If you use a Portable Air Conditioner, please step in..

Well i am happy with my a/c hook up as i only paid 150 for it.. However my unit advertises for 699 new. I wont be completly happy till summer is around and the portable a/c is still keeping temps cool.. that be the true test, because I already have a/c issues as it is and keeping my house cool in the summer. ITs winter now and easier for it to cool down.

If money wasnt a isssue I know the hydroponics store sells a portable a/c... One of those perhaps? I really lucked out on how my system is hooked up. I have a cool tube and a 8 inch fan up in the attic pulling the air out from grow room.

Thanks for your input; truthfully, money's not that big of a deal to me ("easy come, easy go"), so I'm trying to spend what I need to in order to get something that'll definitely do the trick, as opposed to spending $1K and it not keeping my room (garage) cool enough.

Actually been looking at the $3K+ portables that businesses use to keep their server rooms cool - might grab one of those, as they're the only portables I can find that run 20,000BTUs+.

Thanks everyone for their help, and if anyone else wants to chime in, I'd love that.

Could you chip in some money my way?

Yea anything use to cool server rooms are good.. Just look it up and make sure but 20, 000 btu sounds plenty... mine is 12,000 I guess I could always just get another one... lol

Bob Smith said:

So just to recap, although there are a couple of people in this thread who are "kinda" satisfied with their portable AC performance, no one could be classified as "happy", correct? Taking that further, if you could buy another portable AC and money was no issue, which would it be, and do you think it would work better for you?

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Well, personally I have a 1000 watt light and really I don't/can't afford a better a/c then the one I have.. I forget how many BTU's it is, but it is fairly small and fits in a window. Cost was around 130$ or something and it really keeps the temps in my SMALL grow room perfect. I aim the cool air at the light to keep it lower, so really I am happy with the AC I have.. it's very very low end and works for my needs

I have a Haier portable that I'm very pleased with--my issue was trying to push exhaust out 20' of ducting. Since I got the inline fan in place, my room can be dialed-in to whatever I want

I have an idea for the water issues.

Take a big bucket drill a hole in the bottom run a hose to ur air condition evelate above condition . And now u have 5-10-15-20 gallons refill once a day

dutch29681 said:

I have an idea for the water issues.

Take a big bucket drill a hole in the bottom run a hose to ur air condition evelate above condition . And now u have 5-10-15-20 gallons refill once a day

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Great idea, +rep


Did you mean put the bucket below the A/C so the water drains into the bucket or whatever?

don't buy anything but a duel hose portable unit unless your confident you can convert a single hose unit to a duel hose. the single hose unit will create negative air pressure in your grow room which in turn will cause the warm air outside your grow room to be sucked in almost as fast as you can cool it. their is no comparison between a single hose unit and a duel hose unit!

1mikej said:

don't buy anything but a duel hose portable unit unless your confident you can convert a single hose unit to a duel hose. the single hose unit will create negative air pressure in your grow room which in turn will cause the warm air outside your grow room to be sucked in almost as fast as you can cool it. their is no comparison between a single hose unit and a duel hose unit!

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Okay, lemme display my total ignorance of portable ACs right now (never seen or used one).

I'm assuming the dual hose has one hose for exhaust and one for shooting out the cold air? Is this the case? Because it'd be my preference to have the AC outside of the tent (height issues), so I assume I'd need one of these.

Guessing that a single hose shoots cold air from the "body" of the AC and the single hose is used to exhaust the hot air?

That about right?

Bob Smith said:

Okay, lemme display my total ignorance of portable ACs right now (never seen or used one).

I'm assuming the dual hose has one hose for exhaust and one for shooting out the cold air? Is this the case? Because it'd be my preference to have the AC outside of the tent (height issues), so I assume I'd need one of these.

Guessing that a single hose shoots cold air from the "body" of the AC and the single hose is used to exhaust the hot air?

That about right?

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That's not my understanding. The intake hose is used to cool the compressor and the exhaust hose is used to get rid of the heat removed from the room. At least, the ones I've seen have window adapters to which both hoses are attached. Cold air is dispensed from the top of the unit into the area being cooled.

The thing with these is that little to no inside air is being exhausted. Single hose units suck air from the area they are cooling and put it outside off the area.

mihjaro said:

That's not my understanding. The intake hose is used to cool the compressor and the exhaust hose is used to get rid of the heat removed from the room. At least, the ones I've seen have window adapters to which both hoses are attached. Cold air is dispensed from the top of the unit into the area being cooled.

The thing with these is that little to no inside air is being exhausted. Single hose units suck air from the area they are cooling and put it outside off the area.

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Thanks much; so it sounds like if I want the AC to be outside of my tent, I'd have to do a duct tape job and put my own 6" tubing on where the cold air comes out from the "body" of the AC and run that hose into my tent?

Drill a hole in the water drain pan and connect some hose to either a larger reservoir or a drain. Works wonders for these portable units

no bob, duel hose is exactly that 2 hoses one carrying air in from an outside source into ac unit's hot condenser, that air is then returned to the outside source through the second hose. the cooled air that you want comes out the top of ac unit itself. you want the unit in the grow room, you want the hoses getting air from a source out side grow room. done this way with a duel hose your ac will keep cooling the same air over and over again eventually shutting off. it will also dehumidify better because your not introducing new air into room by creating negative pressure in your grow room. single hose will suck in the air that is in your grow room and vent it through the hot condenser and outside. this creates negative air pressure in your grow room (vacuum) and new warm air comes in and your ac basically has to constantly start over. the unit will almost never shut off.

Gotcha, thanks - sounds like a dual hose is what I'm shooting for.

These server room ACs are fugging expensivo - might have to check out craigslist for a used one.

i bought 1 duel hose and 2 single hose from home depot, the 2 single hose ones where about 350 bucks and i was able to convert them both into duel hose

Bob Smith said:

Gotcha, thanks - sounds like a dual hose is what I'm shooting for.

These server room ACs are fugging expensivo - might have to check out craigslist for a used one.

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Yeah there are ALWAYS A/C units on sale on craigslist, even where i live.

1mikej said:

i bought 1 duel hose and 2 single hose from home depot, the 2 single hose ones where about 350 bucks and i was able to convert them both into duel hose

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How did you do that? I have a single id love to convert.

Why isn't anybody talking about a mini-split AC? Portables are notorious for being shitty and the cost to operate is insane.

I bought this one http://www.air-n-water.com/product/ac-14100e.htm#description

It should be here tomorrow, so I'll let you know how it does, but I'm hopefull. It is "commercial grade", 14000 BTU, and has some technology that recirculates some of the the water. It is a single hose, but I think it is big enough to be ok, and the negative pressure will actually be a good thing. Smell stays in, not leaking out. Of course, I'm totally new to this (but I am an engineer) so we will see.

Sencha said:

Why isn't anybody talking about a mini-split AC? Portables are notorious for being shitty and the cost to operate is insane.

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mini splits are 3 to 4 times the cost of a portable ac....the portable ac i own isnt half bad, i would like it to cool a little more. But to be fair, iam in a room in a garage so it has to work a little harder then if it was in a house. Also the ac i have exhausts all the moisture right out of the exhaust port. No draining required.