Stand alone A/C

[skyking]

Has anyone ever used one of those a/c units like you get at Sams. They are portable and just vent to the outside through what looks like a dryer hose. I am thinking of getting my wife one for her sewing room. 375 sq.ft.

 

[Craptain]

I have one in my "Office" It works fine for the space I use it in. The office is about 100 sq ft but is just a partitioned off part of my shop, not insulated and not sealed. Summertime it does not keep up. But with a proper room in a home it should do OK.
Downside! As with all AC's it produces a lot of condensate water. This goes to a small tank, in the unit. It needs to be drained often. For me at lest daily and in Summer more often. Or there is an option to put a drain to outside. But I have no convenient place to drain it so I stick with the tank option. For now....

Also check the rating as they come in a couple of sizes. The small ones are worthless. I think mine is 16,000 btu.

 

[M17715]

I have one in my "Office" It works fine for the space I use it in. The office is about 100 sq ft but is just a partitioned off part of my shop, not insulated and not sealed. Summertime it does not keep up. But with a proper room in a home it should do OK.
Downside! As with all AC's it produces a lot of condensate water. This goes to a small tank, in the unit. It needs to be drained often. For me at lest daily and in Summer more often. Or there is an option to put a drain to outside. But I have no convenient place to drain it so I stick with the tank option. For now....

Also check the rating as they come in a couple of sizes. The small ones are worthless. I think mine is 16,000 btu.

16,000 is pretty big. I have a 5,000 btu window A/C in my bedroom which is about 12x14 (170 sq. ft.) and it does a good job in 90+ degree heat. You are right, though. I do wish it was bigger.

 

[Kevin C]

Has anyone ever used one of those a/c units like you get at Sams. They are portable and just vent to the outside through what looks like a dryer hose. I am thinking of getting my wife one for her sewing room. 375 sq.ft.

I have one for my office in the house. It's an older 9000 BTU model that's not super efficient (9.6 seer). That said, it does a great job on a 150 sq foot room.

We have a 13,000 BTU LG portable in the shop (SEER of 10.1). That just cools 625 sq feet. The shop is very well insulated and the cool floor helps. Neither unit needs a water drain, the waste water goes out the exhaust. On the dehumidify setting it does need to be drained, same thing when you use it as a heat pump.

So far that's worked very well, although Portland OR is not very humid. If your going portable, a bit of extra capacity seems to be a good idea.

In the office a window unit was not practical (large casement windows). In the shop its nice to not have to dedicate a window and the portable works well enough. That and I can aim it towards where I'm working.

The window units typically have a SEER of 12 or better.

 

[bob from indiana]

I have a Royal Sovergn from Sam's club. It does a poor job of cooling my 300 sq ft insulated room in my pole barn. When our house air failed we put it in the master bedroom and it did a very poor job of cooling us overnight. I have been very disapointed in it.

 

[Zeke]

I have an LG from HD. It's loud and the vent hose is usually around 110º radiating captured heat right back into the room. In fact, in the vicinity of the intake. The vents tend to be around 67º whereas my window units are at 55-56º with all of the exhaust on the outside. I'd give the free standing A/C units a 2-3 star rating.

What I wish they made was a split unit with a flexible line to the outside condenser along with the power supply.

 

[Mike007]

The single hose type is one of the dumbest designs Ive seen. It pulls conditioned air from the home and pumps it across the condenser and dumps it outside. In turn the air is replaced in the house by unconditioned air from outside. Make zero sense to me. If they make a dual pipe model it would be much more ideal.

 

[skyking]

Thanks for the advice ,I do listen to you guys before I make a decision.

 

[Zeke]

The single hose type is one of the dumbest designs Ive seen. It pulls conditioned air from the home and pumps it across the condenser and dumps it outside. In turn the air is replaced in the house by unconditioned air from outside. Make zero sense to me. If they make a dual pipe model it would be much more ideal.

They do make a dual hose model that cools the condenser with outside air. I installed one for a lady 2 years ago but I haven't seen any for sale lately.

 

[Warrenator]

I have owned 2, neither was worth a darn. Seems to me, not only does it have to cool the room, but all the waste heat the unit makes during the process ALSO has to go outside through the hose. They also make one heckuva racket while they are doing their zero cooling. Much better to have the vibrate-y, noisy, unit outside and pump the cool air in. I could not do a window unit in my bedroom, and funds are low at the moment, so I did a "redneck central air" and placed a window unit ($200 bucks, Sanyo) on a stand outside, then installed 2 6" register boxes onto the front of the unit (silver tape, tinsnips, insulating foam so it doesn't sweat) and connected it to two long pieces of flexible insulated ducting.

Basically take a window unit and put two long hoses on the front, now all the cool air goes into your room. Works like a charm. Only drawback is that thermostat will not work, since it is outside in the heat.

 

[Exceller8]

We use one every single night during the summer. We turn up our regular A/C unit and switch to the portable at night while we sleep. It not only saves $$$, it keeps the room nice and cool. The only draw back in when its really humid you need to keep a small bucket for the drain hose. I emptied mine today and it was half full.

 

[Craptain]

Checked on my unit. It is actually 12,000 btu. Mine is single hose and that could be part of why it is just OK rather than great. I didn't know about the two hoses option before.