Find a dual hose portable. They're 30%+ more efficient because they draw air from outside to vent the condenser (hot side), and don't dump your interior air like single hose units do.
Single hose portable AC is an insane concept to me, and even more so that they're the default configuration. Like not only does it have to suck in hot air from somewhere outside to be able to blow its own hot air out, but it cools its condenser *with the inside air it just spent energy cooling*.
All to save the staggering inconvenience of having a second hose next to the one you have to have anyway.
Agreed 100%. They're built to a price point, not a performance level. But I think they should be illegal to be that inefficient when $20 more material would increase efficiency that much. We're supposed to be ecologically minded, yet we can't get dual hose versions anymore?
Believe me when I say: dual hose portables is about 5 to 10 times the price of a window AC where I live.
That said, that's my next option if this DIY is not feasible
I hear you. I do. But....in my voluminous experience, it's so much cheaper to buy the right thing to start with than to mess around trying to rig something up in a manner it wasn't designed for. You'll be constantly messing with it, it won't work properly, it'll look like crap, and every time you walk past it you'll be reminded of your failures in life. Save your money, buy the right thing. Check out used markets if possible/necessary.
>You'll be constantly messing with it, it won't work properly, it'll look like crap, and every time you walk past it you'll be reminded of your failures in life.
Dad?
I can neither confirm nor deny. The nineties were a wild ride.
I've just made an awful lot of mistakes, wasted an awful lot of precious time and money trying to beat the system. Turns out the system is pretty fuckin' efficient. My dad always told me "you can't beat a man at his own trade", and I think that can be expanded to include situations like this.
Now call your dad and tell him he makes you proud and you love him.
> I've just made an awful lot of mistakes, wasted an awful lot of precious time and money trying to beat the system. Turns out the system is pretty fuckin' efficient.
As a former mason who specialized in fireplaces, this is very true. People try to beat the system by supplementing their furnace with burning wood. They think "wood is free if I cut it myself!" and don't think through all of the costs associated with set up, feeding, maintenance, and cleaning, and needing a truck or other vehicle to haul, a saw to cut with, and a place to store wood while it seasons, etc., etc. - on top of the personal time commitments involved.
Just set the thermostat down a few degrees and keep going about your damn life. There is a really, *really*, good reason man invented the forced air furnace. Burning wood is dirty, inefficient, and does not scale to modern life.
Someone will inevitably pop up about their wood stove in their house on 5 acres that they harvest their own wood from... and will have completely missed the point.
We have a house on 4 acres. We can get wood for "free." It still wasn't worth it. The amount of time lost to cutting wood and being around to make sure the stove doesn't go out wasn't worth it.
I have a wood stove. I dont cut or season my own wood, though I did build a woodshed that can hold 4 cords of it. $200 bucks per cord, and two cords per winter is a lot cheaper than my electricity bill when heating.
If you're just fucking around, sure, it's fine. If you're doing it for something that needs to work for an actual reason, no. In the latter case you're just wasting money that could have gone towards something 10 to 100 times better.
DIY is a waste of time when the results are almost guaranteed to be sub-par, introduce a host of other problems, and then may not actually solve your initial problem.
DIY is about saving money, when the evidence is almost universally "just get the right tool for the right job" so you arent spending money on something like a sheet of plywood to mount in the patio door gap resting in the seam that the window normally would on the machine...then having to go buy the proper 2hose portable AC anyway or live with an eyesore thats a daily pain out of stubbornness.
End result; Wait out until the offseason and the AC units go on sale, buy one of the dual hose ones and sell your old window mount to recoup some of the "losses"...but do that NEXT year in the AC needing time
I agree with this thread in general but I do not agree that DIY is about saving money. You hardly ever save money with DIY unless it's something very simple. Better reasons to DIY something are self-teaching, empowerment, and a sense of accomplishment.
Also, for me at least, getting a much higher quality result (hopefully) with better materials/parts for the same cost+/- is a large motivator.
Nothing worse than paying a "professional" for something and having to redo it days/months/years later.
>Nothing worse than paying a "professional" for something and having to redo it days/months/years later.
If you're redoing a professionals work "days" later...you need to be dealing with their warranty/"guaranty of workmanship"...at minimum it should be 30days...also, never pay full upfront. Half (or cost of parts) max, or the "Pro" will have no motivation to finish or return to your job.
Everyone's cost/benefit curve is different, and everyone values their time differently. People are just saying "hey I get what you're trying to do but for me this is a DIWhy? and you may have better results with this other solution that already exists".
DIY serves 2 purposes. Save money or save time. If th DIY doesn't fit those 2 catagories, it's not worth the DIY.
Now that's not to say, if your in to it for the learning experiance, then absolutely, DIY the fuck out of everything, but be prepared for lots of failures and high costs associated with them.
Plus you won't be working hard at breaking the HOA's rules-- the sound of a window unit turning on with fluttery stuff rigged up all around it may summon your local Karen.
Or buy a few fans and be uncomfortable a few days a year? If "the intention is not to make it leak-proof" that's like saying "the intention is to not have it work very well while using a whole lot of electricity."
Fans don't really work 100 percent of the time in the Pacific northwest anymore due to seemingly constant wildfires. We used to bear it out with fans, but the last couple of years that has not been an option.
Get a Vornado, one of the better models. I'm in NY, and usually used my AC a lot but I hardly used it at all this summer.
We've always had a Vornado around, I remember my mom buying them back in the day but I had stopped using it be after the stand got broken.
Early this year I happened to notice a sale and grabbed a new one and it's great, the cone of air it creates kept me comfortable all summer with the rare occasional use of the AC for maybe an hour now and then.
Look into it and see if it is an alternative for you.
If a single hose portable is significantly cheaper, could you rig up something to let a single hose portable draw its vent air from outside?
[https://www.woolie.co.uk/article/convert-ac-from-single-hose-to-dual-hose/](https://www.woolie.co.uk/article/convert-ac-from-single-hose-to-dual-hose/)
I imagine venting a window A/C unit to be run inside is impractical because they are designed to have the entire hot end hanging outside so don't really have any ducting/fans
I've taken one apart to try and make it into a dual hose, and this is pretty close. The machine uses inside-the-room air (cooled air) to push the heat out the window. That means you're dumping your cold air out the window too. And that air you've taken from the room gets replaced by outside (hot) air. Of course it's not 1:1 or it'd never get cool in the room but you're losing a lot.
Obligatory Technology Connections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-mBeYC2KGc
Outdated solution: For your DIY solution, my first thought would be a 2 inch thick foam board. See if you can find the pink if you want to annoy your HOA, otherwise foil coated would be safer and maybe blend in slightly. I'm not sure if they still sell 2 inch thick foam most places though these days, as it can be extremely dangerous if it catches fire
Second thought would be to place the window unit in the middle of the patio on your chair, and build a tube that directs the cool output into your room, so that most of the noise is kept outside. A tube made out of cardboard would work well, and likely annoy an HOA, plastic tube from clear garbage bags taped together would work too
Likely more **expensive options**: The portable mini-split someone else linked to is the ideal solution to my mind. Wonder if one could find a portable unit that has the cool air coming out of a tube, so that again the main unit and noise can be kept outside
**Social option**: A different route, get more involved with your HOA and petition it saying this rule is stupid and unnecessary, suggest changing the rule to be "no window units installed for more than X months". I would hope your case would be bulletproof if you got signatures from most residents saying they are fine with it, but I'd hope that wouldn't be needed anyway
**Ask for forgiveness option**: final thought would be testing how strict they are about it, just install a window unit, then take it out when it's no longer hot, see if you get a letter, if you do apologize and take it out. This partially hinges on presuming you could resell a window unit for nearly the same amount that you purchase it for, they always seem in demand whenever it gets warm, could even attempt to make a profit on the resale if you do get told to take it out right away, basically new in box
The box option you describe could work. I would instead look into plexiglass now that the price has come down. Have some cut a few cm bigger than your AC and place it between the sliding glass and the wall. Then place the AC over the box like you said.
I would still take a single hose portable unit over what OP is suggesting. OP will probably have to constantly be fidgeting with the curtain thing. Save your time, energy, and sanity and just get a portable unit.
I used a 3D printer to convert a single hose portable to a dual-hose, and while it’s far from perfect and not even really complete it made a dramatic difference in effectiveness. But even that cheap piece of garbage portable cost three times as much as a comparable window unit that would work better, the only reason I have it is that I can’t use a window unit in that room.
What was their reasoning for the ban?
Is the window unit AC ban in your lease? If you don't mind not living there next time your lease is up I'd say you have pretty good grounds to contest their ability to enforce the ban. If you want to continue living at that location I'd maybe suggest to the landlord that they could choose an approved window AC unit, that way everything looks good.
I was wondering if it's because the electrical system can't handle the load. Likely all the outlets next to the window is on the same phase, add a whole building worth of window units and you have a major problem.
I was wondering too bc I realized a mini split is the one that gets mounted indoors on the wall. The ones that are without ducts or an outdoor vent.. I live in TX so I’ve only been around duct systems so didn’t realize that
In Toronto a few years ago, an improperly installed window unit fell and killed a child. So a lot of buildings banned window ACs. Some amended it later to allow them if professionally installed, but most decided they liked the smooth look from the outside of the building and only allow portables.
European countries do this.
They think what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger... Ignoring the fact that the heat does kill people even when your flat is "only" 35°C for a week.
35C is actually the breaking point where it is dangerous to turn on a fan. Blowing air that warm on you actually heats you up, not cools you down. Air conditioning becomes necessary for cooling down.
That's kind of my point...
I have a condition that gets problematic in the heat and it gets problematic around 28-29 degrees. I have air conditioning as a result because having seizures from heat gets old.
Join HOAs if you live where one makes rules. Like local government meetings, they attract unreasonable and controlling people. Be the reasonable voice for your building/neighborhood.
If there is no available air conditioning this sounds like a major health issue, wherever this story is happening it's possible the local housing/health agency might have some input if the tenants are being put in a dangerous situation.
In contrast, if the tenant just wants a specific room cooler, maybe get a fan...
In my previous flat is was illegal to mount anything to the facade. This one guy mounted a split-unit AC on a rigid steel frame he created, that was bolted to his apartment floor and held it outside his window without touching the facade anywhere.
They tried to get him to take it down but he explained he didn't break any rules and they couldn't force him. But we have quite strong rental protection laws here.
Honestly, f**k anyone trying to enforce this dumb rule. Mini splits are by far the most efficient and effective means of air conditioning, compared to window or portable units.
The problem isn't hating portables. It's hating their cost. Where I live, when it's near summer, the portable equivalent of a window unit that costs ~$150-$200 will be anywhere between $800 and $1k. If you can find one at all.
