Question about Portable AC/Dehumidifier

bowlfullofbliss

bowlfullofbliss

Well-Known Member
The dual hose ac is perfect.....I have one in my sealed room.....this is the only way to keep the co2 in. The unit does not take out any air, or put any back that wasn't already there. Go with that......I do have a seperate dehumidifier though. Better control, and a big pan because I can't drain into a floor. I just empty daily.
 
F

FrankieJ23

Member
Just my 2 cents on the topic. Used one last year that was bought at home depot for about 200$ (taxed included) the thing worked amazing since last years weather was horrible and so humid... Needed it for drying. If you want the name I just have to look for you, It brought a 75% humid 20'x8'x10' space down to 55% with fans circulating the air of course =]
 
woodsmaneh!

woodsmaneh!

Well-Known Member
AS your not getting this right away here is something to think about also. Chiller's are almost 50% more effective at cooling than AC and you can buy an icebox to fit your lights or just blowing in the room to cool it.

http://www.growlightexpress.com/water-cooled-lights-8/ice-box-heat-exchanger-6-inch-306.html

http://www.growlightexpress.com/water-chillers-60/?zenid=au5h3ccivg28ruho6ftu4g0in7

To cool the water you would need 1/4 hp minimum water chiller per 1000 watt reflector-yes, chillers use energy but not as much energy as a/c! Remember how much more efficient water cooling is than air. If additional cooling is needed for hot environments the Ice Box Heat Exchanger itself can also be easily daisy chained for cooling power that is doubled, tripled, etc.
 
Thedillestpickle

Thedillestpickle

Well-Known Member
Yea its hard to tell. The controller looks like it has alot of options and I see something about timers and all kinds of cool stuff. But the question is, can it switch from AC cooling to dehumifying on its own, either by a timer or by its own sensors? So at night when the air doesnt need to be cooled, will it know to Dehumidity the air still? and is that all fully programmable into the unit?

Personally I'm not too worried, I have a dehumidifer. It's kinda crappy but the element gets a thick layer of ice formed on it so it must be working. So I will just use both if this unit cant handle my demands. Probably looking at another 50$ a month on the electricity bill
 
Thedillestpickle

Thedillestpickle

Well-Known Member
In fact could it dehumidify AND Heat? at night without my needing to manually go in and change the setting? Cause if so I'd be pretty stoked! 100% climate control ohhhhhhh yeaaaaa
 
Thedillestpickle

Thedillestpickle

Well-Known Member
Yea I dont know anything about how a water chiller works? It sounds like it uses cold water piped around the room to cool the air? would it be raining down condensation if you did that?
 
Thedillestpickle

Thedillestpickle

Well-Known Member
woodsmaneh! said:
Nope they are insulated.
Click to expand...

You'll need a strong dehumidifier to run alongside that system since it doesnt condense water.

That is a pretty sweet technology, bit tricky to install but great if you wanted to cool a larger sized grow. I'll only be running 4K at the most.
 
A

A.Green.Monster

Member
Hello. I am a new to rui, and this is my very first post. I happen to work for an appliance company, and happen to know from first hand experience that 8 out of 10 portable air conditioners do not work very well. They do work as a dehumidifier, as any thing that makes the air cold does, although there is usually not a rh% setting, it will function set on the temperature it is set at. Typically most units will either fill up a bucket with water that you will have to empty, or have a drain hose you will need to drain into something(and once the bucket fills, it will shut off if you cannot watch closely). The hoses (either 1 or 2 depending on the brand) are usually not very good quality, and would need some kind of support because they are thick and heavy. I had a basement bedroom once with no Windows, and what I did was to put a regular window a/c in the door frame on the floor, and seal the door frame around the air conditioner with towels, or something similar to keep the cool in. This would probably be the most efficient and least expensive, but not the most convenient. Granted, I only used mine as a bedroom cooling unit not a production cooling unit, but you can get the same or more BTU's of cooling. Another option would be to cut a hole in a wall, and use 2x4's to frame the opening to hold the window/wall air conditioner. The a/c would have to be able to be mounted in a wall, some aren't. I would recommend any other possible option other than a portable air conditioner. I would only use a portable if there was no other option. I hope this helps. Good luck.
 
woodsmaneh!

woodsmaneh!

Well-Known Member
Thedillestpickle said:
You'll need a strong dehumidifier to run alongside that system since it doesnt condense water.

That is a pretty sweet technology, bit tricky to install but great if you wanted to cool a larger sized grow. I'll only be running 4K at the most.
Click to expand...
I don't use a dehumidifier I use two 26gal humidifiers with auto fill float valves and they run most of the time.

If you can use hose clamps you can hook it up no big deal and no special skills.
 
