Portable Ac Advice, Please

[Les]

I picked up a portable AC unit yesterday, and would like to vent it throw both my flower AND my veg room.

 

Any ideas how to get the cold air into a vent? It has the usual (approximately) 12" by 12" grated vent on the front of the unit. Wondering if any of you professional cobblers have a recommendation for pushing that air into a piece of duct.

 

Thanks.

 

 

Les

[Bisharoo]

OOhh, I need to know about this also! Thanks for the question Les. We may need to move quick, you know it could go into full summer temps. at any time now. I am also trying to figure out how to best fully integrate a portable AC unit into my area to give it added control in there.

[Guest Happy Guy]

I picked up a portable AC unit yesterday, and would like to vent it throw both my flower AND my veg room.

 

Any ideas how to get the cold air into a vent? It has the usual (approximately) 12" by 12" grated vent on the front of the unit. Wondering if any of you professional cobblers have a recommendation for pushing that air into a piece of duct.

 

Thanks.

 

 

Les

You could rig up a rubbermaid storage container over the output area of the ac unit. Attach your ducting to that. You would need a booster fan to kick the cold air into the grow room. You would have to experiment with the storage container to see how many holes to cut in it to make the air circulate properly.

[Les]

You could rig up a rubbermaid storage container over the output area of the ac unit. Attach your ducting to that. You would need a booster fan to kick the cold air into the grow room. You would have to experiment with the storage container to see how many holes to cut in it to make the air circulate properly.

 

 

 

 

Love it!

[CedarSpringsCG]

I've seen one where they took the front cover off, and the fan output was a 6" round hole right before the grill. I don't recall the manufacturer, but if you take the cover off, you might find the same thing. Then they just took a piece of hard ducting and shoved it in there, and once they had a out spout, they attached a flex tube to get it where they wanted to.

 

The one I have appears to be a 5" hole, which would cause me problems so I haven't tried it. I can't find anywhere that anyone sells 5" ducting, it is all 4" and 6".

 

Cedar

[Nix]

Cardboard and duct tape.

[Bisharoo]

You guys starting another McGyver thread here? Ha Ha! Nice work.

[Guest Happy Guy]

Cardboard and duct tape.

That was my first thought....

Then I was thinking that with moisture/condensation possibly involved, plastic/rubber would be a better, long term, solution.

That direct ducting to the outlet would be the best bet if your air conditioner has that option.

[Guest Happy Guy]

You guys starting another McGyver thread here? Ha Ha! Nice work.

You saw my auto filler system didn't you? Amazing what you can do with an RV pump and a toilet tank valve.

[jayt]

The big problem with portable a/c units is the cost to run them and how little they actually help. The unit needs to have a fresh air intake and exhaust to cool the condenser coil. Air from your grow room will get mixed inside the unit and exhausted out. We took one all apart and tried to seal it up internally to prevent this and there was just no way, it always leaked air. The units aren't meant to run full time if needed. By the time you get done paying for the unit plus the additional electric bill you could have bought a used furnace and central air for your space.

[kak1963]

Love it!

 

hey i found 5 to 6 inch converter at lowes and home depot would work gr8!

[kak1963]

The big problem with portable a/c units is the cost to run them and how little they actually help. The unit needs to have a fresh air intake and exhaust to cool the condenser coil. Air from your grow room will get mixed inside the unit and exhausted out. We took one all apart and tried to seal it up internally to prevent this and there was just no way, it always leaked air. The units aren't meant to run full time if needed. By the time you get done paying for the unit plus the additional electric bill you could have bought a used furnace and central air for your space.

 

lol your probably right ! i have a 14000btu one but it has a inlet out side air and outlet for cooling the pump and coils and a separate one for the cold air. but am looking at a whole house or at least a split unit. but the port will get ya by in a pinch. if theirs any way to mount a window one it would also be better but i have what i have for now also. good luck

[The Digital Nomad]

The portable AC units have a duct to vent the hot air out of the room, the unit itself was meant to be placed in the room to cool.

 

You should be looking at venting the hot air, not venting the cool air.

 

I hope the room is small, I am hearing that these portable AC units are not very effective.

 

The best solutions with working with AC units is to have the large window mount unit cool a room, and the cool air is drawn from that cold room, into the grow room. The AC unit would not be exposed to the grow room and thus will not leak plant smells. The window mounted AC units have high BTU rates, vent hot air directly outside, and cheap compared to weaker portable AC units. Do not use a window mount AC unit without a window.

 

-DN

[Guest Happy Guy]

The portable AC units have a duct to vent the hot air out of the room, the unit itself was meant to be placed in the room to cool.