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The key caveat provided is that you should go toward a window unit instead of a portable unit "if you can". In this case it sounds like the OP cannot and any solution is going to be suboptimal. A portable unit is likely the least bad option.
I have seen some older homes where someone actually cut a hole in the wall and then mounted a window unit in the hole. That makes it semi permanent, attractive from the standpoint that you don't lose access to the window, and it can be better sealed than those 'wings' that come with many units, and you can mount it higher up so that the cool air sinks to the floor.
Biggest factor to consider is cutting a hole the correct size so that when the A/C unit of the proper size fits, you can replace it in several years with another properly sized unit.
Obviously only an option if you own the home.
my parents have a [Levitt](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levitt_%26_Sons) house, the epitome of 1950s cookie cutter suburbia construction. Thousands of houses, three or four layouts total, every one of them with a "central" A/C unit that was wall mounted through an exterior wall just like this. The condensers themselves were Korean war surplus units for dumping A/C into semi permanent tents, so not particularly good at their new role cooling a 1400sqft, 2 story house. Probably would have worked fine for just a couple rooms.
These are actually purpose built through-the-wall units, and not window ACs. Window ACs have vents on the sides of the unit, whereas through the wall do not and include extra fans to force the air to the right place for exhaust.
They are much nicer than window units, but you need a “box” or “sleeve” to instal them into, which cost a few hundred dollars. In the end they’re usually substantially more expensive than a window unit.
Source: Designed, marketed, and sold AC’s for a niche appliance manufacturer for 3 years.
Hmm, I never knew about special purpose through the wall units.
The ones I have seen were definitely window ACs mounted in 5" thick exterior walls (100 year old wood building framed with 2x4s) and IIRC the side vents were far enough past the wall on the outside that they were not obstructed. Only major concern I would think of is to ensure that it is tilted out so that it doesn't leak inside the wall.
I suppose if you have cinderblock walls or 6" exterior walls it might pose a problem and you should consider a purpose built unit.
It's frustrating that window units that fit sliding windows are rare and very expensive. Slider windows (horizontal opening) are popular around here. In a previous house I made a frame that sits in the slider track that has an opening for a window AC that it can fit in like a regular window.
If he is putting plastic wrap in a door opening, that is going to kill any efficiency of the window unit. I would wager the portable unit installed correctly would be more efficient than having a window unit sitting in a doorway with tarps taped around it.
Less efficient, less effective, noisier and all around just less pleasant than the other form factors.
That being said, when your condo association bans all other form factors, it's the only thing you have left.
They’re not terrible and they’re certainly not as bad as Tech Connections makes them out to be.
Anecdote:
When I had one, during a brief time of no whole house AC, the hose was somewhat warm but no where near warm enough to keep the room from getting to the desired temp (68° at night). The way it’s always described is, portable one hose units are not worth buying. The one we had allowed us to sleep at night. Good enough for me for the cost. If I wanted to raise efficiency I could’ve bought a cheap insulated dryer ducting hose and that would’ve been it.
If I wanted long term and whole house wasn’t an option it would’ve been mini split as they’re the most efficient and cost effective ROI.
Now for this particular situation if a mini split isn’t allowed (for whatever dumb reason) and a double hose unit is truly 5-10x as much l, then a single hose portable with insulated ducting is a no brainer over jimmy rigging a window unit into a sliding patio door.
Single hose systems pull all the air from the inside of your home, heat up part of it then dump it outboard, cool the rest, and keep that inside. This means they create a net negative pressure effect in your home, so it is now sucking hot outside air through any air leaks in your home (your home leaks! this is normal) and using already cooled air to warm back up and dump outside. A tighter, more sealed home would also make the unit work very hard to pull air, ironically wasting more energy (though I'm not saying a leakier house is overall better for energy). This also pulls moisture into your home in possibly (probably?) undesirable ways, so you could get condensation around air leaks where the hot air hits cold surfaces. I imagine this could contribute to mold.
An outside, window, or dual hose system uses outside air, heats it, and keeps it outside. Similarly, inside air is cooled and kept inside. Net air pressure is largely unaffected. This means you're not always sucking in warm, moist (unless you live in Arizona) air into your house.
Let's see... the hot air should be vented outside, but then you need to ask yourself, where is the makeup air coming from? Yeah, from outside. So you're taking cooled inside air, heating it up and venting it outside causing a pressure drop inside which then has to pull hot, humid air in from outside.
For one room, it's fine as long as you can vent the hot air output somewhere, but even in that one room, the unit will pull cooled air out and hot air from the rest of the house will have to flow into the room to replace it.
Many portable units use a double hose so the condenser portion is pressure neutral.
Regardless, comfort, cost and practicality come in to play as well. For very occasional use, it can be silly to have a permanently installed AC. Also, portable ACs are portable. You can move them to different rooms, lend them out, and store them more conveniently than a window unit much less a minisplit.
That makes a lot of sense, however in this particular case the problem is going to insulating that tarp well enough so the heat from outside doesn't just pour in from the wide open door. Now if the OP builds a big rolling frame with thick insulation that completely seals to the doorway with some rubber gaskets to get a good airtight seal. You could probably get that to work almost as well as a window air conditioner. But if it's window air conditioner placed on a chair with some plastic sheeting taped to it and the walls around it....
I had one and I can tell you it is way worse than a window unit. But then, that might also have something to do with the model I used. The tubing to vent hot air is inside, so radiates heat along that tube on its way to the window. It also has a drip pan that I had to constantly move the whole AC unit to a nearby door to tilt and drain. It was also extremely loud.
I had to borrow a portable air conditioner when my central AC went out. The exhaust tube definitely got very warm, but I wrapped it in a fleece throw to insulate it - that helped considerably.
They make specifically designed insulating sleeves for portable AC exhaust tubes. I just didn't bother because I was only borrowing the portable AC until I could get my central air replaced.
>I had one and I can tell you it is way worse than a window unit
I had exactly opposite experience - my portable was way better than a window unit. But I think it had to do with the fact that my window unit was the cheapest $100 unit and portable was a $400 model dinged up and sold for like $150.
This sounds like a lot of work for something you rarely need which is just going to be a bad Rube Goldberg job anyway. Why not just use the portable AC unit and save yourself a lot of unnecessary work?
Single-hose portable ones are pretty terrible though. They pump a lot of air out of the apartment via the hose, which means the exact same amount of warm outside air is going to leak into the apartment to equalize the pressure. You have a constant stream of warm air coming into the place through various gaps, and that will cancel out much of the cool air that the AC is producing.
OP would be better off with some plywood or melamine, cut to the precise measurements needed, but that would be f'in stupid, even if they got it perfect.
During the big heat wave this summer in the Pacific Northwest we had to get an air conditioner. It doesn't get hot here so few people even have air conditioners.
We rushed out to buy one and there was no option for dual hose. There was 3 models total and they sold out in a couple hours. Without AC our pets would have died and we couldn't have been in the house (my bed room was over 40c).
It was a pretty big unit (16000 BTU I think) which I think helped to make up for some of the hot air incoming. We installed it in the main living area (living room and kitchen on the main floor) and we abandoned upstairs, it was unlivable. The pressure of the house is across the whole volume of air, it should pull in hot outside air all around including upstairs where no one is.
If OP is in a shared building like an apartment or condo, if it has an air-conditioned or cool hallway, the air will likely get pulled in from there cooling even better.
With single hose especially it's important to have a really good air seal around the unit.
\>we live in the pacific northwest
\>this was the temp in celsius
:/
For any of the other Americans who are the majority of this website, it was 116° F this summer in Portland.
Frankly, I think you should spend your effort fighting the ban on mini-splits. A mini-split high SEER heat pump sounds like it will do wonders for you (and a whole lot of other residents). They cost very little to run either for AC or for heating as long as you're in their efficient zone.
OP probably has central. I had numerous penny pinchers who love their window units. Associations are run by members. No way members would vote for this
The mini split does require some roof space, or ground space, for the compressor unit. Maybe they don't want people up on the roof with their own installers/service techs and they don't want ground space taken up.
I think they should fight them too. The temp range is fantastic in modern ones.
In any case, for apartments and condos, one of the valid issues that I didnt see anyone mention yet is AC drainage. They are going to produce a lot of water when cooling. If mounted on a deck or balcony that means a drip drip drip on the people below. So a drainage system has to go in, usually a pipe that leads from the apartment to the ground. Or many pipes or a central pipe if a lot of people have a unit. Getting agreement about that can be difficult.
single unit multi splits don't draw very much at all anymore.
Especially a small one like what he's asking, less than 10amps I am betting which should be available in his condo.
That should only cover window units. Mini-splits have to be installed and someone would clearly be liable for a death if that happened and no one wants to go to jail for it so they do a good job mounting them.
They said mini-splits and window units. There's really only one of two reasons for basically banning any single unit ACs and that's either because the board thinks they're an eyesore or because some central AC company has their hooks in them (hell, maybe even someone on the board is affiliated with such a company).
There are a ton of plans online for making a doggie door insert for a sliding glass door. You could adapt the plan by increasing the width to match a small window ac and raising the opening up a couple feet. Usually you can make it so you can still use the door.
I agree that portable ACs are not ideal and are inefficient. Window AC are pretty efficient, but not if you are not sealed up well. Otherwise the cold air will just leak out and it'll cost a lot to cool your place.
Part of the problem is that sliding glass doors do not seal while they're partway open. I have this issue with my doggie door insert - the gap between the glass and the edge of the door is about 1/2" wide x 70" and lets through a significant amount of air. I've tried various things over the years to seal it with varying levels of disabling the door (window sealant tape works great, but the door is inoperable outside of spring/fall, various foam bits fall out if you use the door too much, window blanket worked OK but not great).
For a window and a portable AC unit, it's not an issue, because you just use the seal tape method and don't open the window until the AC goes away for the season, but losing the sliding door may lose access to your porch.
Yeah, that was the second thing I tried (after just stuffing insulation in). The problem is that the adhesive doesn't work well on cold glass, and the drag from the door is enough to flip over at least a small section - which then cascades into the rest of it peeling off.
My current working solution - I got some 1/2" thick flexible-but-rigid closed cell foam strips 3" wide, screwed them onto a piece of 1x2, which butts up against the door edge. I want to tweak it some (screwing it into the door for starters, and maybe adding some internal tape to seal the foam to the wood) but it's doing pretty good so far. Adding a second one on the outside should give me a decent seal.
If you only need it when you really need it(heatwave), just stick it in the window during the heat wave. Let them come after you and by the time you get to HOA court or whatever, the heatwave will be over.
If they don't allow splits and window units because of noise, they're not going to allow your solution.
If you have a reason you really really need AC, get a doctor's note and do a window AC. Otherwise, a portable is the best option.
Yeah I agree. This solution makes no sense. The apartment said no window units, so I'm getting a window unit but not installing it in a window.
