In wall or portable AC?

My ideal scenario is to have an a/c unit, fresh hair, and heater in 1. I don't know if these exist for say $300.

My room is 200sqft and well insulated. For now I'm running two 1000w hps fully ducted. The inwalls are decent but just hang outside and look terrible. The portables look nice but I wonder about the bill. I like there ducting though.

So many thoughts. I need suggestions.

A 4 in 1 would be great...one with a dehumidifier.

DubsFan said:

My ideal scenario is to have an a/c unit, fresh hair, and heater in 1. I don't know if these exist for say $300.

My room is 200sqft and well insulated. For now I'm running two 1000w hps fully ducted. The inwalls are decent but just hang outside and look terrible. The portables look nice but I wonder about the bill. I like there ducting though.

So many thoughts. I need suggestions.

A 4 in 1 would be great...one with a dehumidifier.

Click to expand...

Portable DUAL hose... In walls exchange outside air too badly. I too use 2 1000watts and a 500 or so BTU unit is just fine. As far as a heater goes just a normal space heater with a thermostat. An all in one would be REALLY expensive also ive never seen one with a dual hose design.

When venting the portables does the air go out the window or what? How much noise do they make in the room and outside of the window?

Do they produce alot of fog in the winter? I was thinking especially of the ones with the self-evaporative feature which (supposedly) minimizes water in the tank. Does that feature even work?

mihjaro said:

When venting the portables does the air go out the window or what? How much noise do they make in the room and outside of the window?

Do they produce alot of fog in the winter? I was thinking especially of the ones with the self-evaporative feature which (supposedly) minimizes water in the tank. Does that feature even work?

Click to expand...

I've been reading alot on those. Apparently they must work perfectly because they have no bucket to collect water...

So I need to buy a seperate AC, seperate heater and a dehumidifier. Jesus...

Most of these portables have a vent selector right? Where I can just suck in fresh air versus running AC. From November to March in SoCal the ouside air is pretty cool. A dehumidifier here is mando.

DubsFan said:

I've been reading alot on those. Apparently they must work perfectly because they have no bucket to collect water...

So I need to buy a seperate AC, seperate heater and a dehumidifier. Jesus...

Most of these portables have a vent selector right? Where I can just suck in fresh air versus running AC. From November to March in SoCal the ouside air is pretty cool. A dehumidifier here is mando.

Click to expand...

They typically pull air from the outside, and the compressor only kicks on when the thermostat tells it to, so it won't matter if it has a fan (vent) selector or not.

The 2 hose portables are more efficient, but run around 300+. I couldn't swing that so I built a plenum on the back of a window unit and use a blower to vent it out. I may not be the most efficient... but it works.

Small heaters are pretty cheap, but dehumidifiers are pricey.

Sounds like you're going to spend 700 - $800 on climate control.

Green Cross...this is fucking me in the ass dude!!! I was at Homo Depot and an average dehumidifier is $200. Time for craigslist.

A portable heater/AC combo with ducting would be killer. Just set the temp and let it do its thing. Most portables I'm seeing don't offer heat though

DubsFan said:

Green Cross...this is fucking me in the ass dude!!! I was at Homo Depot and an average dehumidifier is $200. Time for craigslist.

A portable heater/AC combo with ducting would be killer. Just set the temp and let it do its thing. Most portables I'm seeing don't offer heat though

Click to expand...

Life is full of surprises isn't it? lol

ebay has what you need

If you buy from a power seller with a good rep, you should be able to get some good equipment used

I see so many people worried anout buying heaters, just set your ac to where it will hold temp, if its getting to cold when lights are out then shut the ac off.. I have never had to use a heater with ANY of my set tups that I designed, I am a licensed HVAC/R Technician so that helps a little.

DubsFan said:

I've been reading alot on those. Apparently they must work perfectly because they have no bucket to collect water...

Click to expand...

The dual hose I saw with self-evaporation still has a bucket and it'll turn off if the humidity is so high that the evaporation doesn't work fast enough to keep the bucket from filling.

I'm still wondering how stealth these units are. I'd think it'd be a big problem if there's a ton of steam coming out of the window in the middle of the winter.

