[Zeke]

Not so bad for one room if you don't have an ideal spot for a window shaker. My office has no windows, just French doors. I cut a 6" hole in the wall and backed that joker right up to it. Works fine. The longer the exhaust hose the less efficient, insulated or not.

 

[Ohmthis]

I use one in a 15 X 22 room at our lake house until this fall when I can add a mini split. It does really well. I'm going to keep it for emergency situations at home or my rentals.

 

[HotRodBiker]

I just got back from dropping it off at Fed Ex, Woot is letting me return it. WOO HOO!

I let it run almost 3 days in my garage. Never opened the garage doors and since it was raining a lot the last two days, it managed to get as low as 75°... and the outside temp was 74°. When I was doing some light wood working yesterday, the temp jumped up from 78° to 84° in no time.

My fault for not researching the portables and thinking that BTU's were the only thing to consider. I can't see how the unit is rated for 14k. I'm confident this thing would be fine to cool a room in my house, but anything more is too much.

So, I get my $300+ back, I don't have to deal with trying to sell that unit and I'm researching a mini-split now.

 

[Trey T]

I had to replace one of those for a mini split.

 

[HotRodBiker]

You do realize they're designed for small areas right?
It's a portable window air conditioner.

According to their website the 14k BTU unit was supposed to cool an area larger then my garage. Live and learn.

 

[sirworkalot]

A single hose portable is the most inefficient type of AC. In a small space it actually creates a vacuum in the room since it draws its air from within the room. This puts extra work on the unit to pull in fresh air. It also has to compensate for the heat the compressor generates while cooling the air. A dual hose unit is slightly larger but draws its air from the outside which avoids the negative pressure situation and dissipates heat more effectively. It also cools much better. The most efficient small space units are the window mounted AC units either in the window or cut into a wall. I am investigating that solution right now to replace my single hose portable unit. I also failed to do my research before buying. I am cooling a 240 sq ft insulated Tuff Shed that I converted to wine cellar. The single hose unit struggles to keep me at 80 degrees during our 100+ degree days here in the California Central Valley. Currently looking at the GE 8,000 BTU window unit.

 

[Know Wosad]

I thought you meant portable Air COMPRESSOR. They **** too so no matter

 

[ImportTuner]

I have a Toyotomi TID2400, 8000 BTU and it works great; had it for over 10+ years.

 

[rpcraft]

The best I have seen for area's where you can't do central A/c and heat or a window unit (in a wall or window) is to take and make a bottom board that sits under the garage door and place a window unit in it under the garage door. Once you set it in place with some footers you just release the door lift mechanism and gently lower it down on the boars/ac unit. Only catch is it kind of takes away the natural light in the garage. I think the best thing I would do is just get a really large shop fan that moves some air. I can take the heat, I just can't handle when I am suffocating in a vehicle with no air moving, lol

 

[haugy]

Yep, I learned the hard way as well. I'm in a rental home for the time being and needed some cool air in my "garage" as I've been doing a lot of project work. It's 95 degrees down here and I was dying. That damn thing did nothing but inflate my power bill and can barely keep the garage around 86-87.

 

[cory58]

WOOT may be the problem. Everything I bought for them was complete junk, including a $2,000 TV.

 

[rpcraft]

Yeah I imagine the problem is there is only so much they can cool in area's that are fairly humid. I was looking at the idea of getting a swamp cooler to sit in my garage and there was a map I found that basically spelled it out. The whole Zone around the Gulf area just doesn't do well with evaporative cooling and as much as this units try to be AC units most of them just fail when it come to dealing with hot humid locations

 

[crucible]

Was an exhaust hose set up? Many/most/all portables cool the air, but they create heat in doing so, and should have a hot/humidified air exhaust hose to outside.

If non-window portable unit is simply sitting there taking in the same humidified/warm air as the surrounding area plus the heat the unit itself is generating, it won't be very efficient.

 

[jeanjean]

Well, I am also using a unit. I bought it for three hundred dollars, it is useful, otherwise I may have died in my rental house because of the high temperature in summer. You need to know that portable AC is small, there are not many complete parts, it will be very noisy, but you can take it to any room. Don't ask too much.