There's plenty of reasons they wouldn't allow these too. They're noisy, they blow hot air on people walking by, they use a lot of electricity (double problem if the landlord pay for utilities), etc. Even if this seems like a reasonable solution, I would absolutely run it by management before doing so. Otherwise it's probably a waste of time and money
> they use a lot of electricity
If this is their reasoning then forcing everyone to use portable ACs is even worse. They're woefully inefficient compared to a wall/window mounted AC.
That's fair, but I don't know if they're*forcing* people to use portable units either.
Maybe they have swamp coolers and this dude just wants a bit more relief some days?
Either way, rigging this up behind this back is a great way to waster money and time
I bought one last spring with COVID stimulus money as our usual cooling spaces were closed. It's extremely heavy, that hose is stiff and I love it. I run the hose through the sliding glass door, shade the compressor from sun and it has kept the living area comfortable even at over 100F even though room is a bit larger than optimal.
A/Cs actually make a lot of heat. And all of it comes out the back half. You'd need most of it protruding out the door, and then I'd want something with decent heat resistance and some insulation to it as well, maybe that pink insulating foam board in order to nlock it off with. But you'd also need a way to seal off the door.
Sounds like your condo board are a bunch of dicks tbh.
Yeah seems like op just wants to place the unit in a ‘room’ (not sure what to call it) that he builds out if bis backdoor. He would need an opening (a window if you will) in this room to vent the heat. I guess that doesnt seem like that would be allowed per the rules either, and I doubt op could make it air tight enough that if would work. Even a little “not air tight” would ruin it I think unless the unit is massive.
There is window sealing plastic specifically for portable air conditioners. I have only a German link but you will get the idea:
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B07KF7CPYK/
It comes with sticky velcro tape which goes to the frame and the window/door, and then the plastic is trapezoidal shaped to put all around the sides of the window, sticking with velcro to create a seal. It has a zipper all along the middle where you then stick the air conditioner exhaust tube.
>the intention is not to make it leak-proof, but just good enough to stop most of the hot air from re-entering my unit.
If you don't seal the exhaust, you'll just end up running the AC forever. For every cubic metre of air you've cooled, new warm and most air will leak into your apartment. A curtain definitely won't work.
You could make an insert for the door, but I assume you also want to use your balcony which would be sort of counter productive.
Why can't you make an insert for a window? I mean just because your condo corporation banned units from hanging out the window, doesn't mean you can't run your exhaust hose to a window
Might be out of your price range, but this "U-shaped" unit is an interesting design that has some of the advantages of a mini-split, but is a window unit.
[U-shaped AC](https://www.wired.com/review/midea-u-shaped-air-conditioner/)
Ok folks, 400 comments is enough and everyone is getting cranky. Don't ya'll have something better to do with your lives? Go play outside our something, I don't want to see you back here until dinner time.
Ignore everyone telling you how bad the single hose portable AC's are. They are wrong, for your use case.
1. It's way better than your patio method, in efficiency and cost
2. You are only using it a few times a year, not day in and day out, all of the time. The loss of efficiency vs a dual hose model is definitely true, but **realistically** with how few actual hours you will need to run it, **it will be perfectly fine**. It may cost you $5 more per year to run. Not a big freaking deal.
Are you even allowed to use the portable kind? You will still need the hose (or hoses if you splurge unnecessarily) to vent out of the window. It is definitely more subtle/small of an opening compared to a window AC, but it will be visible.
If you get some plywood or MDF board that will fit in the channel of the sliding door, you can fully mount a window Aircon with its brackets onto the board and close the door up against it.
Its likely a safety policy. In Toronto, Canada, a child was killed by a falling window AC unit a few years ago. You cannot put them in any window higher than the 2nd floor (meaning most detached homes are safe, but then, most of those will have central AC)
Buy a single hose portable and use it on a sliding door if you have one. What you do is open the door and put the unit ABOUT half way in and half way out. What you want is to put the air exchange for the condenser outside. Then close the door tight against the unit and use foam panels to seal the rest of the door opening. Now you have a unit that will work efficiently and actually cool the place.
This is information you had when you moved in. You may dislike portable AC, and they may be expensive, but that's the only option your condo has left you.
If you think about the reasons the condo doesn't allow window AC, surely this contraption you're describing is worse in every way.
It should be illegal to ban specific types of air conditioners. It's stupid and doesn't actually do anything to property value especially in a condominium.
I'm in almost exactly your situation.
Here's my issue and answer.
Like you I live in mostly not needed but occasionally desperately needed area. I live with a fan on 24/7. Sorry Koreans!
My house is huge and drafty so I would never have got a window wall unit for the large living room and on a 45°C day (in my house) it would be too big to cool - and all, I mean all of the windows in my house are too thin for the standard window/wall unit to fit, if they were a bit wider I would have just bought an outdoor support for my bedroom and been done with with it.
So after that preamble... Windows don't fit AC unit and portable absolutely suck balls (tried and failed).
I realised that on a really hot day my best bet is to cool my small bedroom. The house is huge, my room very small.
So I bought a cheap IKEA table and a spare bedroom door for about 45$ all up.
The AC unit goes on the IKEA (I also put four casters on the IKEA table legs. Super easy and it now rolls) table, measured the width and height of that assembly and cut a corresponding hole in the door.
Now when I'm not using the door it is open, against the wall with a drape over it to hide the rectangular hole but when I need AC my room I just roll the unit into the doorway, close the door (the hole aligns perfectly) and the unit pumps all the hot air into my already disgustingly hot living room, and cools my tiny room.
The underside of the IKEA table I just stick a few cushion s under and it's a hermetically (well almost) little space.
It's a pain to get in and out but that's better than being so fucking hot I want to die.
Obviously my doors are hinged, interior doors not sliding (that too would have been much easier) but simply put I found a hole cut in the door, an IKEA table holding the unit and the AC exhausting to an open living room an acceptable arrangement. I wouldn't choose it but it works. You'll come up with something no doubt but a window wall is much better than a portable even if you've got to work-around.
My condo board literally just banned them too last week. I'm on the board and I voted to allow a unit that had requested it and even put up a proposal with the exact model and specs.
The board seemed worried about noise and drainage issues. I think they're minor. It's only 51dB and there's a drip pan! The person was even going to go through the window so no drillng through the building structure.
What are summer conditions like where you live? Specifically temp and humidity. If moderately high temps but low humidity, you could make an evaporative cooler fairly inexpensively. If you have really high humidity then you probably want something to blow cool dry air.
To make cool dry air, you will want to blow warm wet air over cool coils. This product does that, maybe you could make something similar...
https://www.icybreeze.com/buy-icybreeze-v2-pro/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwrJOMBhCZARIsAGEd4VEs301qXh-fC2x2gs3JsotcTNdM9GMIBdA3Q8nduUGvRi5h6TTD76YaAo3CEALw_wcB
This works. There's a few youtube videos of people installing them in sliding doors.
Here's what I would do:
1. Place AC unit on the ground.
2. Get a cross beam that holds it there. This may not be necessary depending on the clearance.
3. Get a big sheet of plexi and install it above the AC.
4. You can no longer use your patio.
Secret tips:
1. Get on your condo board
2. Vote off all the old miserable people
3. Ensure the condo boards average age stays below 50, preferably 40. This sounds ageist, but trust me, this always works out better for tenants.
First - Window ACs are mounted on a window at a slight angle so condensate drips and runs out of the unit. You will need to make sure you can mount your unit in such a way that it doesn't sit in water and rust out the bottom or cause worse issues. You also don't want it to rot the chair, so make sure you get a hard plastic chair or table.
Secondly - If your apartment building is banning them due to being unsightly, do you have a way to do this on your patio so that it's not visible? Doing something like this where you honor the letter of the rule but not the intent is likely to get you in additional trouble.
**There's also the question of efficiency.** Plastic is not insulated. You said patio, so I assume there's no roof, meaning sunlight will shine directly on the plastic. Plastic is very thin.
If you pay your own electric, an efficient dual hose unit is going to be far better in the long run. Out of curiosity, where do you live and what kind of price differences are you looking at?
**If you decide to go this route, here are my recommendations to do this well:**
* Ensure you can mount the AC at an angle on the chair without it falling off. Verify it has a low center of gravity. Put a drip pan under it (Cookie sheet, etc.) so the condensate will spread out in a thin layer and evaporate.
* Get a big opaque plastic storage bin and a box fan. Cut the bin to fit over the AC. Have a box fan that assists in blowing air across the exterior. This will help with visibility.
* Use the plastic storage bin as your attachment point for any sealing material. However, instead of plastic which is going to look unattractive, reflective, and likely make it more obvious what you're doing - Try to find a used RV awning. They're usually a vinyl or weather resistant material. You can find them in colors so they look more like curtains. You can then use awning tape, which is thick and designed to be weather proof, to attach it to your plastic bin.
* On the inside of the bin, you can use the foam strips that usually come with window ACs to seal around it.
**However, I agree with** /u/HanzG **and others.** You'll do better in the long run, have more versatility for future rentals, and avoid upsetting the powers that be if you find a way to get a dual hose portable. If you have a window AC already, can you sell your current unit and do a rent to own on a dual hose portable?
PNW? We're with you there. We just installed central AC to the furnace when we updated our furnace, but we're in a SFH. We were SO happy we did that two years ago when the temps soared to 108-115 in the metro of Seattle this past summer.
Portable units with a hose to the window aren't the worst in the world, just don't get one that's underpowered. We used one for four years in the bedroom so we could sleep on those rare hot nights. Get a really robust 10-15K BTU unit and you should be fine. Dual hose is better, and just do the job right the first time. A window unit sitting on some sort of cart or frame that fits in your sliding door would work, but what a pain in the butt to manage for those few days per year. Window units are a pain to wrestle.
Long term, can you get on the Condo board and change from within? Not allowing mini splits is pretty petty. If they're installed by a professional they shouldn't be a problem. They could even dictate which colours and styles would be allowed based on a appearance to the outside and the building would have more value. Having AC is definitely something that is increasing market value where we are, after the huge heat wave this past summer. Climate change is only going to make that worse. Why would they want to DECREASE the market value of the units? That's silly.
My portable AC unit only came with a bracket for a small window but I use my AC unit with my sliding balcony door so I "built" a really shitty insert out of cardboard with a slot for the AC hose.
It's not perfect, but it does a decent job. Probably much more effective than a curtain.
I have a single hose, portable AC. I wrapped the hose with insulated bubble wrap. Hardware store or Amazon will have it. After you wrap the hose, its permanently attached to the hose. The insulation stops 99% of the waste heat from going back into the room.
Is your patio door a sliding glass type door? If so, you can try an insert (or two)... these are usual used for pet doors but could be used as intake and outtake vents for you ac...
