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Product Information => Product Reviews => Topic started by: Norm on July 17, 2012, 08:30:47 pm

Title: Portable AC's
Post by: Norm on July 17, 2012, 08:30:47 pm
What is the problem with these portable air conditioners....the kind that sits in the
room and has a duct like a clothes dryer to exhaust the warm air.....the first one my
daughter got worked okay for a year or two and now it won't turn on.....
Okay so much for that just get a new one....same type different make and model from
Kmart.....Problem : smelled hot after running one night....seemed to be a yellow stain
along one side on the inside of the cabinet.....hot wires ?.....so much for that one
took it back....ordered one from QVC got it hooked up made sure it didn't get laid on its
side (leave sitting upright for 4 hrs. before running) turned it on and from the start a slight
amount of smoke called service and woman said that was normal....so daughter turns it on
again until the smoke got so bad in the room that her and her two kids started chocking
.....so turned it off and called service and woman agreed that wasn't normal .....so
okay UPS will pick it up and return it....that fine but in the meantime my daughter is all
hot from hooking it up and now has to box it back up 50 yrs. old and a single parent  I
mean .....what kind of trash are they making nowadays? Things shouldn't be that way
why should an air conditioner be any different than our new refrigerator that we got a couple
of months ago....they plugged that in and it started getting cold right then and there....
no smoking or hot smell .......

somethings nowadays just plain t me off !

thanks for listening guys....95 degrees today and hot and muggy tired....
Norm
Title: Re: Portable AC's
Post by: tomw on July 17, 2012, 09:18:36 pm
Norm;

I bought an ~$80 Fedders window unit from wally world maybe 5 years ago. Works treat and can take my office down to meat locker temps even on the hottest days. Stay away from QVC, I don't know of one satisfied customer of theirs!

Why not get a real window AC? Some places don't have the right windows I guess?

In the house, due to odd crank out windows we put in a Friedrich split system and it only needs a hole for the tubes and wires. Also works treat but was a bit pricey compared to my cheapie in the office.


I just can't see those "middle of the room" units being very effective with all the hot parts inside despite the vent tube?

Just from here.

BTW your package is on the way. Finally.

Tom
Title: Re: Portable AC's
Post by: Wolvenar on July 17, 2012, 09:24:37 pm
My friend Jane picked up one of these "portable" room air conditioners about 3 years ago, and it has worked well since it was put in.
 
Title: Re: Portable AC's
Post by: rossw on July 17, 2012, 09:34:12 pm
It amazes me that nobody has started making a commercial unit with a WATER cooled condenser.
It would be far smaller, and far more efficient.
It would also allow connection by no more than a small water hose to a tap, and a small water hose to the drain.
FAR smaller than the hulking big air conduit. And water will transfer heat FAR better than air, so it'd be more efficient.
Lets say you have a 2HP aircon. Thats about 1500 watts of electrical input.
Lets say it's quite efficient and you now have say 4000 watts of HEAT to get rid of. (It's a heat-pump, remember)
A flow of one litre per minute (4 cups of water per minute) would heat up 57 degrees C.
Over here, water is about $1.50 per thousand litres. That's about 9c/hr for water, or around 20% of the cost of the electricity. And you wouldn't need a window and could put it nearly anywhere. (If you collected the water and let it cool, you could use it on the garden, or recycle it into the aircon later!)
Title: Re: Portable AC's
Post by: ksouers on July 17, 2012, 09:37:54 pm
Norm,
My wife got one of those type from Tuesday Morning a few years ago. Made in Germany, has been working very well even with temps up to 108 here. I think she paid less than $300 USD for it.

I have a Fridgidaire window unit in my office I got from Lowe's last year when our central air unit went out, $100 USD. Still going strong, though I think this one is made in China.
The new central unit is still not big enough for the whole house thanks to a couple of additions, the small units work great to cool the parts of the house the central unit can't.

Yes, there still are some quality products out there and at reasonable prices.

Kevin
Title: Re: Portable AC's
Post by: ksouers on July 17, 2012, 09:44:57 pm
Ross,
Many larger units for high rise office building do just that. They have a cooling tower (actually a box) on the roof to recirculate the cooling water. A much smaller version of the cooling towers used at nuke power plants.

There are also buildings that use decorative fountains as the heat radiator, taking away the heat using the fountain pool as a sink with evaporative cooling through the trickling water.

Though I have yet to see anything like this for a house.


Kevin
Title: Re: Portable AC's
Post by: dang on July 17, 2012, 09:49:51 pm
Woot.com just had a 10,500 BTU portable made by Sharp for $220 shipped. Reviews were all excellent - stay with top tier man'fs...

I was very tempted to have it in my project trailer so maybe I'd stay inside it long enough to accomplish something.
Title: Re: Portable AC's
Post by: Norm on July 17, 2012, 10:25:01 pm
Tom, Exactly her windows are too small sideways sliding windows....this is
upstairs..... downstairs regular windows and she has an AC downstairs.
Yeah I know they should be sleeping downstairs open the windows upstairs
and let the hot air just flow out....but some people just have no logic at all.
....I bet if it was the only place to keep cool at night would be your office
desk ....that is where you'd be.....logic right
BTW thanks again for the blades...

dang: Yeah if I could only get to those screws on that one my  daughter gave
me it sure would be enough to cool my 12X12 shed.

