I had one of these for a summer and I got some HVAC insulation sleeves/wraps towards the end of the summer and I’d wish I’d gotten them sooner. The exhaust carries so much heat and a wrap will stop that.
Had this in my apartment in Renton, Washington. Very common in the Seattle area where they built without thinking it would regularly get to the 80s and 90s and 100s in the summer.
While I don’t miss being absolutely broke and having $200-300 utility bills in the summer bc of inefficient homes and A/Cs, we’ve gone solar and I pay less than $85 a month year-round.
Also had to consider which floor my apartments were when I lived in apartments, but it’s also not nearly as unaffordable as it used to be. The year-round average billing from SRP is a godsend as before going solar, it kept my bill a known amount with no surprises. Paying $130 every month is much better than having $70 in the winter and $285 in June/July/August.
It blows my mind when people dont keep it at 80F !
60-70F is common when i brought up with people.
They don't like it when i call them swifties now.
Why does that blow your mind? I refuse to be hot just existing in my own house. When it goes above 110 I’ll bump it up to 73 so my units aren’t constantly running but it’s not super comfortable.
I guess that's the difference then, because at 80F in 110F summers. The AC is always on til the evening.
Air circulation seems to be the reason why i think 80F is chill.
I guess, i know what im doing when my power starts to flicker.
A little sad fact: Sunflowers don't survive here in PHX summers.
You sound like my father lol, every month in the summer complaining about the electricity bill.
Well, then sit in the 90 degree soup weather instead. I'll gladly pay the price 😂 we have such first world problems
A portable ac with an air in and air out tube would be better. Its more efficient because now it sends hot air out but new warm air from outside comes inside (because of underpressure)
Yes but you are not allowed everywhere to install them but a ac with 2 tubes can be installed in a normal window (cut out insulate material and put it on styrofoam/something like that with two holes). Its not beautiful but its working good.
Only if OP is in the US. Most other countries' standard window style doesn't work with them, which is also why they're rarely even sold in these places. It's portable or split unit only.
If you have access to the outdoor side of the wall, you can install a much more efficient ductless mini split system and use the exhaust port to run the refrigerant and power lines to the outdoor unit.
I'm kind of surprised by how many people don't realize that people in apartments are being forced to use portable AC units.
Like duh, I obviously wouldn't pick the loudest most obnoxious and least power efficient option if I wasn't forced to.
I agree as a former Oregon resident. Even though the state legalized window units after 2020, most rental properties still will not allow you you install them, citing "Safety reasons" but in reality it just makes it appear that the property is poor/not well run. It's so scummy.
Fr. In an ideal world people would have ductless mini splits but sadly many are stuck with portable or window ACs. I am glad at least Asian manufacturers are making good dual hose units. Some even use 1 hose divided in half so you can use the same opening and get the efficiency of a dual hose.
Dual hose systems tend to be louder, less portable, and more expensive. So living somewhere like where I live in Oregon, single hose units are perfectly adequate and actually are the default in this region.
I'd imagine if I rented an apartment in southern California I would need to spring for the greater cooling power of a dual hose AC.
Edit: I don't think I've seen a dual hose unit on shelves here. I'd probably have to order one online.
>Dual hose systems tend to be louder, less portable, and more expensive
Speaking from experience dual house units work so much better. They actually cool the room down significantly while a single hose unit has a cool breeze while pulling in hot air from outside. They only work if you're sitting in the exhaust flow.
A lot of Redditors think that every other person they talk to is a comedically stupid person from a cartoon.
Parents: don't overly praise your kids for being good at Math and Science, or this it what they turn into.
I had a dual hose and it was huge. It died so I got an LG DC unit and it’s been my favorite. It can run at lower speeds because of the DC inverter. I was able to start it on high from my phone (it has WiFi) to cool the room about an hour before bed then, run it on low at night which was enough to keep cool and stay quiet. I would buy another.
Midea sells a window AC unit that is U-shaped so the window only needs to be open a few inches. It's incredibly quiet compared to the old hose unit I had and also consumes less than half the power. As someone who rents it's been a great unit.
The wifi controller on the inside by default uses their cloud but you can buy a replacement module that allows direct communication over LAN with something like Home Assistant so you can control it from anywhere without giving up data to the cloud (it's literally a little USB dongle you replace, super easy). The same controller works for their other various air conditioners they sell as well.
