Portable AC units are the berrys to fight high humidity

[Swagerman]

Anyone down south having the summer blaughs yet with the humidity and heat???

Well, the answer may be a portable room size airconditioner that mounts one or two hoses to a window. It sets on four wheels and is an upright unit that don't take up a lot of space.

The price is the most attractive aspect, paid less than $375.00 for a 12,000 BTU capacity at Fleet Farm stores.

This unit will easily cool two large bedrooms ajoining each other, and possibly a third. But for the two rooms I have to set the thermostat at about 74 or 75 temp if its a real high humidity hot day. Normally just have to set it for 77 if only slightly high humidity day.

This worked so good we bought another smaller portable roll around unit for a small downstairs bedroom, it only requires 8,000 BTU to keep that one cool.

These units are better than the window mount ones as far as I'm concerned. Less trouble to set up, and can be moved from room to room if need be.

The 8,000 unit will suck all the water out of a room of high humidity and it has an automatic shut-off when the catch-water basin needs emptying. Just pull out the container of water dump it in the sink or tolit, then reinsert container and start AC back up. This unit only came with the one window hose to expell the hot air to the outside.

The 12,000 unit upstairs has two hoses, one to expell the hot air and one to pull in fresh air from the outside. It doesn't require emptying any water containers.

Thought I'd pass this on to you folks who live in the high humidity areas.


Jim
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/44and45/PB060013.jpg

[redneckdan]

I was wonderin how the heck those things worked. seemed to me kind alike people who try to open thier refridgerator to cool a room off.:roll:

[No_1]

How has it affected your electricity bill? It surely looks like the ticket for those hot days in the garage or shop.

Robert

[Swagerman]

How has it affected your electricity bill? It surely looks like the ticket for those hot days in the garage or shop.

Robert



Well, so far, haven't noticed any real increase on the electric bill...as we haven't got into the really bad season of high humidity.

These units don't draw all that much juice as they are 110 volt outlet operated, not 220 Volt electricity gulping juice hogs. They also are very effiecently operated by a thermostat remote control, just get your room cooled down and leave the temp set at a comfortable setting that suits you're purpose. I usually run mine around 75 to 77.

There are also 3 or 4 speed blower fan to push the cold air out into the room, just get it set to what works best for you.


These units will freeze you're nads off if you keep them set to maximum cold, be sure to use the temperature settings that work comfortably for you.


Remeber, they don't have to cool the whole house, just the rooms they are designed for.

If you got a small bedroom, 5,000 to 8,000 btu will usually sufice. If you are going to cool two ajoining bedrooms the 10,000 to 12,000 btu works very well. And I find the higher btu ones don't need to operate wide open all the time either.

Come winter, we'll just pull the hoses out of the window and roll the unit into a closet until next summer.

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Note: The AC is in my reloading room and pointed towards an open door to a large bedroom. the cool air seems to bounce back into the reloading room kind of making a good circulation. All other doors and windows should be closed to contain the cool air.
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Jim
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e321/44and45/PB060014portableACunit.jpg

[Boz330]

Thats a slick looking set up. I've never seen one of those before. Do they make them any bigger than 12000BTUs? If so that might be the ticket for my shop on those really hot days. I'm using a swamp cooler now, but it has to be blowing on you to do much good. If the humidity gets really high it just adds more and doesn't drop the temp much.

Bob

[Swagerman]

Swamp coolers only work if there isn't any high humidity. I know, I use to have one in another state...and when the humidity went up, the cooling factor on SC went in the useless catagory.

I know they make up to 14,000 btu portable window hose mounted units, but that's as much as I know about it.

How big is you're shop? Does it have a flat ceiling.

This 12,000 unit easily cools two large bedrooms and eats all the water in a room of high humidity.

You could go on line to search for portable AC units and see what's available in you're area.

Jim

[Buckshot]

..............Here in So. Cal our humidity on average has increased some, but for the most part our evaporative cooller is the bee's knees. People with central units will have electric bills of $200 to $300 per month (or more). My electric bills in the summer run about $48. In the winter about $35.

Our house was built in 1951 so other then blown in attic insulation, there is none in the walls. I work at night so being able to sleep through the day is very important. Last year at teh end of June DOnna said that Lowes was having a sale on window AC's and she thought We should get one. Our bedroom had one through the wall, and it was dead. As a note we'd lived here almost 6 years up to that time.

We bought an Energy Star unit and Edison was giving $50 rebates for energy efficient units so atteh sale price and with the rebate (taken at the register) we paid $89 for a 12K BTU unit. I got it installed, and as luck would have it, July of last year had humidity up above 60% almost the entire month, and that along with the heat.

I'd set the unit on 75* and go to bed. I slept very well and while the rest of the house wasn't unpleasant, the bedroom (which faces west) was noticeably cooler. So the unit probably ran 10 hours a day, and Donna may have run it some during the nights when I was at work (she refuses to open any windows). The electric bill for that month was $89.

Here it is July a year later and I haven't used the AC unit at all yet. I probably should start it and let it run for 15 minutes or so every month.

.................Buckshot

[Swagerman]

Ric, is the Energy Star unit a portable AC, or is it a window mounted one.

Kalifornia can be brutal with heat in certain areas, like up around Sacramento or Dixon. I remember one year it got up to 115* and you could not walk around outside very long.