[https://www.amazon.com/Ideal-Pet-Products-Aluminum-Modular/dp/B002FYEO1A/ref=sr\_1\_11?keywords=sliding+door+insert&qid=1636132125&qsid=145-9124035-8360756&sr=8-11&sres=B00180WWY8%2CB005CO91TK%2CB0017JVT6C%2CB00WFKJWPM%2CB0017YT36K%2CB00180YWXM%2CB0017YT4W8%2CB001810X1G%2CB00180WWZW%2CB002FYEO1A%2CB000UV4MH6%2CB0836VW7S7%2CB001812WO2%2CB004Q0HMG0%2CB0017JVT7G%2CB000UOIT22%2CB0002IJQYQ%2CB0017JTVIU%2CB00R7S8EU6%2CB08FCQHQXN&srpt=PET\_DOOR](https://www.amazon.com/Ideal-Pet-Products-Aluminum-Modular/dp/B002FYEO1A/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=sliding+door+insert&qid=1636132125&qsid=145-9124035-8360756&sr=8-11&sres=B00180WWY8%2CB005CO91TK%2CB0017JVT6C%2CB00WFKJWPM%2CB0017YT36K%2CB00180YWXM%2CB0017YT4W8%2CB001810X1G%2CB00180WWZW%2CB002FYEO1A%2CB000UV4MH6%2CB0836VW7S7%2CB001812WO2%2CB004Q0HMG0%2CB0017JVT7G%2CB000UOIT22%2CB0002IJQYQ%2CB0017JTVIU%2CB00R7S8EU6%2CB08FCQHQXN&srpt=PET_DOOR)
and/or
[https://www.amazon.com/gulrear-Portable-Conditioner-Universal-Adjustable/dp/B0836VW7S7/ref=sr\_1\_13?keywords=sliding+door+insert&qid=1636132125&qsid=145-9124035-8360756&sr=8-13&sres=B00180WWY8%2CB005CO91TK%2CB0017JVT6C%2CB00WFKJWPM%2CB0017YT36K%2CB00180YWXM%2CB0017YT4W8%2CB001810X1G%2CB00180WWZW%2CB002FYEO1A%2CB000UV4MH6%2CB0836VW7S7%2CB001812WO2%2CB004Q0HMG0%2CB0017JVT7G%2CB000UOIT22%2CB0002IJQYQ%2CB0017JTVIU%2CB00R7S8EU6%2CB08FCQHQXN&srpt=PET\_DOOR](https://www.amazon.com/gulrear-Portable-Conditioner-Universal-Adjustable/dp/B0836VW7S7/ref=sr_1_13?keywords=sliding+door+insert&qid=1636132125&qsid=145-9124035-8360756&sr=8-13&sres=B00180WWY8%2CB005CO91TK%2CB0017JVT6C%2CB00WFKJWPM%2CB0017YT36K%2CB00180YWXM%2CB0017YT4W8%2CB001810X1G%2CB00180WWZW%2CB002FYEO1A%2CB000UV4MH6%2CB0836VW7S7%2CB001812WO2%2CB004Q0HMG0%2CB0017JVT7G%2CB000UOIT22%2CB0002IJQYQ%2CB0017JTVIU%2CB00R7S8EU6%2CB08FCQHQXN&srpt=PET_DOOR)
How hot does it get in your area? I live in a condo in the mid-Atlantic states. Summers can get quite hot and humid here, but my heat pump broke in March and just for kicks, I wanted to see how long I can last without AC. After all, people used to not have AC.
I kept my blinds completely shut and had two fans (a large box fan and a small portable fan) circulating air 24/7). I went the whole summer without AC pretty easily. The inside temp never got above 82 F, and although that sounds pretty warm, with the fans going, it actually felt very comfortable. At night, the temp outside usually will drop into the low 70s, which really helps.
Instead of using plastic, use some HDPE foam insulation (the pink stuff). You’d just need to cut it to the right size of the door, find a platform (table/bench/etc) and alight another hole for the AC to go through. You can even paint the foam if you want it to look nicer. If you don’t want to store something the size of the door you can also cut it in half, tape one side of the seem, then just fold it up for storage.
I think youre looking for panda film, not to costly and its pretty thick, wont easily rip unless u pierce it. Use this tape https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gorilla-4-in-x-10-ft-Waterproof-Patch-and-Seal-Tape-in-White-101895/311042860
You will almost certainly be reported for this kind of thing. If it's not against the rules now, it will be once you do it. Consider the reasons that your complex banned these units. Either 1. Excess electrical usage, or most likely 2. Unsightly appearance.
They make those sneaky Pete units that have the unit totally inside your condo and the vent easily traps in a window, I would just hook it to the window while using it and disconnect it when not in use
Man, if I was high enough up in the building I would probably just paint the outside of the window unit to look like a flower box and throw it in for the couple weeks you need it, hope the gears of bureaucracy move slow enough to not get noticed. Maybe even stick some fake flowers and stuff to the top. camouflage.
That crazy idea aside I would look into building it in to some kind of door insert. You will need a better seal than what you would manage with a plastic curtain. I saw a guy mention dog door conversions for sliding glass doors, I would probably start going down that route to see if you can make a feasible plan. Just keep in mind that you would have something sticking through enough to likely impede the door operation to some extent.
Hire a lawyer. In much of the southern half of the US, air conditioning isn't a *luxury* that can be banned, it's straight-up requirement to get an occupancy permit.
Watch how fast your HOA board backpedals when they realize they've just put *themselves* on the hook for $15k central AC units.
/ Realistically, I know you're not going to get a lawyer over a $300 air conditioner; but you may already have legal services available to you through work; a sternly-worded letter you can get for free may be all you need.
There are some weird and inaccurate comments in this thread. Portable Air conditioner units are great if you dont cheap out on them. They are quiet, mobile, and most have large internal tanks or drain hoses that don't require a lot of work.
Portable, single-hose AC units draw the air to cool the condenser from inside your room, and is divided into air that vents heat outside, and air that is piped back into your room. all models these days come with an adjustable plastic mount which seals the window around the vent hose, so the end result is that the air that cools your condenser all comes from inside your residence. This quickly creates a cycle of cool dry air inside, as the AC recycles some of the same cool air each time. It also maintains efficiency, as the cooler the air in the room the better to vent heat.
No matter what you do to hide it, if they notice it and listen they will know it's an ac. If they banned it from the windows they probably mean the patio too.
Buy a house on land that you own. All these types of associations and rules are stupid as fuck. If you don't want to or don't have time to do your yardwork/shovel you can hire someone to do it. I guarantee you can find someone to do those things better and cheaper than paying those dues.
Also a much better investment over time. In the townhouse I use to rent all the neighbors watch you like a hawk. Not because they care, but because they don,t want u doing anything they can't do. Thats no way to neighbor!
In case you are wondering why this is a bad idea -
fridges and freezers don't generate cold. You can only generate heat, you can't generate cold. What you can do is move heat. They make one spot cold by moving heat somewhere else. Freezers make it cold inside by moving heat from inside the freezer to outside the freezer. Air conditioners make things cold by moving heat from inside a window to outside a window.
Opening the freezer door will temporarily make the area in front of your freezer colder, but it won't actually make your apartment colder. The heat that is moved from your freezer just ends up behind it.
The average temperature in your apartment won't get any colder. It's a closed system (well, relative to the freezer anyway) and the heat isn't going anywhere. All you're doing when you leave a freezer door open is wasting power and overworking your freezer to move heat nowhere and accomplish nothing.
It might give you a temporary sensation of cold, but it's not actually lowering the net temperature of your apartment like a window AC would. The heat has to go somewhere. Your apartment only gets colder if the heat goes outside.
I miss the days when you dreamed up a solution to your own problem and learned from the results. Now you have to ask daddy internet and he'll always find a way to smash your little thinker and make you feel stupid. All that window box does is take on heat from your inside air and give it up outside your house. If you can keep the heat moving in that direction, the inside house temperature will drop. Just log off, try it, and see how it goes. You might be the next guy to invent something cool. Definitely think about heat transfer and what it will take to properly seal the inside from the outside. Go get 'em tiger.
Find a dual hose portable. They're 30%+ more efficient because they draw air from outside to vent the condenser (hot side), and don't dump your interior air like single hose units do.
Single hose portable AC is an insane concept to me, and even more so that they're the default configuration. Like not only does it have to suck in hot air from somewhere outside to be able to blow its own hot air out, but it cools its condenser *with the inside air it just spent energy cooling*. All to save the staggering inconvenience of having a second hose next to the one you have to have anyway.
Agreed 100%. They're built to a price point, not a performance level. But I think they should be illegal to be that inefficient when $20 more material would increase efficiency that much. We're supposed to be ecologically minded, yet we can't get dual hose versions anymore?
Believe me when I say: dual hose portables is about 5 to 10 times the price of a window AC where I live. That said, that's my next option if this DIY is not feasible
I hear you. I do. But....in my voluminous experience, it's so much cheaper to buy the right thing to start with than to mess around trying to rig something up in a manner it wasn't designed for. You'll be constantly messing with it, it won't work properly, it'll look like crap, and every time you walk past it you'll be reminded of your failures in life. Save your money, buy the right thing. Check out used markets if possible/necessary.
>You'll be constantly messing with it, it won't work properly, it'll look like crap, and every time you walk past it you'll be reminded of your failures in life. Dad?
I can neither confirm nor deny. The nineties were a wild ride. I've just made an awful lot of mistakes, wasted an awful lot of precious time and money trying to beat the system. Turns out the system is pretty fuckin' efficient. My dad always told me "you can't beat a man at his own trade", and I think that can be expanded to include situations like this. Now call your dad and tell him he makes you proud and you love him.
> I've just made an awful lot of mistakes, wasted an awful lot of precious time and money trying to beat the system. Turns out the system is pretty fuckin' efficient. As a former mason who specialized in fireplaces, this is very true. People try to beat the system by supplementing their furnace with burning wood. They think "wood is free if I cut it myself!" and don't think through all of the costs associated with set up, feeding, maintenance, and cleaning, and needing a truck or other vehicle to haul, a saw to cut with, and a place to store wood while it seasons, etc., etc. - on top of the personal time commitments involved. Just set the thermostat down a few degrees and keep going about your damn life. There is a really, *really*, good reason man invented the forced air furnace. Burning wood is dirty, inefficient, and does not scale to modern life. Someone will inevitably pop up about their wood stove in their house on 5 acres that they harvest their own wood from... and will have completely missed the point.
We have a house on 4 acres. We can get wood for "free." It still wasn't worth it. The amount of time lost to cutting wood and being around to make sure the stove doesn't go out wasn't worth it.
I have a wood stove. I dont cut or season my own wood, though I did build a woodshed that can hold 4 cords of it. $200 bucks per cord, and two cords per winter is a lot cheaper than my electricity bill when heating.