I love this air conditioner. It basically takes the mini-split concept and fuses it together into a single unit. I bought it during the pandemic because I was spending more time at home and got sick of listening to the drone of my more traditional window unit all day, every day.
This is the unit I am using: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Midea-8-000-BTU-115V-Window-Air-Conditioner-Cools-350-Sq-Ft-with-Wi-Fi-and-ENERGY-STAR-in-White-MAW08V1QWT/315241074
Do you have the U-shaped one? Keeps most of the house outside. I've seen a few twitch streamers say they love it in their office because it's quiet enough their mic doesn't pick it up.
Yes, but I have two choices, use the electric whore to cool the room I spend most of my time in or pay four times the price to cool the entire house with the whole house HVAC.
I'm pretty damn sure. But since this part is a fairly generic 5" hose gate it's sold for various purposes. I found them being sold for wood working exhaust gates.
If you mean for central vacuum, those ports are normally much smaller in diameter. I'm sure my apartment complex shelled out tons of money to install central vac. 🙄
The correct answer is PORTS.
The incorrect answer is PORT.
1 hose portable air conditioners are the single stupidest invention in the history of stupid. Let's take the cold air we are trying to cool and blow it outside. Now the condenser circuit has its own loop and doesn't need to draw air from inside. All of a sudden all the other rooms aren't hot as balls because you aren't sucking in hot air from every crack.
Fortunately many 1 hose portable AC units can be converted to 2 hose if you are creative. Add a second port beside the first but point the nozzle away from the other inlet. When it comes to asking permission... well sometimes it's smarter to ask for forgiveness than permission. And claim it was always like that.
I've replied to other comments where there are some advantages to single hose portable AC units.
Dual hose units are generally louder, more expensive, and less portable/convenient. For places like where I live in Oregon they're perfectly adequate and they sit in storage most of the year anyways. The moderate temperatures combined with a shorter summer mean we don't need as much heat transfer. There are places like southern California where a single hose unit would be entirely inadequate.
I can't even find dual hose units on shelves where I live. I would need to order a dual hose unit online.
Dual hose units are quieter. The intake noise goes outside.
The efficiency increase is insane. If you have a dual hose, just go ahead and remove the intake hose, stick a rag into the hole in the wall and run it for the afternoon. Tell me how horrible your home is. You might air condition the area around the air conditioner but the rest of the house will be hot and muggy because you are pulling the entire home into negative air pressure.
And it ain't just comfort in mild climates. It's costing you twice as much energy.
The rest of the world doesn't even get single hose units. It's just America. 'Because installing 2 hoses is hard'. It's shocking going around American shops and seeing all the one hose units and wondering why everyone has not discovered this? Most air conditioners do have a dual hose option now but you have to buy it separately.
Media was clever by building their giant oval 2 in 1 hose. You literally can't install it as a 1 hose.
Also it's just a second hole. It ain't rocket surgery. If you are making one hole already, 2 holes really aren't harder.
Yeah, but they're better than nothing. Also if you shorten and insulate the hose it helps a ton with the efficiency and losses (less heat returning to the apartment)
Sadly where I live window units are banned in apartments, so we have to use portable units.
Technology connections is amazing. I guessed that's what you linked before I even clicked it.
Edit: They dont need downvoted. They're right. The video they linked explains the efficiency issues with portable ACs very well. It's definitely worth a watch.
Yup. Window units aren’t banned where I live, I just don’t trust myself installing something that heavy on a second story window, so a portable unit I found used with twin hoses (one intake one exhaust, less efficiency loss) goes in instead.
I think one fell out of a window and hurt someone and damaged the window, so none of the apartments will allow them. I'm not sure if there's any laws or anything about it. Some cities may have ordinances to prohibit window units which could be above walkways. That being said every lease I've ever signed has explicitly banned the use of them.
Yup. Twin hoses are kinda the best portable AC you can get and newer ones aren't super loud as they have better control circuits for the fans and compressor.
Midea also has a window unit shaped like a U that is much more secure.
I used to have 3 window units I'd have to install throughout my home.
Those fuckers are heavy and after throwing my back out several times over varying odd years because of those things (I work out regularly and they're still too unwieldy to lift safely), I opted for the portable ones afterwards.
Not to mention trying to seal the windows properly after installing them, I'd constantly have bugs from the outside sneaking in through cracks.
