Portable AC Unit Comparison

I've been doing some research about portable AC units, and found a few that look good, but have never used one. I've always used either a window unit or a central unit. Unfortunately, even though I have central AC, I won't be using it for that.

For a room running 2 600HPS, and 1 600MH that is about 12' x 12', will it be strong enough?

http://www.air-n-water.com/product/ACP-1400E.htm

This is the comparo of the different models.

http://www.air-n-water.com/Compare-Portable-AC.htm

No input? I thought this place was give and take. Nobody?

Im in the same boat. Let me know how it works out for you.

12,000 Btu's ='s around 500 sq ft, your room is 144 sq ft, so even a 6,000 Btu AC would work, hope this helps.

http://www.todaysconcept.com/windchaser-sc7-portable-spot-cooler.html

Although this one is only 7000BTU, it has no vent hose connection and a built in dehumidifier with a fairly large tank and a drain-hose connection. Re-use the water for the plants. No duct cutting. Just put in spot and turn on.
Also its more than 10 db quieter which is very important for stealth.

Perfect for a sealed room with CO2.

Doobieus said:

12,000 Btu's ='s around 500 sq ft, your room is 144 sq ft, so even a 6,000 Btu AC would work, hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I know that, but traditionally AC units are cooling down a room that only gets hot from too much radiant heat from the outside. Once you start piling on the HID lighting inside, the source is inside, and constant. Plus, I'd rather have more capability and not need it, than have a unit that takes forever to cool the room down. Every minute the AC unit is on is another minute the plants are without supplemental Co2 as well. What I like about the units in that comparison, is that the BTU's have been VERIFIED, not just claimed. Was really hoping to avoid having to spend another $500 bucks, but it's just too damn important.

I have a 10'x12' room.
I also have CH/AC.
In my grow room I have a stand-up 8000BTU A/c.
A quick trip to Home Depot and a couple hours in the attic, and I tied into CH/AC.
If your CH/AC recirculates air from inside your home as mine does then it has a double
benefit. The air inside your home has a higher CO2 count then outside since you blow
out CO2 with every breath. Another reason I tie in is because I don't want to run them both.
So, in the early morn I run the little guy. Then when the house starts to warm from the sun and the lights shut off at noon, I run my CH/AC.

Hope that helps.

Sure Shot said:

I have a 10'x12' room.
I also have CH/AC.
In my grow room I have a stand-up 8000BTU A/c.
A quick trip to Home Depot and a couple hours in the attic, and I tied into CH/AC.
If your CH/AC recirculates air from inside your home as mine does then it has a double
benefit. The air inside your home has a higher CO2 count then outside since you blow
out CO2 with every breath. Another reason I tie in is because I don't want to run them both.
So, in the early morn I run the little guy. Then when the house starts to warm from the sun and the lights shut off at noon, I run my CH/AC.

Hope that helps.

Click to expand...

Thanks, yes it does, but is what you're saying that you've got the thermostat/humidistat inside your grow room tied into the CH/AC? What about the rest of the house? Won't you be cooling down the whole house at the same time, or are you blocking the vents? I'd really like to do a mini split AC system, but they're just too expensive this go around. Possibly later. What about odor filtration? How are you dealing with that? Running Co2?

Mcgician said:

Thanks, yes it does, but is what you're saying that you've got the thermostat/humidistat inside your grow room tied into the CH/AC? What about the rest of the house? Won't you be cooling down the whole house at the same time, or are you blocking the vents? I'd really like to do a mini split AC system, but they're just too expensive this go around. Possibly later. What about odor filtration? How are you dealing with that? Running Co2?

Click to expand...

No, I got a Y adapter and tied into the ducting in the attic.
The thermostat for the CH/AC is in the center of my house.
I also keep a small wireless thermometer in the grow with the LED display outside.

Myself I'm not too worried about odor. It's only really an issue in the last few weeks. And I've already been raided by the police, and still growing.------------The cops just came!----------
As far as getting jacked, I keep my shit pretty secure, night vision cameras, motion sensors, security doors.
Not to mention that the neighbors would think twice since one of my friend's shot somebody in my front yard two days ago.

