I broke down and bought a portable air conditioner

Well I broke down last night and did it. My house is just made wrong. I cant wait to get another place with an attic and without these huge windows that heat up the back of the house even in the winter.

I got it off tech sunny and its a fujitronic 10500. They are 299 on the site but if you enter in FA105 you get $100 off and free shipping! I had to do it. Not advertising for them just think its a kick ass deal. Just helping my friends at RUI out.

So anyhow my only problem now is venting this thing. I dony have an attic like I said and my outside wall is some plaster stuff that I cant drill through. Ive tried and its hard as hell. Maybe I'll get someone over here to cut an exhaust hole for me.

Im so excited not having to deal with heat issues anymore, I cant wait to get this thing in!!

is that a single hose unit?

have to watch out for those, because they take the air from the room you are trying to cool, suck it in the back of the AC, cool the compressor motor, then it is exhausted to outside through the hose...

this creates a negative pressure in your room... which draws the hot outside air into the room you are trying to cool (through every tiny crack possible)... which is not very efficient.

also, if you put the AC directly in your grow room, the air that is exhausted will need to be filtered... or it will be hot, humid, and smell like dank buds

i dropped 5 bills on my 12K BTU dual hose... 199 isnt bad for that thing though... its a step in the right direction after you figure out how to vent it.

good luck!

BloodShot420 said:

is that a single hose unit?

have to watch out for those, because they take the air from the room you are trying to cool, suck it in the back of the AC, cool the compressor motor, then it is exhausted to outside through the hose...

this creates a negative pressure in your room... which draws the hot outside air into the room you are trying to cool (through every tiny crack possible)... which is not very efficient.

also, if you put the AC directly in your grow room, the air that is exhausted will need to be filtered... or it will be hot, humid, and smell like dank buds

i dropped 5 bills on my 12K BTU dual hose... 199 isnt bad for that thing though... its a step in the right direction after you figure out how to vent it.

good luck!

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Heres the link tell me what you think. Thanks for the help!! I can still cancel it today if I want.

http://www.techsunny.com/3237331/fujitronic-portable-freon-air-conditioner.html

i cant say if it will work for you or not... you just have to take into consideration the things I have said so far... i've bought 2 AC units... the later with dual hose... which i am still using... i still have the original one... but only for a backup.

just make sure you vent that thing to the outside... if you vented it into an attic, it would mold up because of the warm air/humidity.

BloodShot420 said:

i cant say if it will work for you or not... you just have to take into consideration the things I have said so far... i've bought 2 AC units... the later with dual hose... which i am still using... i still have the original one... but only for a backup.

just make sure you vent that thing to the outside... if you vented it into an attic, it would mold up because of the warm air/humidity.

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Ok thanks. I live in a very dry climate but will vent outside.

That air your venting stinks like hell.I use a 7000 btu in the summer and I had to put a carbon filter on the exhaust to keep from getting popped

how did you rig that up? did you filter the air before it went into the AC? or after it was coming out?

did you use a scrubber? or have a can filter sitting outside?

crazy chit mang...

I ran a carbon filter at the end of the line.One of the DIY specials works for that.Theres a thread here on building a cheap carbon filter in the grow room set up forum......................peace...

Can fan makes one that works for 59.00$

Mr.Therapy Man said:

That air your venting stinks like hell.I use a 7000 btu in the summer and I had to put a carbon filter on the exhaust to keep from getting popped

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Im growing low odor plants so I think I'll be ok. Good looking out though.

BloodShot420 said:

i cant say if it will work for you or not... you just have to take into consideration the things I have said so far... i've bought 2 AC units... the later with dual hose... which i am still using... i still have the original one... but only for a backup.

just make sure you vent that thing to the outside... if you vented it into an attic, it would mold up because of the warm air/humidity.

Click to expand...

So, how do you vent your dual hose? Would venting into the attic work?

Thanks, FUNKadelic

i use the window kit that came with the AC... it basically has a piece of plastic with two 6" holes in it that you slam under the window...

then i lock the window from opening more with a 1x2...

then i hooked up 2 nice 6" Y duct transitions to the inside of the window kit... put 1 of the Y legs of each transition to the AC... the other i use to exhaust the 2KW light heat.

from outside, it just looks like there is a portable AC in the window... i've purposely let it like that for several months before i even planned on growing in that room... nobody says anything... and noise outside is minimal... you have to be within 5 ft of the window to hear anything... and nobody goes there.

peace

texashustle said:

Im growing low odor plants so I think I'll be ok. Good looking out though.

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Until you come home and smell the AI in full bloom. Always scrub the exhaust man

Triple6 said:

Until you come home and smell the AI in full bloom. Always scrub the exhaust man

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Ive read that putting a filter on the exhaust makes the unit under-perform considerably. Not sure. Im thinking about getting one but id have to add more power to my room. ATM i dont have an extra 8 amps to spare. I use a tent though so i wonder if i would even need to worry about filtering the exhaust. I think i could place the unit outside the tent and move the cool air through to the tent via ducting and a duct fan. I dont know though.

you have to duel hose it. i have both, but after seeing how much better the duel hose works i converted my other one to a duel by using some sheet metal and duct tape. you can't restrict the airflow from the exhaust at all. any slight restriction kills the efficiency. i did tons of experiments with ducting and a thermometer. on my converted unit i use a small fan to help push air throw condenser side which dropped air temp by 5 degrees. static air pressure is your enemy when it comes to venting your ac. no bends or extensions to hose or you will increase the static air pressure which will slow the air down through the condenser. the faster and colder the air through the condenser the better the ac works. if you need to bend or extend hoses you will need bigger hoses. most ac comes with 6inch hose. go get 8 inch hose . collapse the stock hose or cut it as short as possible leave just enough to attach 8 incher with duct tape. the 30 percent increase in hose size allows for bends and longer distances without increasing static pressure. if your vent hose gets hot chances are you have to much static pressure. if you bent the stock hose more the 45 degrees within two feet you have to much static pressure. read the instructions, they tell you no bends for a reason!. my ac hoses aim straight out the back. i tried bending hose straight up into my attic and the hose got warmer and the air coming out the front was not as cold and the unit's compressor ran longer. i cut the hose shorter and used 8 inch insulated hose. that worked as well as running no hose at all. if you disconnect you vent hose and your ac blows colder or compressor runs less you have to much static pressure.

good info 1mikej +rep

thx bloodshot420

i not using one at all but just wondering if any one thought about a swamp cooler instead of a/c? i know they usually run less energy any thoughts?

they run much less energy... for sure.

but "swamp coolers" basically pull air through water to lower the temperature...

this only lowers the temperature by a little bit, but raises the humidity by a lot...

i wouldnt imagine anyone would use a real swamp cooler for growing... they might have some with the water running through a heat exchanger so it wont raise the humidity, but then you have the problem of running cold water through the exchanger, or cooling some other closed loop water system...

either way - swamp coolers use little energy, but work ineffectively. they are pretty much only for emergencies IMO... i'd stick with the AC

I'm not in need of an AC yet . . . but I will need one in a month. What is the BEST AC to get for use with an environmental control system? It would need to be an analog unit that just comes on when power is supplied. Needs to have a small footprint so that it's doesn't take up too much space in my 4x4 tent. Dual hoses, of course. Preferably less than $500.

Any good suggestions? Please provide a link if you've got one. (+rep for good suggestions)