Thedillestpickle

Thedillestpickle

Well-Known Member
A.Green.Monster said:
Hello. I am a new to rui, and this is my very first post. I happen to work for an appliance company, and happen to know from first hand experience that 8 out of 10 portable air conditioners do not work very well. They do work as a dehumidifier, as any thing that makes the air cold does, although there is usually not a rh% setting, it will function set on the temperature it is set at. Typically most units will either fill up a bucket with water that you will have to empty, or have a drain hose you will need to drain into something(and once the bucket fills, it will shut off if you cannot watch closely). The hoses (either 1 or 2 depending on the brand) are usually not very good quality, and would need some kind of support because they are thick and heavy. I had a basement bedroom once with no Windows, and what I did was to put a regular window a/c in the door frame on the floor, and seal the door frame around the air conditioner with towels, or something similar to keep the cool in. This would probably be the most efficient and least expensive, but not the most convenient. Granted, I only used mine as a bedroom cooling unit not a production cooling unit, but you can get the same or more BTU's of cooling. Another option would be to cut a hole in a wall, and use 2x4's to frame the opening to hold the window/wall air conditioner. The a/c would have to be able to be mounted in a wall, some aren't. I would recommend any other possible option other than a portable air conditioner. I would only use a portable if there was no other option. I hope this helps. Good luck.
Click to expand...
awww man your breaking my heart dude, I was so set on getting a portable AC!
 
RawBudzski

RawBudzski

Well-Known Member
Yea, for the money. I might just have to wait a little longer to get an ac unit installed somehow. Mini split system looks to be my option. Anyone know how much electricians would cost here in california? Just curious I know it really has a lot of factors. but lets say it were somewhat a simpler job of installing a mini split ac. >.<
 
roidrage152

roidrage152

Active Member
Mini Split is definitely the way to go if you can afford it, in my case another condsenser outside would look too suspicious, especially running when its not that hot out. Portable is my only option, and unfortunately will probably cost the same or more in the long run, as they definitely are less efficient and have a far shorter usable life.
 
Thedillestpickle

Thedillestpickle

Well-Known Member
Yea running what is obviously an AC unit to passers by during cold weather is just asking for trouble if anyone can see it

I'll go with the two hose for my situation, I like that it's portable
 
Fnominon

Fnominon

Active Member
I thought I would throw in my two cents on this since I have quite a lot of experience with portables and water cooling. The cheapest route to go would be a water cooling drain to waste system if yoru water is not metered. If you have reservoirs that you can run copper pipes through as well as a few heat exchangers its amazing how much cooling you can get. My first setup was in a location that did not meter water and this was all I needed for 3x600w 1x400 and a dozen or so 4' T5's. The place I am at sub meters which I found out the hard way, try explaining to your landlord a $1200 water bill.
As far as portables go I got to agree with A.Green.Monster you really get what you pay for. I would not expect more than two years life out of them, they are not very energy efficient, and for me to truly keep the smell in I had to tear down the AC and rebuild it as basically a mini-split and I still have some smell getting out. I have just over 5k in lights now and 14k btu AC does not cut it anymore, but being in the Pacific NW having an outdoor AC unit would most definitely get me a knock and talk which I would like to avoid. As far as dehumidification goes, I would not rely on an AC alone, chances are that during the summer you will have to add humidity as the AC will be running quite a lot, during the winter your going to want a stand alone dehumidifier. I have been running a sealed room for a few years now and if your going this route you really want to have redundancies and definitely error on the side of caution when calculating your environmental equipment.
 
Thedillestpickle

Thedillestpickle

Well-Known Member
Fnominon said:
I thought I would throw in my two cents on this since I have quite a lot of experience with portables and water cooling. The cheapest route to go would be a water cooling drain to waste system if yoru water is not metered. If you have reservoirs that you can run copper pipes through as well as a few heat exchangers its amazing how much cooling you can get. My first setup was in a location that did not meter water and this was all I needed for 3x600w 1x400 and a dozen or so 4' T5's. The place I am at sub meters which I found out the hard way, try explaining to your landlord a $1200 water bill.
As far as portables go I got to agree with A.Green.Monster you really get what you pay for. I would not expect more than two years life out of them, they are not very energy efficient, and for me to truly keep the smell in I had to tear down the AC and rebuild it as basically a mini-split and I still have some smell getting out. I have just over 5k in lights now and 14k btu AC does not cut it anymore, but being in the Pacific NW having an outdoor AC unit would most definitely get me a knock and talk which I would like to avoid. As far as dehumidification goes, I would not rely on an AC alone, chances are that during the summer you will have to add humidity as the AC will be running quite a lot, during the winter your going to want a stand alone dehumidifier. I have been running a sealed room for a few years now and if your going this route you really want to have redundancies and definitely error on the side of caution when calculating your environmental equipment.
Click to expand...
Just wondering if your using fans/filters to scrub the air inside the sealed room, How big should the fan/filter be for a 200 square foot area? And when doing this can you still expect a blast of smelly air to escape any time you open the door?

Woodsman- I can see now how that style of unit would actually condense moisture, and prevent you from needing a dehumidifier. There must be quite a bit of condensation when the hot air travels through the cooling elements.

I'm a little worried about my setup leaking smell... I don't mind losing a bit of CO2 to air leaks but I can't have smell escaping, Ive partitioned one half of the basement off as the sealed room, but cracks along the ceiling and walls are going to be nearly impossible to seal without damaging the property. I am thinking of painting over the cracks with silicon roofing sealant, but this may look shitty and consitute property damage. In the meantime can I expect smell to be escaping enough to be noticeable if I run a 175cfm fan with a 200cfm filter in the middle of the room to scrub the air, and also keep a jar of Ona Gel open at all time? Can Ozone generators be used in the same space as the plants if set on a timer and run only for a few minutes every couple of hours?
Any other ideas?
 
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