Portable AC Units

[ustmd]

Anyone have any experience with the portable AC units?

My wife is considering an AC unit for her tack room in the barn (I am not pointing out to her that I pushed her to consider an AC unit when I was building it last year--I may be slow, but I am not dumb :laughing.

The space slightly less than 200 sq ft. She wants to avoid a window box unit mainly because that is would stick out into the hallway where a horse could conceivable run into it (and I would would have to cut a hole in the wall).

She is looking at the portable units that have an exhaust hose.

The reviews I am reading at line are mixed to negative. I looking for feedback from someone who has actually used one.

P.S. If money were no object I would put in a Mini Split unit, but I do have $2K laying around with nothing better to do at the moment.

Thanks

 

[aczlan]

Worked for a hotel that had two of them as backup units and they always worked as advertized. My MIL has one and as far as I know, it works for her.

Aaron Z

 

[WM75Guy]

We have a 10,000 BTU portable unit that my wife used in the garage when she worked on stained glass. It would lower the temp in the garage but not by much. There is not much air flow from the unit and it has to be vented outside. There is tremendous heat that comes from the exhaust hose. It is also fairly loud in a closed environment.

I put a Goodman split unit in our tackroom when we built the stables. It works well but I have replaced the two electronic control boards twice since 2009 when we built. If one goes they both go. The tack room and bathroom are 180 square feet.

 

[ultrarunner]

We have a 10,000 BTU portable unit that my wife used in the garage when she worked on stained glass. It would lower the temp in the garage but not by much. There is not much air flow from the unit and it has to be vented outside. There is tremendous heat that comes from the exhaust hose. It is also fairly loud in a closed environment.

I put a Goodman split unit in our tackroom when we built the stables. It works well but I have replaced the two electronic control boards twice since 2009 when we built. If one goes they both go. The tack room and bathroom are 180 square feet.

Most of the portables require a means to deal with the condensate...

 

[Pirate]

My MIL had one, she couldn't stand it. The problem was noise. At least with a window unit, most of the noise is outside of the home. She still has the portable but won't use it. They do cool down the room. BTW, the condensate goes out through the exhaust hose via a smaller rubber hose.

 

[JimRB]

We run a dehumidifier set at the lowest setting. Gets the room pretty hot is set at a higher setting. 960 cubic feet. Tack does not get moldy though which is the main goal.

I have a few computer accounts that have the spot coolers with an exhaust vent that do make the room cold. Not quiet but you could turn it off if you are hanging out in the room.

 

[techwrtr2]

I have one that I've used as backup in really hot weather. They are noisy, take up a lot of space in the room and I don't think they cool as well for a given BTU range as a regular window unit. The exhaust hose is a pain to deal with as it is large and bulky. You have to worry about condensate and whether you'll have it drain somehow or use a bucket. The one I have will fill its bucket in under 8 hrs so I can't have it run over night etc. The only upside I can think of with them is the ability to use the window to let outside air in when you don't need AC.

 

[WM75Guy]

On ours the condensate is heated and goes out the exhaust. That is why the exhaust is so hot. The hose is 5" diameter and bulky.

 

[tractchores]

We have 2 of them, my wife uses them where she works because the windows aren't wide enough for the standard window units. They work ok, but are priced much more than comparable window units. We found that there are two types, one just has a single hose and one that has two hoses. The 2 hose one is MUCH more efficient as it uses outside air to cool the coil and pushes it back outside, while cooling the inside air. The single hose units are cooling down outside air and pulling it in, which makes it much harder to keep things cool because you're always dealing with hot outside air. Both types usually have a condensation tray that needs emptying.

 

[Alan L.]

My daughter / SIL made their garage into a play room. They extended ducts form their existing AC central unit but it proved to be insufficient for the hot summer. They put in one of the portable units with a hose out the window and it supplements the central air ducts very well.