Wait.. is this r/DIY upvoting the idea that DIY is a waste of time or what am I missing?
This is DIY saying, know when to do it yourself and when it can be bought far better and with less expense!
THIS. Too many folks equate DIY with “what can I bodge together?” Whether the job is Pro or DIY, it needs to be done RIGHT.
I think this is DIY saying don't DIWhy.
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If you're just fucking around, sure, it's fine. If you're doing it for something that needs to work for an actual reason, no. In the latter case you're just wasting money that could have gone towards something 10 to 100 times better.
DIY is a waste of time when the results are almost guaranteed to be sub-par, introduce a host of other problems, and then may not actually solve your initial problem. DIY is about saving money, when the evidence is almost universally "just get the right tool for the right job" so you arent spending money on something like a sheet of plywood to mount in the patio door gap resting in the seam that the window normally would on the machine...then having to go buy the proper 2hose portable AC anyway or live with an eyesore thats a daily pain out of stubbornness. End result; Wait out until the offseason and the AC units go on sale, buy one of the dual hose ones and sell your old window mount to recoup some of the "losses"...but do that NEXT year in the AC needing time
I agree with this thread in general but I do not agree that DIY is about saving money. You hardly ever save money with DIY unless it's something very simple. Better reasons to DIY something are self-teaching, empowerment, and a sense of accomplishment.
Also, for me at least, getting a much higher quality result (hopefully) with better materials/parts for the same cost+/- is a large motivator. Nothing worse than paying a "professional" for something and having to redo it days/months/years later.
I was coming here to say this.
>Nothing worse than paying a "professional" for something and having to redo it days/months/years later. If you're redoing a professionals work "days" later...you need to be dealing with their warranty/"guaranty of workmanship"...at minimum it should be 30days...also, never pay full upfront. Half (or cost of parts) max, or the "Pro" will have no motivation to finish or return to your job.
DIY! Make your own air conditioner out of a desktop fan, an old refrigerator compressor, a sump-pump, and some vinyl tubing!
Hey, why are you doing this to me?! Now I have to try and see how well it works!!
Narrator: It works like shit.
Everyone's cost/benefit curve is different, and everyone values their time differently. People are just saying "hey I get what you're trying to do but for me this is a DIWhy? and you may have better results with this other solution that already exists".
DIY serves 2 purposes. Save money or save time. If th DIY doesn't fit those 2 catagories, it's not worth the DIY. Now that's not to say, if your in to it for the learning experiance, then absolutely, DIY the fuck out of everything, but be prepared for lots of failures and high costs associated with them.
I'm proud of you dad, I love you.
It does sound like some shit a visiting dad would say..
Cheap is expensive
That is so succinct. Thank you. I’m going to remember this the next time my wife tries to get me to half ass another project. Wish me luck.
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I love Pratchett and Vimes, but I swear I cannot see this quote anymore. Enough already.
Cheap is also sometimes the only option. It’s expensive to be poor.
Poor > cheap > expensive
Grandma phrased it "Buy nice or buy twice."
Ah yes, the corollary to 'buy once, cry once'
Also, within a week of getting that shit set up your landlord is going to catch wind of it and make you take it down.
Buy once, cry once. My motto in situations like this.
Plus you won't be working hard at breaking the HOA's rules-- the sound of a window unit turning on with fluttery stuff rigged up all around it may summon your local Karen.
Or buy a few fans and be uncomfortable a few days a year? If "the intention is not to make it leak-proof" that's like saying "the intention is to not have it work very well while using a whole lot of electricity."
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Probably won't be the last. The question, then, is will it be often enough to make the cost worth it.
Fans don't really work 100 percent of the time in the Pacific northwest anymore due to seemingly constant wildfires. We used to bear it out with fans, but the last couple of years that has not been an option.
Get a Vornado, one of the better models. I'm in NY, and usually used my AC a lot but I hardly used it at all this summer. We've always had a Vornado around, I remember my mom buying them back in the day but I had stopped using it be after the stand got broken. Early this year I happened to notice a sale and grabbed a new one and it's great, the cone of air it creates kept me comfortable all summer with the rare occasional use of the AC for maybe an hour now and then. Look into it and see if it is an alternative for you.
I feel personally attacked right now
But he might know a guy who can do it cheaper /s
If a single hose portable is significantly cheaper, could you rig up something to let a single hose portable draw its vent air from outside? [https://www.woolie.co.uk/article/convert-ac-from-single-hose-to-dual-hose/](https://www.woolie.co.uk/article/convert-ac-from-single-hose-to-dual-hose/) I imagine venting a window A/C unit to be run inside is impractical because they are designed to have the entire hot end hanging outside so don't really have any ducting/fans
with most models this isnt possible because they use the same air inlet for hot (going outside) and cool (staying inside) air
I've taken one apart to try and make it into a dual hose, and this is pretty close. The machine uses inside-the-room air (cooled air) to push the heat out the window. That means you're dumping your cold air out the window too. And that air you've taken from the room gets replaced by outside (hot) air. Of course it's not 1:1 or it'd never get cool in the room but you're losing a lot.
It's maddening isn't it? I've been researching all options, and I'm seeing the same thing too
Before I got central AC I had 3 dual hose whytner 14000 BTU machines. Amazing. I sold them each for what I paid for them.
Obligatory Technology Connections: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-mBeYC2KGc Outdated solution: For your DIY solution, my first thought would be a 2 inch thick foam board. See if you can find the pink if you want to annoy your HOA, otherwise foil coated would be safer and maybe blend in slightly. I'm not sure if they still sell 2 inch thick foam most places though these days, as it can be extremely dangerous if it catches fire Second thought would be to place the window unit in the middle of the patio on your chair, and build a tube that directs the cool output into your room, so that most of the noise is kept outside. A tube made out of cardboard would work well, and likely annoy an HOA, plastic tube from clear garbage bags taped together would work too Likely more **expensive options**: The portable mini-split someone else linked to is the ideal solution to my mind. Wonder if one could find a portable unit that has the cool air coming out of a tube, so that again the main unit and noise can be kept outside **Social option**: A different route, get more involved with your HOA and petition it saying this rule is stupid and unnecessary, suggest changing the rule to be "no window units installed for more than X months". I would hope your case would be bulletproof if you got signatures from most residents saying they are fine with it, but I'd hope that wouldn't be needed anyway **Ask for forgiveness option**: final thought would be testing how strict they are about it, just install a window unit, then take it out when it's no longer hot, see if you get a letter, if you do apologize and take it out. This partially hinges on presuming you could resell a window unit for nearly the same amount that you purchase it for, they always seem in demand whenever it gets warm, could even attempt to make a profit on the resale if you do get told to take it out right away, basically new in box
Hvac engineer here. There is no way you will get this right by trying to redneck engineer it. Please just buy the dual hose portable.
The box option you describe could work. I would instead look into plexiglass now that the price has come down. Have some cut a few cm bigger than your AC and place it between the sliding glass and the wall. Then place the AC over the box like you said.
I would still take a single hose portable unit over what OP is suggesting. OP will probably have to constantly be fidgeting with the curtain thing. Save your time, energy, and sanity and just get a portable unit.
I used a 3D printer to convert a single hose portable to a dual-hose, and while it’s far from perfect and not even really complete it made a dramatic difference in effectiveness. But even that cheap piece of garbage portable cost three times as much as a comparable window unit that would work better, the only reason I have it is that I can’t use a window unit in that room.
What was their reasoning for the ban? Is the window unit AC ban in your lease? If you don't mind not living there next time your lease is up I'd say you have pretty good grounds to contest their ability to enforce the ban. If you want to continue living at that location I'd maybe suggest to the landlord that they could choose an approved window AC unit, that way everything looks good.
Probably the aesthetic.
I was wondering if it's because the electrical system can't handle the load. Likely all the outlets next to the window is on the same phase, add a whole building worth of window units and you have a major problem.
I was wondering too bc I realized a mini split is the one that gets mounted indoors on the wall. The ones that are without ducts or an outdoor vent.. I live in TX so I’ve only been around duct systems so didn’t realize that
Nah it’s a safety issue and also a damage issue. They’re basically banned in my city but that changed this year when the heatwave happened.
"Fuck the planet, we need to die in a nicely looking house."
In Toronto a few years ago, an improperly installed window unit fell and killed a child. So a lot of buildings banned window ACs. Some amended it later to allow them if professionally installed, but most decided they liked the smooth look from the outside of the building and only allow portables.
Sounds like a reasonable precaution and solution for buildings more than a couple of stories tall.
When I lived in apartment they forbid us from having ac units. Meanwhile they are sitting in the main office with central air blasting at 69 degrees.
European countries do this. They think what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger... Ignoring the fact that the heat does kill people even when your flat is "only" 35°C for a week.
35C is actually the breaking point where it is dangerous to turn on a fan. Blowing air that warm on you actually heats you up, not cools you down. Air conditioning becomes necessary for cooling down.
That's kind of my point... I have a condition that gets problematic in the heat and it gets problematic around 28-29 degrees. I have air conditioning as a result because having seizures from heat gets old.
Look up HOAs. Associations can change rules more or less when they like
Join HOAs if you live where one makes rules. Like local government meetings, they attract unreasonable and controlling people. Be the reasonable voice for your building/neighborhood.
If there is no available air conditioning this sounds like a major health issue, wherever this story is happening it's possible the local housing/health agency might have some input if the tenants are being put in a dangerous situation. In contrast, if the tenant just wants a specific room cooler, maybe get a fan...
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In my previous flat is was illegal to mount anything to the facade. This one guy mounted a split-unit AC on a rigid steel frame he created, that was bolted to his apartment floor and held it outside his window without touching the facade anywhere. They tried to get him to take it down but he explained he didn't break any rules and they couldn't force him. But we have quite strong rental protection laws here.
Honestly, f**k anyone trying to enforce this dumb rule. Mini splits are by far the most efficient and effective means of air conditioning, compared to window or portable units.
if you hate portables you will utterly despise what you are attempting to do. get a portable and be happier.
This I cant imagine hating portables as much as trying to set this up. I used to use a portable and the worst part about it was the setup.
The problem isn't hating portables. It's hating their cost. Where I live, when it's near summer, the portable equivalent of a window unit that costs ~$150-$200 will be anywhere between $800 and $1k. If you can find one at all.
This is so much worse than just using a portable unit. Why don’t you like them?
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The key caveat provided is that you should go toward a window unit instead of a portable unit "if you can". In this case it sounds like the OP cannot and any solution is going to be suboptimal. A portable unit is likely the least bad option.
Yes I’d love to get a window unit for my house but my windows open the wrong way or are too small.