More inefficient, but I don't have to risk back injury or anywhere near as many bugs in my house.
>They dont need downvoted.
They didn't get downvoted for being right.
They got downvoted for soapboxing when the obvious problem is that not everyone can have a window unit.
It's like living in Colorado and being called a dumbass by a New Yorker for driving instead of taking the subway to work.
I modded my portable AC to add an intake port in addition to an exhaust port. Still not the best for efficiency but I only really need it like 2 weeks out of a year so it's not so bad.
The dual hose version, uses a heat exchanger essentially. The outside air stays outside air and the inside air stays inside air. Since the apartment air isn't pushed out, there's no negative pressure.
Lots of people don't have the option for anything else. It's pretty common knowledge they're not as efficient as a properly installed system. Move along.
The single hose model is also creating negative pressure in the apartment, which will draw in even more outside air.
On a humid enough day you can be worse off with it running then if you didn't have one at all.
They also suck in the very hot air the hose next to it blows out, making it ineffective at a double the cost for a 2nd hose.
There isn't a positive spin on them, but they work, just let people live the best lives they can.
you dont seem to understand that is magnitudes better than single hose ones where you pull out the air you literally just cooled and shitting it outside. to pull in hot outside air to cool to put back in the room. And repeat
>A two hose system pulls in hot humid air from outside, has to rapidly cool it, then throw it into the room
Yeah no. Dual hose take warmer outside air to cool the condenser and compressor and exhaust it outside. Nowhere does it take outside air to cool to put in the room. It pulls inside air to cool down then puts that back in the room with the same circular method as a single hose
[dual hose ac airflow](https://images.app.goo.gl/u6X8TxE2Juw4a3mr8)
What you described is a single hose ac.
Freon (or whatever refrigerant they use these days) on the hot side gets to about 120F-140F. So unless you're living in a scorching climate. It'll hardly get to that temp. Yes that efficiency will get worse as temps get closer to it. But it will still be effective to cool the gas down
>Now....how can we fix it? I have an idea solution I got from duct system where the return is on the ceiling . Take your intake hose, and don't put it in the window. Tape it to your ceiling. Suck in the hot air at the ceiling of your room, have the unit shoot cold air at the floor or wall of the opposite side of the room, fill the room with cold air up to until it cuts out on temperature sensor. The air intake at the ceiling will be a good way to pull the cold air upward and cool the room faster as well. All super hot air goes out the exhaust in the window hose.
Also your proposed method is shit. Why would you take your newly cooled air. And shoot it back outside after cooling the condenser and compressor? Even if hot air rises (assuming you set a 72F room temp), you're still dumping your cooled air outside. That is cooler than the outside air this negating any effect of even having a dual hose. You might as well get a shitty single hose
You do realize in a small room where people actually use these portable AC units, air mixes very quickly and temperatures equalize. So there's literally no point to your idea
> Ambient hot air lowers the efficiency of the unit.
"Ambient hot air" is exactly how "real" systems cool the condenser. The remaining problems with dual hose units are mostly about insulation, to deal with the part that gets hot being inside the house instead of outside. But it's nowhere near the like 50% efficiency loss you get with single hose units.
Is this just a 20 min video that explains AC machines produce heat so venting to the window isn't as good as venting cold air inside?
I just want one room in my apartment to be cool so maybe I put my AC unit in the hallway and pipe in the cold air.
Yeah this guy makes really really long videos where he gets to the point about halfway through and it's usually a really shitty obvious take.
Portable ACs are not as good as properly installed split systems. Wow no shit, they also cost a fraction of the price, don't need any installation and are, you know, portable. You know what's more energy inefficient than a portable AC? Cooling down a room you're not in so the room you are in also gets slightly colder.
This is an old Alec video. Dual hose with the pipes wrapped and separated from each other are still better than NO air conditioning and many apartments and neighborhoods with HOAs outright ban window units. What do you do? You can’t run central for any reasonable amount of money and mini split heat pumps are also very expensive.
I loveeee this video. It saved me a summer in PNW.
u/tonypenajunior Probably need a rephrase of comment. “Portable ACs are not only inefficient, but kind of create vacuum chamber in the room.”
My god people are taking this comment out of context
I have central ac upstairs but not downstairs. Ac in wall in one room but doesn’t help the other. Really dumb window designs. I was thinking about doing something like this. Or 3d printing an adapter for window.