Down south where you live it probably isn't much over 90 somthing during short periods. Coastie folks don't have it near as bad as the inlanders. :mrgreen:


Jim

[felix]

Energy Star is just a rating system, govt no less. Basically, it can be ignored. Mo'betta' is the EER rating, which is a standard efficiency rating, meaning electrical power in, BTU out. This is a good rating for units that stay on all the time. It means nothing for units that cycle on and off all the time. You want the highest EER rating for the cost of implementation. ... felix

[Boz330]

Swamp coolers only work if there isn't any high humidity. I know, I use to have one in another state...and when the humidity went up, the cooling factor on SC went in the useless catagory.

I know they make up to 14,000 btu portable window hose mounted units, but that's as much as I know about it.

How big is you're shop? Does it have a flat ceiling.

This 12,000 unit easily cools two large bedrooms and eats all the water in a room of high humidity.

You could go on line to search for portable AC units and see what's available in you're area.

Jim

2800sq ft minus about a 160 for the office which has AC. Ceilings are 15 ft but with ceiling fans. I was thinking that 24000BTU would be needed.

Bob

[Swagerman]

Bob, you got one big shop there.

My two bedrooms are approx. 13X14 in size.

Ask the people who sell AC, be it window mount or portable. They have charts made up showing what is required to cool the room size square footage.

Jim

[Scrounger]

From Google: The easiest formula to help you determine the number of BTUs you need for your room is to multiply the LENGTH of the room by the WIDTH to first get the AREA. Multiply the AREA by 30 and add 2,000. That’s roughly the number of BTUs you need.

But because heat is generated both internally through lights and people and externally by the sun, you’ll need to take into account not just the size of the room, but how much sun it gets during the day, the number of windows it has, its energy efficiency, the shape of the room itself and whether or not there are high ceilings
Be aware of this also: A given number of BTUs will cool a given space so many degrees; Cooling it from 90 degrees to 80 degrees will take X amount of BTUs; cooling it from 90 degrees to 70 degrees will take twice as many.

[Edward429451]

I'm an A/C guy and while a heat gain calc is the best way, it's time consuming and *can be* frustrating figuring R values and such if you don't have charts of values. That said, the ol rule of thumb that we used before calcs is 16 btu's per square foot. L X W X 16 = required BTU's.

Once heat calcs were brought into the equation it was seen that most A/C units were oversized for all but the hottest of days.

I continue to test the rule of thumb against the calcs on jobs and from what I've seen, the ROT will get you there 95% of the time.

My ROT may or may not be specfic to geographical area. If any of you guys would like a calc sheet and instructions, PM me and I'd be happy to provide you with a set. (It has line by line instructions just like a tax form so should be easy?! for you.)

[Edward429451]

<Mo'betta' is the EER rating, which is a standard efficiency rating, meaning electrical power in, BTU out. This is a good rating for units that stay on all the time. It means nothing for units that cycle on and off all the time. You want the highest EER rating for the cost of implementation. ... felix>

Now I'm jus a wrench turner and not an engineer but I wonder if the SEER isn't just a numbers game they play to sell high dollar units. I've installed up to 18 SEER units and the feedback I get is they can't tell a difference in the new unit over the old as regards elec bill. Maybe it does have to do with usage patterns. But if you're not running it 24/7, who the heck needs high SEER units?

The only mechanical diff between standard units and high(er) SEER units is they over size the coils and cycle the cond fan motor mostly.

[felix]

Number of BTUs required would be fine to calculate, via the rules given in most manuals. Must also calculate, and this is the hard part, the amount of water taken out of the air. 80 degrees at 35 percent humidity at standard pressure is quite nice for most folks just drinking beer and watching Monday night football. For the bossy lady in the house, you'd have to clean the joint after the game. So, now for the same "cool", you'd need to drop the amount of water in the air by half, while lowering the temp to about 68. Remember, you've had maybe a quart of beer or two by then. It pays dividends in comfort, not price, whenever there are "multiple" coolers and/or dehumidifiers in the house. ... felix

[Edward429451]

Heh. Last winter I had a small flood in my basement where my reloading room is and after sucking up the water and mopping it dry the humidity was 75%. I was worried about dies, presses & moulds (windows were shrink wrapped and I didn't want to cut it) so sat my little 5K window unit on a chair with a 5 gal bucket under it to catch the condensate and pointed the cool breeze the other way from the main area. Since no heat was being exhausted to the outside it raised the room temp a few degrees instead of cooling it (added heat from comp. & fanmotor) Took it about 2 hours to bring the humidity down to around 40% and I recovered at least 2 gallons or so of water. :>) Worked great.

[felix]

A super "cool" solution on hand. Way to go! ... felix

[Buckshot]

Ric, is the Energy Star unit a portable AC, or is it a window mounted one.

Kalifornia can be brutal with heat in certain areas, like up around Sacramento or Dixon. I remember one year it got up to 115* and you could not walk around outside very long.

Down south where you live it probably isn't much over 90 somthing during short periods. Coastie folks don't have it near as bad as the inlanders. :mrgreen:


Jim

.............It's a window unit, but I have it mounted through the wall where the old one was. I'm not on the coast, but about 70 miles inland in the San Bernardino-Redlands area. For example, temps at the beach will run low 80's, metro LA will be in the 90's and for us it will be in the low 100's. We can get up to 110, but mostly highs tend toward 104/106 for any period of time. The forecast for the upcoming week has us in the mid 90's most every day.

Felix, from what I understand portable or window AC's don't get a EER/SEER rating. The EnergyStar rating (which not all units get) is based upon their being above some level of performance, so they are more energy efficient. Which I suppose you would assume :-).

..............Buckshot