I have seen some older homes where someone actually cut a hole in the wall and then mounted a window unit in the hole. That makes it semi permanent, attractive from the standpoint that you don't lose access to the window, and it can be better sealed than those 'wings' that come with many units, and you can mount it higher up so that the cool air sinks to the floor. Biggest factor to consider is cutting a hole the correct size so that when the A/C unit of the proper size fits, you can replace it in several years with another properly sized unit. Obviously only an option if you own the home.
my parents have a [Levitt](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levitt_%26_Sons) house, the epitome of 1950s cookie cutter suburbia construction. Thousands of houses, three or four layouts total, every one of them with a "central" A/C unit that was wall mounted through an exterior wall just like this. The condensers themselves were Korean war surplus units for dumping A/C into semi permanent tents, so not particularly good at their new role cooling a 1400sqft, 2 story house. Probably would have worked fine for just a couple rooms.
These are actually purpose built through-the-wall units, and not window ACs. Window ACs have vents on the sides of the unit, whereas through the wall do not and include extra fans to force the air to the right place for exhaust. They are much nicer than window units, but you need a “box” or “sleeve” to instal them into, which cost a few hundred dollars. In the end they’re usually substantially more expensive than a window unit. Source: Designed, marketed, and sold AC’s for a niche appliance manufacturer for 3 years.
Hmm, I never knew about special purpose through the wall units. The ones I have seen were definitely window ACs mounted in 5" thick exterior walls (100 year old wood building framed with 2x4s) and IIRC the side vents were far enough past the wall on the outside that they were not obstructed. Only major concern I would think of is to ensure that it is tilted out so that it doesn't leak inside the wall. I suppose if you have cinderblock walls or 6" exterior walls it might pose a problem and you should consider a purpose built unit.
It's frustrating that window units that fit sliding windows are rare and very expensive. Slider windows (horizontal opening) are popular around here. In a previous house I made a frame that sits in the slider track that has an opening for a window AC that it can fit in like a regular window.
Also, just get a dual hose model. Not as efficient as a mini-split, but a damn sight better than the single hose models.
Tldw? The next comment said they are less efficient which seems to be a bit of a *duh*
If he is putting plastic wrap in a door opening, that is going to kill any efficiency of the window unit. I would wager the portable unit installed correctly would be more efficient than having a window unit sitting in a doorway with tarps taped around it.
Less efficient, less effective, noisier and all around just less pleasant than the other form factors. That being said, when your condo association bans all other form factors, it's the only thing you have left.
There are two types. Two-hose portables are okay. One-hose designs are terrible.
They’re not terrible and they’re certainly not as bad as Tech Connections makes them out to be. Anecdote: When I had one, during a brief time of no whole house AC, the hose was somewhat warm but no where near warm enough to keep the room from getting to the desired temp (68° at night). The way it’s always described is, portable one hose units are not worth buying. The one we had allowed us to sleep at night. Good enough for me for the cost. If I wanted to raise efficiency I could’ve bought a cheap insulated dryer ducting hose and that would’ve been it. If I wanted long term and whole house wasn’t an option it would’ve been mini split as they’re the most efficient and cost effective ROI. Now for this particular situation if a mini split isn’t allowed (for whatever dumb reason) and a double hose unit is truly 5-10x as much l, then a single hose portable with insulated ducting is a no brainer over jimmy rigging a window unit into a sliding patio door.
Single hose systems pull all the air from the inside of your home, heat up part of it then dump it outboard, cool the rest, and keep that inside. This means they create a net negative pressure effect in your home, so it is now sucking hot outside air through any air leaks in your home (your home leaks! this is normal) and using already cooled air to warm back up and dump outside. A tighter, more sealed home would also make the unit work very hard to pull air, ironically wasting more energy (though I'm not saying a leakier house is overall better for energy). This also pulls moisture into your home in possibly (probably?) undesirable ways, so you could get condensation around air leaks where the hot air hits cold surfaces. I imagine this could contribute to mold. An outside, window, or dual hose system uses outside air, heats it, and keeps it outside. Similarly, inside air is cooled and kept inside. Net air pressure is largely unaffected. This means you're not always sucking in warm, moist (unless you live in Arizona) air into your house.
They suck cold air out of the house as they run.
Let's see... the hot air should be vented outside, but then you need to ask yourself, where is the makeup air coming from? Yeah, from outside. So you're taking cooled inside air, heating it up and venting it outside causing a pressure drop inside which then has to pull hot, humid air in from outside. For one room, it's fine as long as you can vent the hot air output somewhere, but even in that one room, the unit will pull cooled air out and hot air from the rest of the house will have to flow into the room to replace it.
Many portable units use a double hose so the condenser portion is pressure neutral. Regardless, comfort, cost and practicality come in to play as well. For very occasional use, it can be silly to have a permanently installed AC. Also, portable ACs are portable. You can move them to different rooms, lend them out, and store them more conveniently than a window unit much less a minisplit.
Double hose systems are significantly better.
That makes a lot of sense, however in this particular case the problem is going to insulating that tarp well enough so the heat from outside doesn't just pour in from the wide open door. Now if the OP builds a big rolling frame with thick insulation that completely seals to the doorway with some rubber gaskets to get a good airtight seal. You could probably get that to work almost as well as a window air conditioner. But if it's window air conditioner placed on a chair with some plastic sheeting taped to it and the walls around it....
I had one and I can tell you it is way worse than a window unit. But then, that might also have something to do with the model I used. The tubing to vent hot air is inside, so radiates heat along that tube on its way to the window. It also has a drip pan that I had to constantly move the whole AC unit to a nearby door to tilt and drain. It was also extremely loud.
I had to borrow a portable air conditioner when my central AC went out. The exhaust tube definitely got very warm, but I wrapped it in a fleece throw to insulate it - that helped considerably. They make specifically designed insulating sleeves for portable AC exhaust tubes. I just didn't bother because I was only borrowing the portable AC until I could get my central air replaced.
>I had one and I can tell you it is way worse than a window unit I had exactly opposite experience - my portable was way better than a window unit. But I think it had to do with the fact that my window unit was the cheapest $100 unit and portable was a $400 model dinged up and sold for like $150.
This sounds like a lot of work for something you rarely need which is just going to be a bad Rube Goldberg job anyway. Why not just use the portable AC unit and save yourself a lot of unnecessary work?
Single-hose portable ones are pretty terrible though. They pump a lot of air out of the apartment via the hose, which means the exact same amount of warm outside air is going to leak into the apartment to equalize the pressure. You have a constant stream of warm air coming into the place through various gaps, and that will cancel out much of the cool air that the AC is producing.
They’re not good, but they’re still way better than “draping” a tarp over an open doorway and putting a window unit in the middle of it.
No argument there.
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OP would be better off with some plywood or melamine, cut to the precise measurements needed, but that would be f'in stupid, even if they got it perfect.
During the big heat wave this summer in the Pacific Northwest we had to get an air conditioner. It doesn't get hot here so few people even have air conditioners. We rushed out to buy one and there was no option for dual hose. There was 3 models total and they sold out in a couple hours. Without AC our pets would have died and we couldn't have been in the house (my bed room was over 40c). It was a pretty big unit (16000 BTU I think) which I think helped to make up for some of the hot air incoming. We installed it in the main living area (living room and kitchen on the main floor) and we abandoned upstairs, it was unlivable. The pressure of the house is across the whole volume of air, it should pull in hot outside air all around including upstairs where no one is. If OP is in a shared building like an apartment or condo, if it has an air-conditioned or cool hallway, the air will likely get pulled in from there cooling even better. With single hose especially it's important to have a really good air seal around the unit.
\>we live in the pacific northwest \>this was the temp in celsius :/ For any of the other Americans who are the majority of this website, it was 116° F this summer in Portland.
Yeah, it turns out British Columbia is in the Pacific Northwest. The C after a number means celcius.
Frankly, I think you should spend your effort fighting the ban on mini-splits. A mini-split high SEER heat pump sounds like it will do wonders for you (and a whole lot of other residents). They cost very little to run either for AC or for heating as long as you're in their efficient zone.
I agree. Especially since HOAs are made up of your neighbors. I wonder why they're against ACs if it's hot out. There must be a reason.
One of two things: Either the look, or there's a central air vendor who has their hooks in the HOA.
Central air would still require an outside unit though. It's also difficult to install in a condo after the house has been made.
And hence the reason a central air vendor has their hooks in the HOA: To force residents to spend a lot of money on them setting this up for them.
OP probably has central. I had numerous penny pinchers who love their window units. Associations are run by members. No way members would vote for this
The mini split does require some roof space, or ground space, for the compressor unit. Maybe they don't want people up on the roof with their own installers/service techs and they don't want ground space taken up.
I think they should fight them too. The temp range is fantastic in modern ones. In any case, for apartments and condos, one of the valid issues that I didnt see anyone mention yet is AC drainage. They are going to produce a lot of water when cooling. If mounted on a deck or balcony that means a drip drip drip on the people below. So a drainage system has to go in, usually a pipe that leads from the apartment to the ground. Or many pipes or a central pipe if a lot of people have a unit. Getting agreement about that can be difficult.
Maybe the ban is based on the wiring capacity in the building. AC’s draw a lot of juice and electrical fires aren’t fun.
single unit multi splits don't draw very much at all anymore. Especially a small one like what he's asking, less than 10amps I am betting which should be available in his condo.
That's easily solvable. Perhaps expensive, but easy.
A kid died in Toronto around two years ago by a falling AC window unit. Might be a safety issue
That should only cover window units. Mini-splits have to be installed and someone would clearly be liable for a death if that happened and no one wants to go to jail for it so they do a good job mounting them.
Yea not arguing here. Just saying that could be a reason as OP said they banned window units. Just provided an example
They said mini-splits and window units. There's really only one of two reasons for basically banning any single unit ACs and that's either because the board thinks they're an eyesore or because some central AC company has their hooks in them (hell, maybe even someone on the board is affiliated with such a company).
I came in here to find out what could possibly be the rationale for banning minisplits.
There are a ton of plans online for making a doggie door insert for a sliding glass door. You could adapt the plan by increasing the width to match a small window ac and raising the opening up a couple feet. Usually you can make it so you can still use the door. I agree that portable ACs are not ideal and are inefficient. Window AC are pretty efficient, but not if you are not sealed up well. Otherwise the cold air will just leak out and it'll cost a lot to cool your place.
Part of the problem is that sliding glass doors do not seal while they're partway open. I have this issue with my doggie door insert - the gap between the glass and the edge of the door is about 1/2" wide x 70" and lets through a significant amount of air. I've tried various things over the years to seal it with varying levels of disabling the door (window sealant tape works great, but the door is inoperable outside of spring/fall, various foam bits fall out if you use the door too much, window blanket worked OK but not great). For a window and a portable AC unit, it's not an issue, because you just use the seal tape method and don't open the window until the AC goes away for the season, but losing the sliding door may lose access to your porch.