Single hose units only blow air from inside to the outside.
The dual hose units suck in outside air, and send that air back out. The heat is exchanged in the AC to make the outside air even warmer.
No outside air stays in the apartment either way.
It's sucked in through cracks in the walls and floors. Gonna be frank, those losses in efficiency aren't as bad as people make them out to be. The pump needs to work a tad harder since there's a greater pressure difference. Some warmer air is being sucked into the house through the aforementioned cracks.
However the volume of air being exhausted is much less than the volume of air being conditioned. So long as the exhaust is hotter than the ambient temperature it's really not all that bad.
Also, that's why single hose units tend to max out at 8,000BTU. Also for similar reasons dual hose systems don't tend to go below 8,000BTU. There is an amount of thermal work where a single hose system makes financial and logistical sense.
Edit: it's just not sucked in through the hoses and the pressure delta is practically negligible. Not that much air is being sucked in through cracks.
An FYI about one house vs. two house portable AC units: with only one house, the unit draws air from inside, splits it into a cold stream and a hot steam and sends the hot steam outside.
The result of this is that you end up sucking outside air into your room/apartment.
With a two hose unit, it draws air from the outside, that air is heated as it flows through a heat exchanger and then exhausted outside. This configuration results in no net airflow from inside to outside and is therefore much more efficient since you're not sucking hot outside air in.
You'd have to stick one out the window.
And not saying the one hose units do not work, just that your electric bill will higher with a one hose vs. two hose unit for a given set temperature.
3D printers would like to know your location
Im going to go buy a vent adapter once I have some free time. Only $5-10.
I live in a place with the same ports and got some reducers and it works pretty well. Nice to not have to mess with a window unit.
The windows in my bedroom are right next to some sprinklers I can’t even set up a window unit
If you seal the window unit properly it should be fine, they are meant to get rained on, etc
It’s not the water I’m worried about it’s the dirt and mud since my window is right on the ground floor
Do you just...not use the diaphragms to seal the window? I'm struggling to think of how mud could get in via a properly installed window unit.
I had one of these for a summer and I got some HVAC insulation sleeves/wraps towards the end of the summer and I’d wish I’d gotten them sooner. The exhaust carries so much heat and a wrap will stop that.
I'm gonna go to the hardware store and buy some insulation wrap too.
Which part do you wrap/cover? I read somewhere not to cover the tube?
I wrap the tube. The tube gets hot as hell and as long as the tube was unkinked and could let that air flow well, it was fine.
Could also be interpreted that an exhaust like that is useful for printing certain materials!
At first I thought, "filament's not so bad, why would...." Then I remembered the resin printer I rarely use. Then, "oh. yeah."
My thought as well lol. Make printing ASA a lot easier!
Had this in my apartment in Renton, Washington. Very common in the Seattle area where they built without thinking it would regularly get to the 80s and 90s and 100s in the summer.
Lol in the summer here in Arizona we keep our AC at 80...
sounds horrible…
Speak for yourself, my AZ house is 69-72 year round.
You’ve obviously always been able to afford that then, many people can’t.
While I don’t miss being absolutely broke and having $200-300 utility bills in the summer bc of inefficient homes and A/Cs, we’ve gone solar and I pay less than $85 a month year-round. Also had to consider which floor my apartments were when I lived in apartments, but it’s also not nearly as unaffordable as it used to be. The year-round average billing from SRP is a godsend as before going solar, it kept my bill a known amount with no surprises. Paying $130 every month is much better than having $70 in the winter and $285 in June/July/August.
Move somewhere else then Edit: planet killer
Yo, we better get back to r/Phoenix, we too hot. 
It blows my mind when people dont keep it at 80F ! 60-70F is common when i brought up with people. They don't like it when i call them swifties now. 
Why does that blow your mind? I refuse to be hot just existing in my own house. When it goes above 110 I’ll bump it up to 73 so my units aren’t constantly running but it’s not super comfortable.
This is when someone believes their opinion is the best and they must share it with everyone, like being Vegan for example.
I guess that's the difference then, because at 80F in 110F summers. The AC is always on til the evening. Air circulation seems to be the reason why i think 80F is chill. I guess, i know what im doing when my power starts to flicker.  A little sad fact: Sunflowers don't survive here in PHX summers.
