I Need Advice About Portable Air Conditioners

[Aspychata]

Great to hear you like your place. Happy for you.

 

[Ronald Zeeman]

The adhesive remover is most likely toluene.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I bought the Black and Decker model. It'll arrive in about a week. I will hook it up in the living room, and let you know how it works.

I'm hoping it'll help me out, because I've been so ill lately. A little cool breeze may be what I need to feel better.

 

[musicallessness]

ugh portable a/c such a waste...
envision if a window not allow building like a second window or wall in front of that window of choice preferably one that doesn't have a view.
and don't for the insulation as the heat and fire proof that wall or second window and then have a door to check on the a/c from time to time a smoke detector.
is there something else I forgot to metnion

 

[Mary Terry]

Sounds like you're on track with the portable unit. The only other thing I can suggest is to put waffle-weave shades in windows that face the sun. The waffle shape serves as insulation to offset the summer heat and helps store the heat in the winter. I have them in a north-facing bathroom because that room gets really cold in winter.

I'm glad you made it to your new home! It sounded like a nightmare to get packed and moved.

 

[Forest Cat]

Lots of helpful suggestions. Beyond them all perhaps there is one other thing to research. Since you are now armed with some critical figures useful in terms of cooling spaces, consider contacting a representative of your utilities company to see if they can estimate the possible energy costs as well as if they have any programs that can reduce your rates. Not all utility companies are created equal, but I figure it's worth a shot.

Yeah I was thinking about that, electricity is a nightmare these days. When I looked at my last electricity bill I woke up on the floor half an hour later. It looked like a phone number at the bottom of it, but it was what I owed.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

Sounds like you're on track with the portable unit. The only other thing I can suggest is to put waffle-weave shades in windows that face the sun. The waffle shape serves as insulation to offset the summer heat and helps store the heat in the winter. I have them in a north-facing bathroom because that room gets really cold in winter.

I'm glad you made it to your new home! It sounded like a nightmare to get packed and moved.

What are waffle weave shades?

 

[Mary Terry]

What are waffle weave shades?

Honeycomb shape, also called cellular blinds. I don't know how to attach a photo here (duh) so google honeycomb shades to see what they look like. They're usually inexpensive compared with other window shades.

 

[Forest Cat]

I don't know how to attach a photo here (duh) so google honeycomb shades to see what they look like.

 

[Mary Terry]

View attachment 79535

Thank you!

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I purchased the Black and Decker model, and I'm very happy with its performance. Even though it's only 10,000 BTUs, with the help of keeping ceiling fans on (there are three in the apartment), it circulates the cold air, and pulls out moisture and heat, and even some heat from cooking or baking, to keep the entire apartment cool. In fact it gets chilly enough in here, that even though my bedroom is down an L shaped hallway, at the back of the house, I get cold enough to need comforters.

I do have a problem with it though. It's really annoying, and this happens every day, sometimes more than once.

My apartment has windows that swing open. It's got a romantic look. Think Snow White singing out her window, and you get the idea.

Anyway, typically a portable a.c. wouldn't work in that kind of a window, so the maintenance staff gives anyone who needs one, a plexiglass insert, at the beginning of the warm season. The insert is the same sizes as the living room window but it has a round hole in the center bottom of it.

The round hole sticks out about three inches into the apartment, and I guess if your air conditioner hose was really skinny, you could put the hose through it, or if your hose was really fat, it could wrap around the part that sticks out.

My air conditioner hose is exactly the same size as the hole. And no matter what my daughter and I have tried, we can't get it to wrap around the hole, or fit inside. So we have to just duct tape the hose to the hole.

I have learned the hard way that duct tape is not for duct work. Every day, from the heat of the exhaust air, the glue from the duct tape melts, and the duct tape turns into nothing more than slightly sticky plastic. The apartment heats up and I go out into the living room only to discover that the hose has fallen out of the insert, and is now lying on the floor, exhausting hot, humid air into the apartment. I have to go back, and tape it all over again. It happened around 1am last night, and was very tedious to do at that time.

I have to have an air conditioner, for my apartment building is made of brick, and gets so unbearably warm at night. It makes me physically ill.

I am wondering if the glue of white Gorilla tape will have a higher melting point? Or perhaps Gorilla Tape isn't for ductwork either. What would you highly trained handy people recommend to keep the #*!& hose up in the window? What kind of tape do I need? Is there another way to monkeywrench this situation? I can pay up to $30 for whatever fix you're suggesting.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

P.S. I'm pretty ticked off after the hose falling out at 1 am, and trying to sleep as the house was feeling about as pleasant as wearing Sherpa lined boots in a Floridian Sweatlodge.

I feel like I'm Wile E Coyote, trying in vain to outsmart The Roadrunner.

 

[Forest Cat]

I purchased the Black and Decker model, and I'm very happy with its performance. Even though it's only 10,000 BTUs, with the help of keeping ceiling fans on (there are three in the apartment), it circulates the cold air, and pulls out moisture and heat, and even some heat from cooking or baking, to keep the entire apartment cool. In fact it gets chilly enough in here, that even though my bedroom is down an L shaped hallway, at the back of the house, I get cold enough to need comforters.

I do have a problem with it though. It's really annoying, and this happens every day, sometimes more than once.

My apartment has windows that swing open. It's got a romantic look. Think Snow White singing out her window, and you get the idea.

Anyway, typically a portable a.c. wouldn't work in that kind of a window, so the maintenance staff gives anyone who needs one, a plexiglass insert, at the beginning of the warm season. The insert is the same sizes as the living room window but it has a round hole in the center bottom of it.

The round hole sticks out about three inches into the apartment, and I guess if your air conditioner hose was really skinny, you could put the hose through it, or if your hose was really fat, it could wrap around the part that sticks out.

My air conditioner hose is exactly the same size as the hole. And no matter what my daughter and I have tried, we can't get it to wrap around the hole, or fit inside. So we have to just duct tape the hose to the hole.

I have learned the hard way that duct tape is not for duct work. Every day, from the heat of the exhaust air, the glue from the duct tape melts, and the duct tape turns into nothing more than slightly sticky plastic. The apartment heats up and I go out into the living room only to discover that the hose has fallen out of the insert, and is now lying on the floor, exhausting hot, humid air into the apartment. I have to go back, and tape it all over again. It happened around 1am last night, and was very tedious to do at that time.

I have to have an air conditioner, for my apartment building is made of brick, and gets so unbearably warm at night. It makes me physically ill.

I am wondering if the glue of white Gorilla tape will have a higher melting point? Or perhaps Gorilla Tape isn't for ductwork either. What would you highly trained handy people recommend to keep the #*!& hose up in the window? What kind of tape do I need? Is there another way to monkeywrench this situation? I can pay up to $30 for whatever fix you're suggesting.

Is the hose almost the exact same size as the hole? It's difficult to recomend something without seeing it, but I think I would have tried to use a very sharp knife/scalpel and slice off thin strips of the rubber or plastic on the outside of the hose. And if it's possible to take the hose off the machine, maybe put the hose in the freezer until it is very cold, that makes it shrink a tiny bit, then smear some vazeline on it and try to get it through the hole.

Maybe you can post a pic of the hose and the window?