 

You should be looking at venting the hot air, not venting the cool air.

 

I hope the room is small, I am hearing that these portable AC units are not very effective.

 

The best solutions with working with AC units is to have the large window mount unit cool a room, and the cool air is drawn from that cold room, into the grow room. The AC unit would not be exposed to the grow room and thus will not leak plant smells. The window mounted AC units have high BTU rates, vent hot air directly outside, and cheap compared to weaker portable AC units. Do not use a window mount AC unit without a window.

 

-DN

Exactly. That is why I recommended the large rubbermaid container over the front of the air conditioner. That would be the smallest 'cold room' you can make. Thinking along the same lines you were. I didn't think the op was saying the ac unit was in the grow room. I assume it was outside of it with the ducting running up to it.

They use portible ac units at GM without outside windows. The bosses use it in their indoor offices and vent it into the factory area. It makes it warmer in the factory, as it would with the room the portible unit is in without the window to vent the unit's heat out of. You could also rig up another large rubbermaid storage container over the back of the unit to vent the heat outside if you don't have a window. You would have to experiment with how many holes you would need in the containers to provide proper circulation.

[The Digital Nomad]

Exactly. That is why I recommended the large rubbermaid container over the front of the air conditioner. That would be the smallest 'cold room' you can make. Thinking along the same lines you were. I didn't think the op was saying the ac unit was in the grow room. I assume it was outside of it with the ducting running up to it.

They use portible ac units at GM without outside windows. The bosses use it in their indoor offices and vent it into the factory area. It makes it warmer in the factory, as it would with the room the portible unit is in without the window to vent the unit's heat out of. You could also rig up another large rubbermaid storage container over the back of the unit to vent the heat outside if you don't have a window. You would have to experiment with how many holes you would need in the containers to provide proper circulation.

 

actually I looked at portable AC units and did also consider your setup. They do have rigid ducting at home depot - one with a rectangle hole on one side, and a round hole on the other end, you can fit the rectangle hole over the AC vent and then have a hose or fan assisted duct push the cold air down the duct.

 

Also consider dimmable ballast, you can dim the lights in the grow room on very hot days, as long as the light cycle is on its regular time - the plant will just see an 'overcast day'.

I also use rigid ductwork for venting air through my aircooled lights (easycool 8's), while you can't avoid some bends, the smoother, straigher pipe work just reduced air backing up or jamming. Its not hard to build rigid duct work.

Still can't beat the heat? - C02 enrichment is your next option, plants can tolerate higher temps in a rich C02 environment.

 

-DN

[Guest Happy Guy]

actually I looked at portable AC units and did also consider your setup. They do have rigid ducting at home depot - one with a rectangle hole on one side, and a round hole on the other end, you can fit the rectangle hole over the AC vent and then have a hose or fan assisted duct push the cold air down the duct.

 

Also consider dimmable ballast, you can dim the lights in the grow room on very hot days, as long as the light cycle is on its regular time - the plant will just see an 'overcast day'.

I also use rigid ductwork for venting air through my aircooled lights (easycool 8's), while you can't avoid some bends, the smoother, straigher pipe work just reduced air backing up or jamming. Its not hard to build rigid duct work.

Still can't beat the heat? - C02 enrichment is your next option, plants can tolerate higher temps in a rich C02 environment.

 

-DN

Not really my set-up. I was just brainstorming for the op, and having fun.

I use a massive air flow from my central supply air. I made a duct to outdoors with a very high cfm fan pushing air out of the room providing negative pressure which pulls air out of the central supply duct for my home. That way I suck in all the CO2 that is in the house too. Works great! I have cooled reservoirs so my plants can take the heat up to 85 without any trouble.

[The Digital Nomad]

Not really my set-up. I was just brainstorming for the op, and having fun.

I use a massive air flow from my central supply air. I made a duct to outdoors with a very high cfm fan pushing air out of the room providing negative pressure which pulls air out of the central supply duct for my home. That way I suck in all the CO2 that is in the house too. Works great! I have cooled reservoirs so my plants can take the heat up to 85 without any trouble.

 

Funny you mentioned C02 inside the house. I know outdoor air has c02 content, but I am suspecting that two people, three pets in a small home are generating a bit more c02 than outside air. My room is drawing air from inside the house, on the belief that I am a c02 generator...

Another reason everyone should grow indoors - people and plants belong together.

 

-DN

[Z71_420]

anyone else using a Window Unit A/c setup? i have a nice digital unit sitting around waiting to be installed so i am curious whether im the only one?