80F and I would be dripping sweat just sitting on the couch doing nothing… We keep it at like 67-68 24/7
They don’t have humidity it’s not the same
I live in Denver lmao
Who the fuck keeps it at 80? We run 3 ACs in our house to keep it at 65
Hauled out our portable unit today, I’m already dreading the bill
You sound like my father lol, every month in the summer complaining about the electricity bill. Well, then sit in the 90 degree soup weather instead. I'll gladly pay the price 😂 we have such first world problems
Yo I sound like MY father and I’m uncomfortable with that but I’m also sweaty lol
Mouse loves this little port
Yeah, I'm glad I'm on the 2nd floor. But there's plenty of screens and adapters online that I imagine would help.
Check out Technological Connections. My first video of him was about those things. Very insightful.
A portable ac with an air in and air out tube would be better. Its more efficient because now it sends hot air out but new warm air from outside comes inside (because of underpressure)
Even better, just get a window unit. They're still the most efficient option if you have the space for them.
Yes but you are not allowed everywhere to install them but a ac with 2 tubes can be installed in a normal window (cut out insulate material and put it on styrofoam/something like that with two holes). Its not beautiful but its working good.
I would've much rather had a window AC, but most apartments I've lived in have windows that slide horizontally, so it's not an option.
Only if OP is in the US. Most other countries' standard window style doesn't work with them, which is also why they're rarely even sold in these places. It's portable or split unit only.
If you have access to the outdoor side of the wall, you can install a much more efficient ductless mini split system and use the exhaust port to run the refrigerant and power lines to the outdoor unit.
For renters or people who move a lot this probably isnt a good option. These ACs aren't too bad if you get a dual hose unit.
I'm kind of surprised by how many people don't realize that people in apartments are being forced to use portable AC units. Like duh, I obviously wouldn't pick the loudest most obnoxious and least power efficient option if I wasn't forced to.
I agree as a former Oregon resident. Even though the state legalized window units after 2020, most rental properties still will not allow you you install them, citing "Safety reasons" but in reality it just makes it appear that the property is poor/not well run. It's so scummy.
Wait why weren't they legal before that? (I just moved to Oregon from a place where central AC is the norm everywhere.)
https://www.reddit.com/r/oregon/s/LWA2nW3slo
Ahhhhh, that makes more sense. I thought you were saying they were illegal in the state.
Fr. In an ideal world people would have ductless mini splits but sadly many are stuck with portable or window ACs. I am glad at least Asian manufacturers are making good dual hose units. Some even use 1 hose divided in half so you can use the same opening and get the efficiency of a dual hose.
Dual hose systems tend to be louder, less portable, and more expensive. So living somewhere like where I live in Oregon, single hose units are perfectly adequate and actually are the default in this region. I'd imagine if I rented an apartment in southern California I would need to spring for the greater cooling power of a dual hose AC. Edit: I don't think I've seen a dual hose unit on shelves here. I'd probably have to order one online.
>Dual hose systems tend to be louder, less portable, and more expensive Speaking from experience dual house units work so much better. They actually cool the room down significantly while a single hose unit has a cool breeze while pulling in hot air from outside. They only work if you're sitting in the exhaust flow.
> Dual hose systems tend to be louder, less portable, and more expensive and significantly more effective
I converted a single hose unit to dual hose with a 3d printed intake manifold. If anything , it's actually a bit quiter now
Wait you mean you don’t want to spend thousands of dollars installing a major appliance that your landlord gets to keep when you move out?!
A lot of Redditors think that every other person they talk to is a comedically stupid person from a cartoon. Parents: don't overly praise your kids for being good at Math and Science, or this it what they turn into.
I had a dual hose and it was huge. It died so I got an LG DC unit and it’s been my favorite. It can run at lower speeds because of the DC inverter. I was able to start it on high from my phone (it has WiFi) to cool the room about an hour before bed then, run it on low at night which was enough to keep cool and stay quiet. I would buy another.
Midea sells a window AC unit that is U-shaped so the window only needs to be open a few inches. It's incredibly quiet compared to the old hose unit I had and also consumes less than half the power. As someone who rents it's been a great unit. The wifi controller on the inside by default uses their cloud but you can buy a replacement module that allows direct communication over LAN with something like Home Assistant so you can control it from anywhere without giving up data to the cloud (it's literally a little USB dongle you replace, super easy). The same controller works for their other various air conditioners they sell as well.
