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Windows AC in a fireplace? YES!

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DCarr2

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So... some of you may remember me ranting over getting dragged into My moms/sisters new house project....

after much kicking and screaming... we got dragged into it... :wtf:

So we painted almost all of the interior... and while moving stuff around, my and my cousin, came across a window AC mom wanted moved to the basement (mom doesnt have a window, that will fit this ac....) Cuz says 'lets put this in the back of your truck' uh... ok... wtf am I gonna do with it? all my windows are crank outs?

Google to the rescue! :lol_hitti

Supposedly, I can put this in the my fireplace, if I seal it up, and add a fan to blow 'up'

So I did that...

Its totally hillbilly... dont care lol... got AC in the living room (which i never use) the kitchen, the dining room (never use) and its wafting this way to the back room... woohoo! we are down to 72F and humidity is dropping thruogh the floor!

bed room is still stuffy as hell though :(

But it works!... itll come in handy this week end - mid 90's
 
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jshillin

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Yeah, that should work just fine, but make sure you figure out a way to handle the condensation that will drop off of the back of the unit.
 
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Daedalus

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Doesn't the fan blowing up the chimney pull a large portion of the just-cooled air out from in front of the AC? It's designed to re-circulate the air in the home, and do a separate heat exchange with the air outside. The way you have it, it uses air from the home to perform the heat exchange in the rear, and you need to pull air from outside (via what?) to replace the air that gets blown up the chimney. It might cool adequately, but I bet it loses a lot of efficiency that way.
 
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ScottsGT

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What's all this no AC nonsense? Couldn't live here without it. I remember visiting my inlaws in upstate NY years ago. His spring ritual was to install the window units in 3 main areas. And this was a new house.
 
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DCarr2

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I blocked off the fire place with what I had on hand, its not pretty... but it works!
 
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Daedalus

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TractorJeff said:
Post 5 - No an Air Conditioner doesn't heat exchange front to back like you are thinking.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how to interpret your attempt to interpret what I said.

A window AC has cold air blowing out the front after being chilled by an evaporator, and hot air blowing out the back that just came from cooling the refrigerant in the condenser, just like most other ac systems. I'm just trying to understand such a unit can work well inside a largely enclosed fireplace, with or without a separate fan blowing up the chimney.

Between my mechanical engineering degree and my section 609 cert I like to think I understand how ACs work, but I'm always up for learning more.
 
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35mm

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Daedalus said:
I'm not sure how to interpret your attempt to interpret what I said.

A window AC has cold air blowing out the front after being chilled by an evaporator, and hot air blowing out the back that just came from cooling the refrigerant in the condenser, just like most other ac systems. I'm just trying to understand such a unit can work well inside a largely enclosed fireplace, with or without a separate fan blowing up the chimney.

Between my mechanical engineering degree and my section 609 cert I like to think I understand how ACs work, but I'm always up for learning more.
Click to expand...

They way I understand it is you block it off in such a way that the front of the ac is in the room and the back of the ac is in the fireplace. Cold air from the front goes in the house, hot air from the back goes up the chimney.

Actually pretty smart, except the condensation issue.
 
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firebirdparts

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Daedalus said:
I'm just trying to understand such a unit can work well inside a largely enclosed fireplace, with or without a separate fan blowing up the chimney.

Between my mechanical engineering degree and my section 609 cert I like to think I understand how ACs work, but I'm always up for learning more.
Click to expand...

I was thinking I'd just let it go. Even if he explained it, what good would it do us?
 
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MikeF2316

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35mm said:
They way I understand it is you block it off in such a way that the front of the ac is in the room and the back of the ac is in the fireplace. Cold air from the front goes in the house, hot air from the back goes up the chimney.

Actually pretty smart, except the condensation issue.
Click to expand...

The problem if hot air is going up the chimney, where is the air coming from? If it's coming from inside the house, then it's the stuff that's just been cooled. If it's coming down the chimney then there's a huge amount of recirculation, which is not good. Possibly it could be coming from an ash cleanout?
 
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RossABQ

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MikeF2316 said:
The problem if hot air is going up the chimney, where is the air coming from? If it's coming from inside the house, then it's the stuff that's just been cooled. If it's coming down the chimney then there's a huge amount of recirculation, which is not good. Possibly it could be coming from an ash cleanout?
Click to expand...

That is indeed the problem on the condenser side. No problem on the evaporator side as long as you keep it recirculating room air.

You could duct outside air to the condenser, or duct the hot condenser air up the chimney.
 
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LS6 Tommy

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It'll work for a while, then slowly lose efficiency. Eventually it will kill the compressor from high head pressure.

Tommy
 
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DCarr2

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I will happily admit, that this method, worked for me.

I cooled roughly 1500sq ft, with a 8000 btu AC in my fireplace...

next question is HOW

Ok so first you have to have something small enough to set the ac on, besides the floor... I used a small wooden box...

I used a 12" honeywell black fan, ($15 from walmart - great lil fans btw) to blow UP

I didnt even consider the condensation issue... it never crossed my mind...

I will say, using my infered term, that the fireplace temp behind my make shift 'wall' topped 140F

I used cardboard to block off the openning...

I ran the AC off an extension cord.. I did everything WRONG and it WORKED!

So I come home from work is 80F in here... I let out the dogs, then I turn on the AC... I turn on the living room C fan, and the back room C fan.... I wait an hour, ac on full blast... then I turn on the room movers...

they are home made squirrel cage fans, i think their called carpet dries/blowers today? I have 3... they move an absolute ****-ton of air... I use one to blow down the hall...

Also use the furnace blower to move air

after 4-5hrs, the house drops 6-10F below outside temps.




it cant compete with central AC

but it does work... As far as drippage? I havent pulled the fireplace apart yet, thats tomorrow.

I read about the air issue.. and did open the ash clean out - which is in my garage...
 
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