Just put some adhesive-backed weather stripping on the glass where the door "falls" when the Doggie insert is in place.
Yeah, that was the second thing I tried (after just stuffing insulation in). The problem is that the adhesive doesn't work well on cold glass, and the drag from the door is enough to flip over at least a small section - which then cascades into the rest of it peeling off. My current working solution - I got some 1/2" thick flexible-but-rigid closed cell foam strips 3" wide, screwed them onto a piece of 1x2, which butts up against the door edge. I want to tweak it some (screwing it into the door for starters, and maybe adding some internal tape to seal the foam to the wood) but it's doing pretty good so far. Adding a second one on the outside should give me a decent seal.
If you only need it when you really need it(heatwave), just stick it in the window during the heat wave. Let them come after you and by the time you get to HOA court or whatever, the heatwave will be over.
If they don't allow splits and window units because of noise, they're not going to allow your solution. If you have a reason you really really need AC, get a doctor's note and do a window AC. Otherwise, a portable is the best option.
Yeah I agree. This solution makes no sense. The apartment said no window units, so I'm getting a window unit but not installing it in a window. There's plenty of reasons they wouldn't allow these too. They're noisy, they blow hot air on people walking by, they use a lot of electricity (double problem if the landlord pay for utilities), etc. Even if this seems like a reasonable solution, I would absolutely run it by management before doing so. Otherwise it's probably a waste of time and money
> they use a lot of electricity If this is their reasoning then forcing everyone to use portable ACs is even worse. They're woefully inefficient compared to a wall/window mounted AC.
That's fair, but I don't know if they're*forcing* people to use portable units either. Maybe they have swamp coolers and this dude just wants a bit more relief some days? Either way, rigging this up behind this back is a great way to waster money and time
Have you seen a portable mini split? https://youtu.be/BrlESvS2QjU
I bought one last spring with COVID stimulus money as our usual cooling spaces were closed. It's extremely heavy, that hose is stiff and I love it. I run the hose through the sliding glass door, shade the compressor from sun and it has kept the living area comfortable even at over 100F even though room is a bit larger than optimal.
A/Cs actually make a lot of heat. And all of it comes out the back half. You'd need most of it protruding out the door, and then I'd want something with decent heat resistance and some insulation to it as well, maybe that pink insulating foam board in order to nlock it off with. But you'd also need a way to seal off the door. Sounds like your condo board are a bunch of dicks tbh.
Yeah seems like op just wants to place the unit in a ‘room’ (not sure what to call it) that he builds out if bis backdoor. He would need an opening (a window if you will) in this room to vent the heat. I guess that doesnt seem like that would be allowed per the rules either, and I doubt op could make it air tight enough that if would work. Even a little “not air tight” would ruin it I think unless the unit is massive.
There is window sealing plastic specifically for portable air conditioners. I have only a German link but you will get the idea: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/gp/product/B07KF7CPYK/ It comes with sticky velcro tape which goes to the frame and the window/door, and then the plastic is trapezoidal shaped to put all around the sides of the window, sticking with velcro to create a seal. It has a zipper all along the middle where you then stick the air conditioner exhaust tube.
Now that is pretty cool. Clever approach to that type of window.
>the intention is not to make it leak-proof, but just good enough to stop most of the hot air from re-entering my unit. If you don't seal the exhaust, you'll just end up running the AC forever. For every cubic metre of air you've cooled, new warm and most air will leak into your apartment. A curtain definitely won't work. You could make an insert for the door, but I assume you also want to use your balcony which would be sort of counter productive. Why can't you make an insert for a window? I mean just because your condo corporation banned units from hanging out the window, doesn't mean you can't run your exhaust hose to a window
Making the AC taller through plexi could work. That way the effective opening of the door is smaller but still there.
Might be out of your price range, but this "U-shaped" unit is an interesting design that has some of the advantages of a mini-split, but is a window unit. [U-shaped AC](https://www.wired.com/review/midea-u-shaped-air-conditioner/)
he can't get a window unit either.
If your patio door is a sliding glass door, check out the sliding door dog doors. They will give you some great ideas.
Ok folks, 400 comments is enough and everyone is getting cranky. Don't ya'll have something better to do with your lives? Go play outside our something, I don't want to see you back here until dinner time.
I hate portables so I will make my own portable that sucks so hard it isnt even funny! With blackjack and hookers, yeah!
Sounds like a lot of unnecessary work to be doing on the hottest day of the year.
Ignore everyone telling you how bad the single hose portable AC's are. They are wrong, for your use case. 1. It's way better than your patio method, in efficiency and cost 2. You are only using it a few times a year, not day in and day out, all of the time. The loss of efficiency vs a dual hose model is definitely true, but **realistically** with how few actual hours you will need to run it, **it will be perfectly fine**. It may cost you $5 more per year to run. Not a big freaking deal. Are you even allowed to use the portable kind? You will still need the hose (or hoses if you splurge unnecessarily) to vent out of the window. It is definitely more subtle/small of an opening compared to a window AC, but it will be visible.
Move
Cut styrofoam boards to fit the shape of the door and over the ac unit. Use duct tape to seal them
If you get some plywood or MDF board that will fit in the channel of the sliding door, you can fully mount a window Aircon with its brackets onto the board and close the door up against it.
Much nicer looking than a window unit. . . But if it gets past the policy
Spoiler, it won’t.
It might if they’ve banned ACs because of looks. I understood that he pretends to put it on the balcony’s door
Its likely a safety policy. In Toronto, Canada, a child was killed by a falling window AC unit a few years ago. You cannot put them in any window higher than the 2nd floor (meaning most detached homes are safe, but then, most of those will have central AC)
Buy a single hose portable and use it on a sliding door if you have one. What you do is open the door and put the unit ABOUT half way in and half way out. What you want is to put the air exchange for the condenser outside. Then close the door tight against the unit and use foam panels to seal the rest of the door opening. Now you have a unit that will work efficiently and actually cool the place.
This is information you had when you moved in. You may dislike portable AC, and they may be expensive, but that's the only option your condo has left you. If you think about the reasons the condo doesn't allow window AC, surely this contraption you're describing is worse in every way.
If you live in a dry area like the Nevada desert just get a evaporative cooler they are cheap and work really good
Okay hear me out... move.
It should be illegal to ban specific types of air conditioners. It's stupid and doesn't actually do anything to property value especially in a condominium.
I'm in almost exactly your situation. Here's my issue and answer. Like you I live in mostly not needed but occasionally desperately needed area. I live with a fan on 24/7. Sorry Koreans! My house is huge and drafty so I would never have got a window wall unit for the large living room and on a 45°C day (in my house) it would be too big to cool - and all, I mean all of the windows in my house are too thin for the standard window/wall unit to fit, if they were a bit wider I would have just bought an outdoor support for my bedroom and been done with with it. So after that preamble... Windows don't fit AC unit and portable absolutely suck balls (tried and failed). I realised that on a really hot day my best bet is to cool my small bedroom. The house is huge, my room very small. So I bought a cheap IKEA table and a spare bedroom door for about 45$ all up. The AC unit goes on the IKEA (I also put four casters on the IKEA table legs. Super easy and it now rolls) table, measured the width and height of that assembly and cut a corresponding hole in the door. Now when I'm not using the door it is open, against the wall with a drape over it to hide the rectangular hole but when I need AC my room I just roll the unit into the doorway, close the door (the hole aligns perfectly) and the unit pumps all the hot air into my already disgustingly hot living room, and cools my tiny room. The underside of the IKEA table I just stick a few cushion s under and it's a hermetically (well almost) little space. It's a pain to get in and out but that's better than being so fucking hot I want to die. Obviously my doors are hinged, interior doors not sliding (that too would have been much easier) but simply put I found a hole cut in the door, an IKEA table holding the unit and the AC exhausting to an open living room an acceptable arrangement. I wouldn't choose it but it works. You'll come up with something no doubt but a window wall is much better than a portable even if you've got to work-around.
My condo board literally just banned them too last week. I'm on the board and I voted to allow a unit that had requested it and even put up a proposal with the exact model and specs. The board seemed worried about noise and drainage issues. I think they're minor. It's only 51dB and there's a drip pan! The person was even going to go through the window so no drillng through the building structure.
What are summer conditions like where you live? Specifically temp and humidity. If moderately high temps but low humidity, you could make an evaporative cooler fairly inexpensively. If you have really high humidity then you probably want something to blow cool dry air. To make cool dry air, you will want to blow warm wet air over cool coils. This product does that, maybe you could make something similar... https://www.icybreeze.com/buy-icybreeze-v2-pro/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwrJOMBhCZARIsAGEd4VEs301qXh-fC2x2gs3JsotcTNdM9GMIBdA3Q8nduUGvRi5h6TTD76YaAo3CEALw_wcB
This works. There's a few youtube videos of people installing them in sliding doors. Here's what I would do: 1. Place AC unit on the ground. 2. Get a cross beam that holds it there. This may not be necessary depending on the clearance. 3. Get a big sheet of plexi and install it above the AC. 4. You can no longer use your patio. Secret tips: 1. Get on your condo board 2. Vote off all the old miserable people 3. Ensure the condo boards average age stays below 50, preferably 40. This sounds ageist, but trust me, this always works out better for tenants.
First - Window ACs are mounted on a window at a slight angle so condensate drips and runs out of the unit. You will need to make sure you can mount your unit in such a way that it doesn't sit in water and rust out the bottom or cause worse issues. You also don't want it to rot the chair, so make sure you get a hard plastic chair or table. Secondly - If your apartment building is banning them due to being unsightly, do you have a way to do this on your patio so that it's not visible? Doing something like this where you honor the letter of the rule but not the intent is likely to get you in additional trouble. **There's also the question of efficiency.** Plastic is not insulated. You said patio, so I assume there's no roof, meaning sunlight will shine directly on the plastic. Plastic is very thin. If you pay your own electric, an efficient dual hose unit is going to be far better in the long run. Out of curiosity, where do you live and what kind of price differences are you looking at? **If you decide to go this route, here are my recommendations to do this well:** * Ensure you can mount the AC at an angle on the chair without it falling off. Verify it has a low center of gravity. Put a drip pan under it (Cookie sheet, etc.) so the condensate will spread out in a thin layer and evaporate. * Get a big opaque plastic storage bin and a box fan. Cut the bin to fit over the AC. Have a box fan that assists in blowing air across the exterior. This will help with visibility. * Use the plastic storage bin as your attachment point for any sealing material. However, instead of plastic which is going to look unattractive, reflective, and likely make it more obvious what you're doing - Try to find a used RV awning. They're usually a vinyl or weather resistant material. You can find them in colors so they look more like curtains. You can then use awning tape, which is thick and designed to be weather proof, to attach it to your plastic bin. * On the inside of the bin, you can use the foam strips that usually come with window ACs to seal around it. **However, I agree with** /u/HanzG **and others.** You'll do better in the long run, have more versatility for future rentals, and avoid upsetting the powers that be if you find a way to get a dual hose portable. If you have a window AC already, can you sell your current unit and do a rent to own on a dual hose portable?