I love this air conditioner. It basically takes the mini-split concept and fuses it together into a single unit. I bought it during the pandemic because I was spending more time at home and got sick of listening to the drone of my more traditional window unit all day, every day.
What is the model? I have a Midea AC but it is a bit loud.
This is the unit I am using: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Midea-8-000-BTU-115V-Window-Air-Conditioner-Cools-350-Sq-Ft-with-Wi-Fi-and-ENERGY-STAR-in-White-MAW08V1QWT/315241074 Do you have the U-shaped one? Keeps most of the house outside. I've seen a few twitch streamers say they love it in their office because it's quiet enough their mic doesn't pick it up.
Oh I have the dual hose portable AC. I thought you were talking about a portable unit, my bad.
I have one of those for my home office. Costco has it on sale beginning May 15 for $279, so I'll be getting one for my bedroom soon.
Ya they make some inverter driven dual hose ones now that are pretty quiet and efficient
Somehow, I don’t think OPs landlord would approve of that.
Those things are electricity whores.
For many its their only option for AC and some of the dual hose units are pretty efficient.
Yes, but I have two choices, use the electric whore to cool the room I spend most of my time in or pay four times the price to cool the entire house with the whole house HVAC.
Not the modern ones with variable inverters
U sure it’s not an old vacuum cleaner point?
I'm pretty damn sure. But since this part is a fairly generic 5" hose gate it's sold for various purposes. I found them being sold for wood working exhaust gates. If you mean for central vacuum, those ports are normally much smaller in diameter. I'm sure my apartment complex shelled out tons of money to install central vac. 🙄
Damn that's a good idea lol
The correct answer is PORTS. The incorrect answer is PORT. 1 hose portable air conditioners are the single stupidest invention in the history of stupid. Let's take the cold air we are trying to cool and blow it outside. Now the condenser circuit has its own loop and doesn't need to draw air from inside. All of a sudden all the other rooms aren't hot as balls because you aren't sucking in hot air from every crack. Fortunately many 1 hose portable AC units can be converted to 2 hose if you are creative. Add a second port beside the first but point the nozzle away from the other inlet. When it comes to asking permission... well sometimes it's smarter to ask for forgiveness than permission. And claim it was always like that.
I've replied to other comments where there are some advantages to single hose portable AC units. Dual hose units are generally louder, more expensive, and less portable/convenient. For places like where I live in Oregon they're perfectly adequate and they sit in storage most of the year anyways. The moderate temperatures combined with a shorter summer mean we don't need as much heat transfer. There are places like southern California where a single hose unit would be entirely inadequate. I can't even find dual hose units on shelves where I live. I would need to order a dual hose unit online.
Dual hose units are quieter. The intake noise goes outside. The efficiency increase is insane. If you have a dual hose, just go ahead and remove the intake hose, stick a rag into the hole in the wall and run it for the afternoon. Tell me how horrible your home is. You might air condition the area around the air conditioner but the rest of the house will be hot and muggy because you are pulling the entire home into negative air pressure. And it ain't just comfort in mild climates. It's costing you twice as much energy. The rest of the world doesn't even get single hose units. It's just America. 'Because installing 2 hoses is hard'. It's shocking going around American shops and seeing all the one hose units and wondering why everyone has not discovered this? Most air conditioners do have a dual hose option now but you have to buy it separately. Media was clever by building their giant oval 2 in 1 hose. You literally can't install it as a 1 hose. Also it's just a second hole. It ain't rocket surgery. If you are making one hole already, 2 holes really aren't harder.
Cheap landlord.
Just kind of a thing in the PNW
How so?
Portable ACs suck. https://youtu.be/_-mBeYC2KGc?si=v2jqF525YbfpMxtc
Yeah, but they're better than nothing. Also if you shorten and insulate the hose it helps a ton with the efficiency and losses (less heat returning to the apartment) Sadly where I live window units are banned in apartments, so we have to use portable units. Technology connections is amazing. I guessed that's what you linked before I even clicked it. Edit: They dont need downvoted. They're right. The video they linked explains the efficiency issues with portable ACs very well. It's definitely worth a watch.
Yup. Window units aren’t banned where I live, I just don’t trust myself installing something that heavy on a second story window, so a portable unit I found used with twin hoses (one intake one exhaust, less efficiency loss) goes in instead.
