Air conditioning question

[con1_uk]

Hi all,

Just bought one of those portable AC units (half price from Argos) it gets good reviews and I am actually surprised it works really week but it needs venting through a wall or window to work best. The room I intend to use it most is in my converted garage (connected to house). What I propose to do is vent it through an internal wall into our wash room where the dryer is, the dryer is already vented through the wall to outside, is it possible to connect to the flexi pipe that the dryer uses that runs to the outside? I will buy some proper solid pipe work as opposed to the flexi stuff both the AC unit and dryer currently use now. Is my plan sound? Thanks for reading.

 

[con1_uk]

PS, don’t tell Greta…. I work from home so I need a comfortable environment to work in.

 

[Mottie]

What will stop the dryer exhaust venting into the garage when in use? Just give it its own vent.

 

[foxhole]

Hi all,

Just bought one of those portable AC units (half price from Argos) it gets good reviews and I am actually surprised it works really week but it needs venting through a wall or window to work best. The room I intend to use it most is in my converted garage (connected to house). What I propose to do is vent it through an internal wall into our wash room where the dryer is, the dryer is already vented through the wall to outside, is it possible to connect to the flexi pipe that the dryer uses that runs to the outside? I will buy some proper solid pipe work as opposed to the flexi stuff both the AC unit and dryer currently use now. Is my plan sound? Thanks for reading.

No windows?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Just bought one of those portable AC units (half price from Argos) it gets good reviews and I am actually surprised it works really week but it needs venting through a wall or window to work best.

Not just to work best, venting them, is the only way they can work. Unvented, they make the environment even warmer. You need to exhaust the heated air, by as short a route as possible, either via a window, or a hole through a wall to outdoors. If you pipe it to another room, it will simply make that one hotter. If you use a window, the window opening needs to be sealed around the pipe, a bit of ply will do that.

 

[Old Salt]

I think if you tee into the existing vent it will back pressure the dryer. Personally I would fit a vent into the garage wall for the best performance of the ac unit. You can get a sealing kit that velcros to an open window and the flexible vent seals into. I found they work quite well.

For info having used a portable unit a couple of years ago I had a permanent installation fitted last year. Used it for 2 days recently (during the day only) for about 8 hours and it looks as if it cost us £1 per day. We had the internal doors open and the 2 internal units kept the whole bungalow at a comfortable temperature.

 

[ericmark]

I made a cover for the fire place, and vent it up the chimney, seems to work well, only problem is the condensate, I need to keep an eye on the water level so it does not overflow.

 

[ericmark]

I was looking at the Lidi advert, seems on offer again this week. I tried using a window, but they open from the side on a hinge, so I have top and bottom which needs sealing, the kit with the unit did not have anything for top and bottom, only the side.

Also, a problem with security, leaving windows open is not the best idea. The tumble drier, before we had cats, used the old cat flap as the vent. That worked well, as we did not need to use that door, but the AC is hardly large enough for the room, 24 x 32 foot, with two windows and a patio door onto the veranda.

We have to decide, windows and doors wide open, or closed and AC on, and this will change through the day, so windows hard to reach from the outside, depends on how athletic someone is, so the windows are not really an option. The chimney works well, as no need to change anything, when opening or closing windows or doors.

But if the house has already warmed up, the AC is not large enough to cool it, so in the morning we need to decide, windows and doors open, or AC on. We are looking at about 10 days a year, when we want the AC on. So using a core drill for 10 days a year, seems a little OTT. This is ample for the few days the AC is used, I have it powered from a smart socket adaptor, so I can switch it on before returning home on a hot day. The main problem is having to empty the water, if not for that, we could leave it on to keep room cool, but don't want the bottle to overflow.

 

[Brigadier]

don't want the bottle to overflow

Plumb outlet into your waste water drainage system?

 

[ericmark]

I have considered a hole in the wall, and a 10 mm pipe, but to plumb into waste water drainage would be a major undertaking.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I have considered a hole in the wall, and a 10 mm pipe, but to plumb into waste water drainage would be a major undertaking.

It's only condensate, pure water, will not do any harm to anything simply discharged outdoors.