Portable air conditioner

[Jeff-C175 7,199]

1 hour ago, squonk said:

Gonna  have to take a pic of my dinosaur now!

 

I bet my dino is older and uglier than your dino! 

Edited June 10, 2021 by Jeff-C175

[squonk 41,070]

20 minutes ago, Jeff-C175 said:

 

I bet my dino is older and uglier than your dino! 

I'm sure uglier. I got this AC about 35 yrs. ago. It was in a commercial bldg that my brother bought. The bldg had sat empty for a while. I'm guessing at least 40 yrs. old anyway. More likely more. Unit exhausts into my back shop. I have a whirly gig turbine vent above it and the fan on the Norge blows the hot air across it and out the side door. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Handy Don 12,214]

12 minutes ago, squonk said:

whirly gig turbine vent above it and the fan on the Norge blows the hot air across it and out the side door

Are you and Rube G related? 

[Jeff-C175 7,199]

11 hours ago, squonk said:

I'm sure uglier

 

You?  or the A/C unit?  or maybe both?  

 

Definitely uglier and pretty sure older too.  What's REALLY strange is that mine also vents into the back garage and I also blow an ancient fan across it!  How crazy is that?

 

The unit is an "ITT COOLERATOR" and has to be from the 60s.  The thermostat is really tired.  It does cut off when satisfied but won't come back on until the shop is way too warm so I have to babysit it and manually kick it back on.

 

 

I just did a little googling and found a print ad for sale on ebay from not the 60s, but from 1954 !!!! that shows the exact unit that I have!  That damn thing is almost SEVENTY years old!  And it still works!  Un freakin' believable !

 

Remember sitting directly in front of the airstream playing Scrabble?  No stiff necks there!  And not a hair out of place!

 

Edited June 10, 2021 by Jeff-C175

[Kligan 2]

I have experience using a portable air conditioner. I purchased an Icy breezy over a year ago, and it was a total disappointment. If you are looking for something portable you better use a fan or a bottle of frozen water, but the air conditioner, it should be stationary in any case.

[PippaScott 0]

On 7/31/2021 at 6:15 AM, Kligan said:

I have experience using a portable air conditioner. I purchased an Icy breezy over a year ago, and it was a total disappointment. If you are looking for something portable you better use a fan or a bottle of frozen water, but the air conditioner, it should be stationary in any case. Its main problem is that it sucks in hot air from outside, then with the help of ice it cools and goes outside. But the ice melts very quickly. And then it just stops working. I even called the professionals from https://www.socool.sg/, but they said it's a problem with the way the air conditioner itself works.

Icy breezy is just awful, I, too, became the 'happy' owner of one. I have never been a victim of such a major fraud.

Edited August 2, 2021 by PippaScott

[tunahead72 2,412]

I know this is an old thread, but it's a timely one for me because we're looking to buy a portable air conditioner later this week for my daughter's room, and there's a lot of good information here, thanks to everyone who's posted so far.

 

I just want to add a couple of small pieces of information...

 

We'll be installing the exhaust hose from the new unit into a casement window.  I've seen a bunch of DIY hacks online for this situation, some workable but a lot just downright sloppy.  I didn't realize until just a few days ago that there are companies that make nice custom vent kits for casement windows.  These are basically flat plastic panels (plexiglass or polycarbonate), with exhaust holes, and notches cut to fit around the window hardware if necessary, made to fit where the existing screen sits (or a similar location).  My favorite at the moment is from Martinson Manufacturing, but Klo Lab and TAP Plastics are also still on my short list.  They're pricey, but a local glass shop might be able to make something similar for less money.

 

There's also some hose insulation products out there to reduce the amount of heat radiating back into your trying-to-get-cool room from the exhaust hose.  These range from foil-covered fiberglass "duct sleeves" for about $20 at Home Depot, to nicer plastic- or fabric-covered sleeves from Cool-Aide or De'Longhi for about $50.  There's also products on Amazon that are basically rectangular pieces of material, meant to be wrapped around the hose and fastened at the edges with Velcro, but my gut tells me they wouldn't stay put if you had to bend the hose much, so I'm staying away from those for now.

 

I can't vouch for any of these products at this point, but I'll report back later once we decide on a unit and get it up and running.

 

[Mickwhitt 4,618]

Last summer was a pretty hot one for us so we decided to buy a mobile AC unit, homes in the UK don't have AC as a rule as the temperatures never really justify it.

 

But this unit is OK, it works properly, not by being filled with ice or cold water, it has refrigerator coils and an output hose.

 

It blows out very cold air, perhaps too cold, but maybe I had it set too low.

 

The main thing is the noise of the unit, it's extremely loud and this is a real negative when the main time you want to use it is watching tv or in the bedroom for sleeping. 

 

I was considering putting the unit under the floor and ducting the cold air into the bedroom, but the management expressed her opposition to the idea and things were not progressed. 

 

So far this spring early summer are very wet and cool. So the AC will most likely stay in its cupboard.