portable air conditioners

[ssaamm]

Hello, Hope everyone had a good weekend of fishing or flying a kite in that wind. I have a home cooling question for who ever wants to chime in. Our house is totally backwards. We have central air on the main floor and the basement-- not upstairs. Of course, this is where the bedrooms are. We have baseboard heat, but no vents to send the a/c upstairs. I heard about these portable a/c units and Target, FleetFarm, Menards, etc. were all sold out. Does anyone have any experience with these? Do they work? How big of a unit does a guy need? Favorite brands? Thanks for the tips, and hopefully I won't need one for a while.

[countryboy9799]

No real experience here but I will try,

The portable AC's still need the condenser in a window so in my opinion a window AC would be a better and much cheaper option.

Also when you use a portable AC you have some tubing running from the window to the AC unit. I again would be happier with a window AC and if I needed the cold air futher away I would use a small fan.

HTH

[Surface Tension]

I use 2 5000 btu window units and they do a great job cooling and drying the air in 1000 sq ft house.

[bigb56303]

well if i were you and if you plan on stayin in your house i would get some prices on getting some vents run to the up stairs since you already have centeral air i would utilize that is it we me , if this isnt possible i would looke in to a window ac unit they are relativly cheap, but not as efficient as centeral.. i believe that the window ac say on the box they come in how much room they cool so take a look or search on the web good luck i would look for what you want before it get real hot cause they will be hard to come by

[countryboy9799]

That would make alot of sense to look into running some vents also.

Make sure your central air will handle it.

One other thing about the window AC's, I really like the one's with the electronic thermostat's and timers. The seem to hold the temp better in my opinion.

Good luck

[ssaamm]

Thanks for the feedback. I forgot to add that a traditional window unit would not work in my situation. We have the crank out windows. I found on the web that the vent hose on the portable units could be run through a plexiglass piece to fit the window. I have been told that adding the vents in the top floor is a hassle, but I should ask the professionals. thanks

[Chris Stolp]

The do make high velocity air handlers that could pipe the AC to your second floor. These use small (2" I think) pipes/ductwork that can be fed up between the studs. You may wish to check on that. In this way the walls don't need to be opened up at least not completely.

[King Canada]

Take a good look at how your house is laid out above the furnace. Do you have the opportunity to run a supply up through the back of a closet or corner of a room to the attic and then split it up in the attic and pipe the air around the attic and down through ceiling openings. You will have to bury the cool air runs in plenty of insulation and you will have to cover the supplies with framing and drywall but it's real do-able and it utilizes the cental air you already have.

[IFallsRon]

The portable models have a venting hose like on a dryer. Some also have a pump to take away the condensation like the newer high efficiency furnaces.

You should check out a model that looks like a window unit but the business end attaches to an inside wall and is routed to an outside condensor.