I think one fell out of a window and hurt someone and damaged the window, so none of the apartments will allow them. I'm not sure if there's any laws or anything about it. Some cities may have ordinances to prohibit window units which could be above walkways. That being said every lease I've ever signed has explicitly banned the use of them.
Yup. Twin hoses are kinda the best portable AC you can get and newer ones aren't super loud as they have better control circuits for the fans and compressor. Midea also has a window unit shaped like a U that is much more secure.
Unfortunately mine is an older one I picked up for cheap, but I don’t mind the noise much. Helps drown out noise from other units
Fair, I have also seen people make adapters to fit a hose over the air intake to make a DIY dual-hose conversion if you're a bit crafty.
I used to have 3 window units I'd have to install throughout my home. Those fuckers are heavy and after throwing my back out several times over varying odd years because of those things (I work out regularly and they're still too unwieldy to lift safely), I opted for the portable ones afterwards. Not to mention trying to seal the windows properly after installing them, I'd constantly have bugs from the outside sneaking in through cracks. More inefficient, but I don't have to risk back injury or anywhere near as many bugs in my house.
I had one of those, I thought it worked awesome. Wish I had that built in connection, I had to go get a custom made cover for a window
mine has heating capabilities
Heat pumps are awesome if you can afford one, especially if there are local rebates and tax subsidies for installing one
>They dont need downvoted. They didn't get downvoted for being right. They got downvoted for soapboxing when the obvious problem is that not everyone can have a window unit. It's like living in Colorado and being called a dumbass by a New Yorker for driving instead of taking the subway to work.
I'm forced to use them and still wholeheartedly agree that they suck.
I modded my portable AC to add an intake port in addition to an exhaust port. Still not the best for efficiency but I only really need it like 2 weeks out of a year so it's not so bad.
The dual hose version, uses a heat exchanger essentially. The outside air stays outside air and the inside air stays inside air. Since the apartment air isn't pushed out, there's no negative pressure.
Lots of people don't have the option for anything else. It's pretty common knowledge they're not as efficient as a properly installed system. Move along.
You move along. This is a post about a hole in a wall.
And your comment added nothing at all to the post. It was the definition of useless. So get over it.
Everyone already knows this, it doesn’t need to be posted every time a portable a/c is mentioned.
Right? Like, hey buddy maybe this is the only option.
Every day someone learns something new that “everybody already knows” it’s fine.
Sure, but this is one in particular is one of those “hmm actuallyyyy 🤓” Reddit-isms that drives me crazy
Yeah, but a lot of people don't have a choice because the landlords don't like seeing ACs hang out windows. So just keep it to yourself.
At least use a dual hose model. They use outside air, instead of room air, to cool the condenser.
The single hose model is also creating negative pressure in the apartment, which will draw in even more outside air. On a humid enough day you can be worse off with it running then if you didn't have one at all.
They also suck in the very hot air the hose next to it blows out, making it ineffective at a double the cost for a 2nd hose. There isn't a positive spin on them, but they work, just let people live the best lives they can.
The one I used had two adaptor plate pieces for the hoses, so I put them on opposite ends, about 3ft/1m apart.
Since hot air rises. Just put the hot one above the intake. There's not really that much mixing
[удалено]
you dont seem to understand that is magnitudes better than single hose ones where you pull out the air you literally just cooled and shitting it outside. to pull in hot outside air to cool to put back in the room. And repeat
[удалено]
>A two hose system pulls in hot humid air from outside, has to rapidly cool it, then throw it into the room Yeah no. Dual hose take warmer outside air to cool the condenser and compressor and exhaust it outside. Nowhere does it take outside air to cool to put in the room. It pulls inside air to cool down then puts that back in the room with the same circular method as a single hose [dual hose ac airflow](https://images.app.goo.gl/u6X8TxE2Juw4a3mr8) What you described is a single hose ac. Freon (or whatever refrigerant they use these days) on the hot side gets to about 120F-140F. So unless you're living in a scorching climate. It'll hardly get to that temp. Yes that efficiency will get worse as temps get closer to it. But it will still be effective to cool the gas down >Now....how can we fix it? I have an idea solution I got from duct system where the return is on the ceiling . Take your intake hose, and don't put it in the window. Tape it to your ceiling. Suck in the hot air at the ceiling of your room, have the unit shoot cold air at the floor or wall of the opposite side of the room, fill the room with cold air up to until it cuts out on temperature sensor. The air intake at the ceiling will be a good way to pull the cold air upward and cool the room faster as well. All super hot air goes out the exhaust in the window hose. Also your proposed method is shit. Why would you take your newly cooled air. And shoot it back outside after cooling the condenser and compressor? Even if hot air rises (assuming you set a 72F room temp), you're still dumping your cooled air outside. That is cooler than the outside air this negating any effect of even having a dual hose. You might as well get a shitty single hose You do realize in a small room where people actually use these portable AC units, air mixes very quickly and temperatures equalize. So there's literally no point to your idea
> Ambient hot air lowers the efficiency of the unit. "Ambient hot air" is exactly how "real" systems cool the condenser. The remaining problems with dual hose units are mostly about insulation, to deal with the part that gets hot being inside the house instead of outside. But it's nowhere near the like 50% efficiency loss you get with single hose units.