 

[jblnut]

I use one in my camper (School Bus) and it does amazing. The camper has enough air leaks that the air vacuum thing is not a problem. It cools quite well.

I put it in my shop (24'x24') the other day and although it ran all day and cooled down only a few degrees it REALLY took the humidity out and it felt much better.

I dunno, it is a good thing in the bus but not that impressive in the shop. I'd buy it again though.

 

[like2wheel]

WOOT may be the problem. Everything I bought for them was complete junk, including a $2,000 TV.

This.
They were great until Amazon bought them.
So sad...

 

[dsimatt]

I use one in my camper (School Bus) and it does amazing. The camper has enough air leaks that the air vacuum thing is not a problem. It cools quite well.

I put it in my shop (24'x24') the other day and although it ran all day and cooled down only a few degrees it REALLY took the humidity out and it felt much better.

I dunno, it is a good thing in the bus but not that impressive in the shop. I'd buy it again though.

My mini split will cool my house better and cheaper than the portable did a couple of rooms. Yes if you ran it all summer long it might cooler your garage but it's power consumption would eat up most savings for what a cheaper mini costs.

 

[hobie1dog]

I rent a 1 car garage at our condos and exhaust the 8K btu KUL brand into the attic, but it can't overcome the non- insulated space, but it was given to me, so I can't expect much. I don't get charged for the electric I use. I will try getting a piece of insulated flexible duct to go over the vinyl flex duct.

 

[jblnut]

My mini split will cool my house better and cheaper than the portable did a couple of rooms. Yes if you ran it all summer long it might cooler your garage but it's power consumption would eat up most savings for what a cheaper mini costs.

I do not disagree with any of that. If this little shop would be sticking around long term something else would be preferred but at this point I look at it as a glorified dehumidifier and at that it does well. Electricity cost is not a major concern as I got the portable for almost nothing so it'll take a while to add up to something noticeable because I only run it once in a while. When we run it in the camper we've already paid for the electric with the site so

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

Movincool aint pretty, but dont ****
https://www.grainger.com/product/MOVINCOOL-Commercial-Industrial-115VACV-4TM51

 

[Scud67]

Strange... we have 2 portables. One in a bedroom and one in a living room. They both work pretty well. Certainly not as well as a window unit, but I don't have to remove the unit to get fresh air into the house on non-humid, nice days. I really hated not being able to have fresh air at night as taking the window units out is a PITA. They work for my situation....

 

[koenbro]

Mini-split or nothing.


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[Nick Danger]

Movincool aint pretty, but dont ****
https://www.grainger.com/product/MOVINCOOL-Commercial-Industrial-115VACV-4TM51

Those work great. The funny thing is that the big box store coolers claim to have the same 14,000 BTUs as this cooler, at a tenth of the price. They aren't even close.

 

[Showkey]

Movincool aint pretty, but dont ****
https://www.grainger.com/product/MOVINCOOL-Commercial-Industrial-115VACV-4TM51

In true GJ overkill:
Wow it works.........but.........$3700

 

[American Locomotive]

Those work great. The funny thing is that the big box store coolers claim to have the same 14,000 BTUs as this cooler, at a tenth of the price. They aren't even close.

It's not like a 14,000 BTU window air-conditioner costs that much.

It's not like there's really anything different about a portable unit compared to a window unit. The biggest issue is the vast majority of portable units are "single hose" setups to exhaust the hot condenser air.

That means every cubic foot of hot air the portable blows outside your window, a cubic foot hot 90°F humid outside air gets pulled into your house. It basically cancels itself out.

Some of the better units have two hoses, but a lot of the two hose units implement it in a very bad way: The inlet hose just goes dumps in the base of the unit without actually shrouding the condenser. That still allows the unit to draw air from your house.

I really wish the EPA would just crack down on these units and mandate them all to be proper two-hose setups.

 

[awdblazer]

did you vent it outside???

 

[LS6 Tommy]

In true GJ overkill:
Wow it works.........but.........$3700

Movincools are great, but they're not all that great at comfort cooling a fairly large, open space. They're meant to be spot coolers-point the discharge directly at a server rack, machine, etc. We had 6 of them at my last job.

Tommy

 

[nh_yota]

Zombie thread!

Portable a/c units are not optimal but are better than nothing.