I'm also wondering what will happen if the intake air is very very cold and just how loud they are inside and outside of the house.

I'm really starting to hate micro climate control.

I use a stand up with a dual hose in one of my rooms, fresh air in and hot exhaust up and out. Best thing to do on a stand up is make a drain system for it, they put off alot of water, make sure you tilt it back to drain all water off and yo uhave a few optiong with the drain.. you can half ass it and drain into a bucket or you can get a condensate drain pump set up to pump it out and never have to worry about checking the water levels..

razoredge said:

I see so many people worried anout buying heaters, just set your ac to where it will hold temp, if its getting to cold when lights are out then shut the ac off.. I have never had to use a heater with ANY of my set tups that I designed, I am a licensed HVAC/R Technician so that helps a little.

Click to expand...

So how do I get fresh air in when the ac isn't needed? I too am not too worried about heat either. I'm sure the lights will keep it plenty warm. Do I need C02 if I have no fresh air in?

You wont have any fresh air in the room if its a sealed room there is no NEED to exhaust or bring in fresh air. The reason i like the stand up unit is it doesnt dump out and smell in the exhaust, and yes Co2 is a good thing to look at, remember you will be able to run your lights and co2 on a timer or photo eye that senses when the lights are on so it can dump co2 in your room, and because your not exhausting from your room you will not be wasting Co2. If your room is in you house close to where you sleep I would buy a PPM meter or a carbon dioxide meter to put in your house to be safe.

This is a detached room. It will be sealed. So when things are dark no need for fresh air huh? I'm an outdoor soil guy jumping in full bore on the indoor. So the idea of no fresh air when dark seems odd. But if that's the way it works that's what I'll do.

you can get more o.. everybody has there ways, but your babys wont be taking up much cos when there sleeping.. I guess if you want to bring in dirty air that has LOTS of moisture during this time of the year and bring in fungus and bugs you can haha.. I like to keep it simple, no out side air means less work keeping bugs, temps, humid, and everything else in order.

Ya I Co2 with a sealed room too. Fresh air isn't THAT big a deal if ac'd because no matter how good u r the rooms usually are not air tight Besides where I am and in most any urban area the ambient co2 is 700+ on any given day so they are usually fine. I only use co2 for the last half of VEG and up to the last 3 weeks of bloom cuz it can harm the potency if too high. I use a drain to drain right into my hydro system from the AC, works like a charm. Ive only used a heater for a few weeks last winter just to keep it above 60 but is not really that important unless you get REALLY cold during winter. if ur in an area where they are, FRY's electronics had a really nice dehumidifier for only 99 bucks. Even tho an ac like these ones usually do that work for u anyhow.

Good luck on ur new indoor crop!!!

For shits and giggles I'll post up my "above head gear" on here. Still waiting on my trays and res. This is my first adult convo I've had on here in a while. Cool thread fellas.

Yeah, I know AC can dehumidify. In San Diego we always run 65-85% humidity. The dry air of AC may do the trick. I'm paranoid cause this Dutch Passion White Widow I have outdoors should have yielded 4-6oz. Started her in July. She has 8 1ft colas and almost all of them have mold If I'm gonna go indoors to control my enviro might as well get some type of dehumidifier just so I know.

Hey Dubs I went ahead and made a review on portable AC unit that I use.

You can find it here:

Portable AC Unit Review

Just create a in wall into a portable More bang for your buck and works great oh yeah there not 500 for a fair unit either.

a humidifier is a very inefficient ac unit by design. a single hose portable ac units are temperary solutions, they are exsteemly wasteful. duel hose is the only solution. you will get your money back in 1 year via electric bill. i have 3 units. 1 was duel. after seeing it work i converted other 2 to duel.

1mikej said:

a humidifier is a very inefficient ac unit by design. a single hose portable ac units are temperary solutions, they are exsteemly wasteful. duel hose is the only solution. you will get your money back in 1 year via electric bill. i have 3 units. 1 was duel. after seeing it work i converted other 2 to duel.

Click to expand...

I scored a used 12000btu dual duct for $100. She seemed a tad tired at first but is doing well.