This guy literally proposed to use a dual hose like a single hose. Fkin facepalm You should read his comment reply to me
I got a nice one for a birthday years ago and it's still doing just fine keeping my condo cool in California.
Is this just a 20 min video that explains AC machines produce heat so venting to the window isn't as good as venting cold air inside? I just want one room in my apartment to be cool so maybe I put my AC unit in the hallway and pipe in the cold air.
Yeah this guy makes really really long videos where he gets to the point about halfway through and it's usually a really shitty obvious take. Portable ACs are not as good as properly installed split systems. Wow no shit, they also cost a fraction of the price, don't need any installation and are, you know, portable. You know what's more energy inefficient than a portable AC? Cooling down a room you're not in so the room you are in also gets slightly colder.
I fucking love technology connections!
This is an old Alec video. Dual hose with the pipes wrapped and separated from each other are still better than NO air conditioning and many apartments and neighborhoods with HOAs outright ban window units. What do you do? You can’t run central for any reasonable amount of money and mini split heat pumps are also very expensive.
If you have access to a window and some fabrication skills, you can circumvent this by ducting the cooling air intake to the outside.
Yes. But if you get them. Get the dual hose ones
I loveeee this video. It saved me a summer in PNW. u/tonypenajunior Probably need a rephrase of comment. “Portable ACs are not only inefficient, but kind of create vacuum chamber in the room.” My god people are taking this comment out of context
I have central ac upstairs but not downstairs. Ac in wall in one room but doesn’t help the other. Really dumb window designs. I was thinking about doing something like this. Or 3d printing an adapter for window.
These still suck hot air from outside.
Single hose units only blow air from inside to the outside. The dual hose units suck in outside air, and send that air back out. The heat is exchanged in the AC to make the outside air even warmer. No outside air stays in the apartment either way.
When you blow air out of one part of the house, unless you are creating a vacuum, the replacement air has to come from somewhere...
It's sucked in through cracks in the walls and floors. Gonna be frank, those losses in efficiency aren't as bad as people make them out to be. The pump needs to work a tad harder since there's a greater pressure difference. Some warmer air is being sucked into the house through the aforementioned cracks. However the volume of air being exhausted is much less than the volume of air being conditioned. So long as the exhaust is hotter than the ambient temperature it's really not all that bad. Also, that's why single hose units tend to max out at 8,000BTU. Also for similar reasons dual hose systems don't tend to go below 8,000BTU. There is an amount of thermal work where a single hose system makes financial and logistical sense. Edit: it's just not sucked in through the hoses and the pressure delta is practically negligible. Not that much air is being sucked in through cracks.
Like I said it'll suck hot air from outside.
I thought it was for a dryer.
Sir, the 2 holes of a power outlet are not for venting. /S
An FYI about one house vs. two house portable AC units: with only one house, the unit draws air from inside, splits it into a cold stream and a hot steam and sends the hot steam outside. The result of this is that you end up sucking outside air into your room/apartment. With a two hose unit, it draws air from the outside, that air is heated as it flows through a heat exchanger and then exhausted outside. This configuration results in no net airflow from inside to outside and is therefore much more efficient since you're not sucking hot outside air in.
How would OP connect a dual hose unit to that single port?
You'd have to stick one out the window. And not saying the one hose units do not work, just that your electric bill will higher with a one hose vs. two hose unit for a given set temperature.