I run CO2 out my mouth LOL.
No, but seriously, my only air intake is off my CH/AC line which is supplied from my house.
In my home there are 5 kids and 3 adults all breathing out CO2 so I recycle

The last pic is my Bubba Kush I got in there right now.

Sure Shot said:

No, I got a Y adapter and tied into the ducting in the attic.
The thermostat for the CH/AC is in the center of my house.
I also keep a small wireless thermometer in the grow with the LED display outside.

Myself I'm not too worried about odor. It's only really an issue in the last few weeks. And I've already been raided by the police, and still growing.------------The cops just came!----------
As far as getting jacked, I keep my shit pretty secure, night vision cameras, motion sensors, security doors.
Not to mention that the neighbors would think twice since one of my friend's shot somebody in my front yard two days ago.

I run CO2 out my mouth LOL.
No, but seriously, my only air intake is off my CH/AC line which is supplied from my house.
In my home there are 5 kids and 3 adults all breathing out CO2 so I recycle

The last pic is my Bubba Kush I got in there right now.

Click to expand...

Damn those plants look nice!! Great job.

You still have me confused about HOW you're running your AC and controlling temperature and humidity in the grow room though. When you say, "I tied it into the ducting in the attic", what does that mean? I don't understand. What sort of line is running into the attic and why? Cold dry air from the AC unit runs through the ducting and into the house already. Why should you need to run any lines of ducting into the room if the ducting runs in there already? How does the Central AC unit know when to turn on if it's thermostat is located centrally in the house and OUTSIDE of the grow room? This isn't making sense to me, but those plants look happy as fuck- lol.

Mcgician said:

Damn those plants look nice!! Great job.

You still have me confused about HOW you're running your AC and controlling temperature and humidity in the grow room though. When you say, "I tied it into the ducting in the attic", what does that mean? I don't understand. What sort of line is running into the attic and why? Cold dry air from the AC unit runs through the ducting and into the house already. Why should you need to run any lines of ducting into the room if the ducting runs in there already? How does the Central AC unit know when to turn on if it's thermostat is located centrally in the house and OUTSIDE of the grow room? This isn't making sense to me, but those plants look happy as fuck- lol.

Click to expand...

I built the room inside of my garage.
I got a Y adapter and some Flexiduct.
I have a temp gauge outside my grow with a sensor on the canopy.

It was 100+ degrees outside today and my room was 82* with CH/AC thermostat set to 78* for the humans.

It's not a perfect system but it works well.
But, I run new ideas in my head all the time and eventually I'll do some tweaking to it.
I can't help myself

Side note: Running CH/AC through your lights also work very well , yet very expensive. I don"t do that anymore!

I have a 14,200 Portable AC in my living room I got from Menards. It dehumidifies and recycles air automatically. My living area is about 300 sqft and with all my electronics on it keeps it quite cool. So that would do the job I would think.

MrJoshC said:

I have a 14,200 Portable AC in my living room I got from Menards. It dehumidifies and recycles air automatically. My living area is about 300 sqft and with all my electronics on it keeps it quite cool. So that would do the job I would think.

Click to expand...

In your living room? What are you saying? Are you growing anything or are you just talking about what works in your house? Why are so many posts so vague?

Sure Shot said:

I built the room inside of my garage.
I got a Y adapter and some Flexiduct.
I have a temp gauge outside my grow with a sensor on the canopy.

It was 100+ degrees outside today and my room was 82* with CH/AC thermostat set to 78* for the humans.

It's not a perfect system but it works well.
But, I run new ideas in my head all the time and eventually I'll do some tweaking to it.
I can't help myself

Side note: Running CH/AC through your lights also work very well , yet very expensive. I don"t do that anymore!

Click to expand...

Ok, now I understand. Thanks for clarifying. I guess you're lucky that most of the time when the plants are hot, the humans are hot, but on the days that it's doesn't work that way, you're going to be freezing your ass off. Oh yeah, forgot, your controlling thermostat isn't inside the grow room, it's still in the house. *doh*

olosto said:

Im in the same boat. Let me know how it works out for you.