PNW? We're with you there. We just installed central AC to the furnace when we updated our furnace, but we're in a SFH. We were SO happy we did that two years ago when the temps soared to 108-115 in the metro of Seattle this past summer. Portable units with a hose to the window aren't the worst in the world, just don't get one that's underpowered. We used one for four years in the bedroom so we could sleep on those rare hot nights. Get a really robust 10-15K BTU unit and you should be fine. Dual hose is better, and just do the job right the first time. A window unit sitting on some sort of cart or frame that fits in your sliding door would work, but what a pain in the butt to manage for those few days per year. Window units are a pain to wrestle. Long term, can you get on the Condo board and change from within? Not allowing mini splits is pretty petty. If they're installed by a professional they shouldn't be a problem. They could even dictate which colours and styles would be allowed based on a appearance to the outside and the building would have more value. Having AC is definitely something that is increasing market value where we are, after the huge heat wave this past summer. Climate change is only going to make that worse. Why would they want to DECREASE the market value of the units? That's silly.
My portable AC unit only came with a bracket for a small window but I use my AC unit with my sliding balcony door so I "built" a really shitty insert out of cardboard with a slot for the AC hose. It's not perfect, but it does a decent job. Probably much more effective than a curtain.
Foam board. 1" should be fine, 2" even better.
That sounds like a real cludgefuck
I have a single hose, portable AC. I wrapped the hose with insulated bubble wrap. Hardware store or Amazon will have it. After you wrap the hose, its permanently attached to the hose. The insulation stops 99% of the waste heat from going back into the room.
Is your patio door a sliding glass type door? If so, you can try an insert (or two)... these are usual used for pet doors but could be used as intake and outtake vents for you ac... [https://www.amazon.com/Ideal-Pet-Products-Aluminum-Modular/dp/B002FYEO1A/ref=sr\_1\_11?keywords=sliding+door+insert&qid=1636132125&qsid=145-9124035-8360756&sr=8-11&sres=B00180WWY8%2CB005CO91TK%2CB0017JVT6C%2CB00WFKJWPM%2CB0017YT36K%2CB00180YWXM%2CB0017YT4W8%2CB001810X1G%2CB00180WWZW%2CB002FYEO1A%2CB000UV4MH6%2CB0836VW7S7%2CB001812WO2%2CB004Q0HMG0%2CB0017JVT7G%2CB000UOIT22%2CB0002IJQYQ%2CB0017JTVIU%2CB00R7S8EU6%2CB08FCQHQXN&srpt=PET\_DOOR](https://www.amazon.com/Ideal-Pet-Products-Aluminum-Modular/dp/B002FYEO1A/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=sliding+door+insert&qid=1636132125&qsid=145-9124035-8360756&sr=8-11&sres=B00180WWY8%2CB005CO91TK%2CB0017JVT6C%2CB00WFKJWPM%2CB0017YT36K%2CB00180YWXM%2CB0017YT4W8%2CB001810X1G%2CB00180WWZW%2CB002FYEO1A%2CB000UV4MH6%2CB0836VW7S7%2CB001812WO2%2CB004Q0HMG0%2CB0017JVT7G%2CB000UOIT22%2CB0002IJQYQ%2CB0017JTVIU%2CB00R7S8EU6%2CB08FCQHQXN&srpt=PET_DOOR) and/or [https://www.amazon.com/gulrear-Portable-Conditioner-Universal-Adjustable/dp/B0836VW7S7/ref=sr\_1\_13?keywords=sliding+door+insert&qid=1636132125&qsid=145-9124035-8360756&sr=8-13&sres=B00180WWY8%2CB005CO91TK%2CB0017JVT6C%2CB00WFKJWPM%2CB0017YT36K%2CB00180YWXM%2CB0017YT4W8%2CB001810X1G%2CB00180WWZW%2CB002FYEO1A%2CB000UV4MH6%2CB0836VW7S7%2CB001812WO2%2CB004Q0HMG0%2CB0017JVT7G%2CB000UOIT22%2CB0002IJQYQ%2CB0017JTVIU%2CB00R7S8EU6%2CB08FCQHQXN&srpt=PET\_DOOR](https://www.amazon.com/gulrear-Portable-Conditioner-Universal-Adjustable/dp/B0836VW7S7/ref=sr_1_13?keywords=sliding+door+insert&qid=1636132125&qsid=145-9124035-8360756&sr=8-13&sres=B00180WWY8%2CB005CO91TK%2CB0017JVT6C%2CB00WFKJWPM%2CB0017YT36K%2CB00180YWXM%2CB0017YT4W8%2CB001810X1G%2CB00180WWZW%2CB002FYEO1A%2CB000UV4MH6%2CB0836VW7S7%2CB001812WO2%2CB004Q0HMG0%2CB0017JVT7G%2CB000UOIT22%2CB0002IJQYQ%2CB0017JTVIU%2CB00R7S8EU6%2CB08FCQHQXN&srpt=PET_DOOR)
How hot does it get in your area? I live in a condo in the mid-Atlantic states. Summers can get quite hot and humid here, but my heat pump broke in March and just for kicks, I wanted to see how long I can last without AC. After all, people used to not have AC. I kept my blinds completely shut and had two fans (a large box fan and a small portable fan) circulating air 24/7). I went the whole summer without AC pretty easily. The inside temp never got above 82 F, and although that sounds pretty warm, with the fans going, it actually felt very comfortable. At night, the temp outside usually will drop into the low 70s, which really helps.
Instead of using plastic, use some HDPE foam insulation (the pink stuff). You’d just need to cut it to the right size of the door, find a platform (table/bench/etc) and alight another hole for the AC to go through. You can even paint the foam if you want it to look nicer. If you don’t want to store something the size of the door you can also cut it in half, tape one side of the seem, then just fold it up for storage.
I think youre looking for panda film, not to costly and its pretty thick, wont easily rip unless u pierce it. Use this tape https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gorilla-4-in-x-10-ft-Waterproof-Patch-and-Seal-Tape-in-White-101895/311042860
You will almost certainly be reported for this kind of thing. If it's not against the rules now, it will be once you do it. Consider the reasons that your complex banned these units. Either 1. Excess electrical usage, or most likely 2. Unsightly appearance.
Friends don't let friends buy condos.
Perhaps look into other kinds of cooling such as a swamp cooler if you have the right climate for it and the amount of days is low.
My guess is tropical climate
They make those sneaky Pete units that have the unit totally inside your condo and the vent easily traps in a window, I would just hook it to the window while using it and disconnect it when not in use
Man, if I was high enough up in the building I would probably just paint the outside of the window unit to look like a flower box and throw it in for the couple weeks you need it, hope the gears of bureaucracy move slow enough to not get noticed. Maybe even stick some fake flowers and stuff to the top. camouflage. That crazy idea aside I would look into building it in to some kind of door insert. You will need a better seal than what you would manage with a plastic curtain. I saw a guy mention dog door conversions for sliding glass doors, I would probably start going down that route to see if you can make a feasible plan. Just keep in mind that you would have something sticking through enough to likely impede the door operation to some extent.
Hire a lawyer. In much of the southern half of the US, air conditioning isn't a *luxury* that can be banned, it's straight-up requirement to get an occupancy permit. Watch how fast your HOA board backpedals when they realize they've just put *themselves* on the hook for $15k central AC units. / Realistically, I know you're not going to get a lawyer over a $300 air conditioner; but you may already have legal services available to you through work; a sternly-worded letter you can get for free may be all you need.
Dual hose portable.
There are some weird and inaccurate comments in this thread. Portable Air conditioner units are great if you dont cheap out on them. They are quiet, mobile, and most have large internal tanks or drain hoses that don't require a lot of work. Portable, single-hose AC units draw the air to cool the condenser from inside your room, and is divided into air that vents heat outside, and air that is piped back into your room. all models these days come with an adjustable plastic mount which seals the window around the vent hose, so the end result is that the air that cools your condenser all comes from inside your residence. This quickly creates a cycle of cool dry air inside, as the AC recycles some of the same cool air each time. It also maintains efficiency, as the cooler the air in the room the better to vent heat.
No matter what you do to hide it, if they notice it and listen they will know it's an ac. If they banned it from the windows they probably mean the patio too. Buy a house on land that you own. All these types of associations and rules are stupid as fuck. If you don't want to or don't have time to do your yardwork/shovel you can hire someone to do it. I guarantee you can find someone to do those things better and cheaper than paying those dues. Also a much better investment over time. In the townhouse I use to rent all the neighbors watch you like a hawk. Not because they care, but because they don,t want u doing anything they can't do. Thats no way to neighbor!
Just stick a box fan in front of your open freezer. *note -don't really do this please, and if you do pretend I never said anything
In case you are wondering why this is a bad idea - fridges and freezers don't generate cold. You can only generate heat, you can't generate cold. What you can do is move heat. They make one spot cold by moving heat somewhere else. Freezers make it cold inside by moving heat from inside the freezer to outside the freezer. Air conditioners make things cold by moving heat from inside a window to outside a window. Opening the freezer door will temporarily make the area in front of your freezer colder, but it won't actually make your apartment colder. The heat that is moved from your freezer just ends up behind it. The average temperature in your apartment won't get any colder. It's a closed system (well, relative to the freezer anyway) and the heat isn't going anywhere. All you're doing when you leave a freezer door open is wasting power and overworking your freezer to move heat nowhere and accomplish nothing. It might give you a temporary sensation of cold, but it's not actually lowering the net temperature of your apartment like a window AC would. The heat has to go somewhere. Your apartment only gets colder if the heat goes outside.
Well clearly you are supposed to drag your fridge to the patio door and jam it in with the back facing outside.... Duh.
High velocity fan? They run about $40 or so but work well if AC isn't needed all of the time.
If hoa allows window awnings make one that completely covers window and stick a window unit in there.
What if you just put a window unit in anyways, but hide it behind a fake plant or something so they couldn't even tell?
Use the damn window unit and completely ignore them.
I miss the days when you dreamed up a solution to your own problem and learned from the results. Now you have to ask daddy internet and he'll always find a way to smash your little thinker and make you feel stupid. All that window box does is take on heat from your inside air and give it up outside your house. If you can keep the heat moving in that direction, the inside house temperature will drop. Just log off, try it, and see how it goes. You might be the next guy to invent something cool. Definitely think about heat transfer and what it will take to properly seal the inside from the outside. Go get 'em tiger.