Portable air conditioner question.

[kol12]

I've got a portable air conditioner, it is an Olimpia Splendid Ellise HP, 4.1 KW cooling, 3.8 KW heating, 14,000 BTU.

I'm finding it's not cooling my room down as well as what I'd hoped for, but to be honest I don't currently have operating in the most ideal setup. I am waiting for a part to arrive to be able to vent it properly out of the window, so in the mean time I have the vent hose sticking out of the bedroom door but this means that the door is constantly open by about 4 inches. Is just having the door open by this much enough to throw everything out and make the unit under perform? The unit is also sitting very close to the door so it could be sucking warm air in through that door gap? I understand these units suck warm air in and then cool the warm air correct? 4.1 KW of cooling is quite significant and I expected more, the room feels some what air conditioned but not what I would call "chilly" throughout. I am in NZ btw and it's the middle of summer right now.

I find also that the room still has "hot spots". Should 4.1 KW of cooling be making the whole bedroom feel chilly? Will venting it properly make a significant difference? how air tight should the room be? I understand the single hose models still need to draw some air into the room... Is there any thing else I could be doing wrong? The Olimpia Splendid was well spoke of in reviews and it is very quiet.

 

[Solandri]

Yes having the door open totally compromises the effectiveness of the air conditioner. In fact you're probably making your room hotter.

The unit takes in air from the inside, splits it into two streams. It pumps heat from one stream to the other. The cool stream it injects back into the room. The hot stream it sends out the back through the exhaust vent. Due to the second law of thermodynamics, the hot stream is heated by more than the cool stream is cooled. So mixing the two together will result in net heating effect. Because half the intake air is sent out through the exhaust vent, that air has to be replaced. Where do you think the replacement air is coming from? That's right - your open door.

If it's going to take a while for the proper window fitting to arrive, you'll need to get creative with a plastic garbage bag and some duct tape. Send the AC vent hose out the window, and use the bag and tape to make an airtight seal around it and the window opening. If you're worried about the tape pulling off paint when you remove it, use gaffer's tape instead.

The amount of cooling to expect depends on the efficiency of the AC unit, size of room, type of home and other factors. But a 12,000 BTU unit is pretty big and a regular window unit should cool about 400-600 sq ft (37-56 m^2). Portable ACs are less effective, so it'll probably be enough to cool a small room.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/06/how-to-size-up-your-air-conditioner-needs/index.htm
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news/2014/06/are-portableair-conditioner-claims-a-lot-of-hot-air/index.htm

A window AC is more effective. It pumps the heat from the inside air to the outside air. No vent hose means the fan doesn't have to work as hard to eject the heat. And no net movement of air outside means cool air inside your house stays inside. You're not drawing hot outside air into the house/room via small gaps and cracks.

Edit: Also, you're aware that most portable ACs have a tray of water inside, right? The cooling condenses humidity out of the air, and this water is caught in the drip pan. This pan needs to be emptied. Most portable ACs have a sensor which stops it from cooling if it senses the pan is full. The fan still runs though, fooling people into thinking the AC is working when it's not.

 

[kol12]

Yes I thought having the door cracked open to put the hose out might not be ideal. So once it is setup correctly and the door is closed shut it will still need to draw new air in from somewhere, I take it it will now be from under the door instead? Will this allow enough new air in but not so much as to make the air conditioner noneffective? How sealed should the rest of the room be? Unfortunately the low windows in the room are just fixed panes of glass, that's why I'm waiting for the flange to arrive, a hole will be cut in the glass and the flange siliconed in place. The windows above open but the vent hose will not reach them, I could try putting the air con on a platform temporarily.

The unit I have is 14,000 BTU's not 12,000... The room is roughly 18m sq. The unit I have apparently sprays the condensate over one of the components inside the unit although I forget which part, I think it also enhances the cooling so maybe one of the cooling parts... Apparently this unit only needs to be drained when stowing it and there should only be a small amount to drain. Quite neat I suppose.

 

[Wolfshadw]

This thread is over 2 years old.

Closing.
Wolfshadw
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