Click to expand...

For sure. If it's successful or not, I'll make sure to post how well it works given the situation.

what do you do about the timers on portable A/C units how can you get them to turn on at the right time ? Im using 6000 btu window air conditioner just because it has a mechanical controls (knobs) Ive always wanted to get a portable cuz with the window you have to run other inlines to get rid of the heat that they cause and they get hot as fawk

notpatient said:

what do you do about the timers on portable A/C units how can you get them to turn on at the right time ? Im using 6000 btu window air conditioner just because it has a mechanical controls (knobs) Ive always wanted to get a portable cuz with the window you have to run other inlines to get rid of the heat that they cause and they get hot as fawk

Click to expand...

Huh? What heat? Window units exhaust their heat out the back of the unit.

As far as getting your window unit to turn on when you want to, it's a simple as installing a thermostat, humidistat, or a combination in the room and plugging the AC's outlet into that. That is, if it doesn't have one already.

HI,

If you use your existing HVAC duct to keep the room cool with an inline fan boosting the air feed you can add a thermostat controller like the Green Air Products H/C 3 to your setup to control the inline fan in the attic. I would think that even when the Central Air isn't running the air that your inline fan would be pulling out of the duct would be cool in the summer anyhow - especially here the south where I am. My central air doesn't stay off too long day or night with all the heat and humidity around here. Running an inline fan sure is so much cheaper than an additional AC unit, portable or otherwise.

I'm not a big fan of portable AC but it does work when a window unit isn't an option. Unfortunately they don't seem to be nearly as efficient as a window unit. I have a Sunpentown 10000 btu portable and it works okay in a couple of smaller grow locations but it is a PITA... especially draining the thing because they put the drain plug so low on the unit that it's messy to empty. I wish that I could have found an affordable portable unit that could feed the cold air out of a 4" or 5" duct coming out of the top of the unit. They have expensive industrial models that are designed like this and it would be a great way to keep the unit just outside of the grow space and blow the cool into your closet or room within a room. I usually end up fashioning a feed with cardboard or plastic and lots of duct tape so I can keep the unit out of the grow space. Most of the heat is vented out of the unit's 5" exhaust but not all of it.

This is SUCH a worthy topic of discussion... I grew for years before I finally had my temps dialed in thanks to AC and keeping the temps down is one of the most important factors in growing killer herb imho...

Happy Growing!

greenplanetguru said:

HI,

If you use your existing HVAC duct to keep the room cool with an inline fan boosting the air feed you can add a thermostat controller like the Green Air Products H/C 3 to your setup to control the inline fan in the attic. I would think that even when the Central Air isn't running the air that your inline fan would be pulling out of the duct would be cool in the summer anyhow - especially here the south where I am. My central air doesn't stay off too long day or night with all the heat and humidity around here. Running an inline fan sure is so much cheaper than an additional AC unit, portable or otherwise.

This is SUCH a worthy topic of discussion... I grew for years before I finally had my temps dialed in thanks to AC and is one of the most important factors in growing killer herb imho...

Happy Growing!

Click to expand...

I should have mentioned that yes I also have an inline fan in the intake to help boost when necessary.
But it's not enough in the summer time!!

Plus, an added bonus of an A/C unit in the room is that it draws moisture right out the air!

Here's a pic of mine. It has something like a gallon reservoir in the side of it that I dump right into my drum below.(Cleaner then rain water!)

mg75 said:

http://www.todaysconcept.com/windchaser-sc7-portable-spot-cooler.html

although this one is only 7000btu, it has no vent hose connection and a built in dehumidifier with a fairly large tank and a drain-hose connection. Re-use the water for the plants. No duct cutting. Just put in spot and turn on.
Also its more than 10 db quieter which is very important for stealth.

Perfect for a sealed room with co2.

Click to expand...

hell ya i wanna give this one a go! No exhaust hose is perfect.