Yeah gotta go wife has to get on her virtual farm they are rough like picking 2 acres
of watermelons by hand 11:30 at night  ::)  by yourself.....(80 +) haar har !
Norm.
Title: Re: Portable AC's
Post by: RP on July 18, 2012, 12:26:19 am
Norm,

You might want to check the line voltage at your daughter's house.  All those failures have me thinking of a common element (power).
Title: Re: Portable AC's
Post by: Wolvenar on July 18, 2012, 12:51:46 am
RP great idea, check the circuit she is using while under a load as well maybe.
Title: Re: Portable AC's
Post by: Watt on July 18, 2012, 03:34:47 am
Hate to hear of your troubles Norm.  It'll get better, has too. 

Regarding those center room portable air conditioners -  Is that the model which has the air pulled from the outside to cool the condenser then returned to the outside?  The not so expensive units I've seen advertised all have only the one duct with heated condenser air going to the outside.  That air has to be replace with air from outside which may be cooler than what is exhausted but, still lowers efficiency and comes from every crack and nook the air can find it's way through to return to the room.

Also, some models seem to recycle the condensation from the evaporator over the condenser. 

Just curious as to which unit you had. 
Title: Re: Portable AC's
Post by: Norm on July 18, 2012, 06:59:56 am
Hi Watt....yes all 3 has/had the one duct exhausting to the outside air.
The first one she got was/is the best....if only we could get it to turn on
when we pushed the button.....it's all in the electronics....it's got a remote
also ....maybe it can tell it to turn on?
Guess I'll try that next....but I doubt it.
RP   that is a very good idea.. I'll check the line voltage alas....I can't check
under load....cause the load is all boxed up again and ready to go back.

To top it off her daughter is allergy prone and that unconditioned air IE fan air
caused her to start itching and stuff and to the emergency room in the wee
hours of the morning .....
Norm.
Title: Re: Portable AC's
Post by: Wolvenar on July 18, 2012, 01:06:36 pm
It occurred to me just a bit ago that the one that got hot smelling wire may have had a bad run capacitor..  Oh well maybe late.. but maybe for others in the future
Title: Re: Portable AC's
Post by: Norm on July 18, 2012, 02:22:30 pm
Hey Guys ....the first one that I asked about that wouldn't turn on....
it does....with the remote....AAA batteries were down to 1.2 each of two
don't know if it would have worked anyway but I went all out and put in new batteries
1.6 each  plugged the AC in pointed the remote at it and it went WHirrrrr !

Ever get that wonderful feeling of Sucess ? ! .....WOW great.

The only thing now is when I removed the discharge duct there was a water drain tube
and I busted the connection and it goes onto a gadget somewhat like a tire valve with a
little plastic plunger that presses down just like a tire valve anyhow I'll need this hooked
up someway  so the water can drain from the condenser... if I could find a picture of the gadjet in a manual or someone here has something similar?
 gee whiz I can't even find the plastic tube that went on it......
Norm.
Title: Re: Portable AC's
Post by: ghurd on July 23, 2012, 05:44:39 pm
It amazes me that nobody has started making a commercial unit with a WATER cooled condenser.
...
(If you collected the water and let it cool, you could use it on the garden, or recycle it into the aircon later!)

OR?
If you are in an area like humid NE OH, down wind from a few Great Lakes in a row...
Could collect the humidity from inside the home, like thay all do.
But instead of draining it to the ground outside, collect it in a container where the hot coils are, and have the fan sling it around a bit.

Woman I am still married to got 2, $89 and $99, GoldStar and GE, from Wally, K-Place and/or Sears?
Feel free to interchange the order.  I recall $89 and $99.

They both collect the cool-side condensation and feed it to the hot coils.
No need to add water here.  The excess still drains outside.

That GoldStar is tiny.  Maybe 20" wide?  Less deep than that, and it is balanced on the window sill (much of the depth, 8"(?) is inside).
Might fit a crank-open window?
G-
Title: Re: Portable AC's
Post by: rossw on July 23, 2012, 08:55:32 pm
It amazes me that nobody has started making a commercial unit with a WATER cooled condenser.

But instead of draining it to the ground outside, collect it in a container where the hot coils are, and have the fan sling it around a bit.

Everyone seems to have missed my point.
Not using water to AID the air-cooling, but INSTEAD OF it... so it wouldn't need a conduit to the window *at all*
Title: Re: Portable AC's
Post by: Bryan1 on July 25, 2012, 04:15:33 am
For a permanent fixture theres nothing wrong with the kalgoolie fridge concept. all thats needed is a tub to hold the water a few hessian sacks, a elcheapo water pump and a fan or 3. Install it low down so the tank is on the outside and the fans inside. Then a nice cool breeze from the fans will push the hot air up and out thru a high place  open window.

OK won't work in real high humid places but it works fine here in summer where we have a dry heat.

Cheers Bryan
Title: Re: Portable AC's
Post by: RP on July 25, 2012, 09:23:45 am
It amazes me that nobody has started making a commercial unit with a WATER cooled condenser.


I've seen that done a lot for small industrial equipment like temperature controlled chambers for machinery.  You'll have a small ~5-10,000 btu air-conditioner inside the chamber and instead of a hot fan-coil, there's just a couple water hoses carrying the heat away.  Usually these lead to a larger recirculating water chiller somewhere else but in a pinch they can run off of tap water.