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AC Boxes Made Easy (to understand and build)

inreplyavalon

inreplyavalon

breathe deep
Veteran
Muchos gracias Hoosier el ac guru.

I decided to keep it seperate and have the veg space have an exhaust independent of the AC outtake. I am pleased with how it is working so far. I will post some after shots of my AC box, but here is a before.

picture.php
 
Zealious

Zealious

Member
very nice .. great diagrams.. I love it.. I would be lost without my ac. Wish i would have seen this thread a year ago.. At one point i was growing in a closet and I cut a hole in my door for the ac the hot air blowing in the back into my house... never thought to put a box on it... clever... I built a passive drain for the condensation... But then I did the opposit of the box vent.. I made a box intake and put te thing in the window where it belongs and ducted the incoming cold air into my two rooms.. Realisziing how these units work I allso added a air intake into the room that brings fresh air into the front of the ac where the ac sucks in the air it condenses..
 
Zealious

Zealious

Member
Oh and as many probly find.. These things dont do to well in the winter time if they are in the window...

I dont know if it was mentioned yet but THERE IS A WAY TO FIX THIS

what you do is you just locate the thermostate its usualy just a metal wire in the front of the the ac intake.. Pul the wire out gently and pull it into your room and away from your window... If that doesnt work... Add a incandescent bulb close to the thermostat... I have the thermostat wrapped around a cfl bulb.. this keeps it from running 24 7..

hope it makes sense Im a bit sleepy.
 
hoosierdaddy

hoosierdaddy

Active member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Great tip, Zealous.

Inreplyavalon, that is a very nice and clean looking room. I like what you are doing! Though I can't really see how your setup is from the shot.
 
S

squirrelfooker

For those having problems in the winter, try blocked off a portion of the condensor (the outside part). These things are meant to run with a certain temperature differential between inside and outside. When it's 90 inside and 30 outside, you are way out of range. Blocking the condensor (or slowing the fan) will make the condensor side run hotter and get you back into range. How much to block is a guess, and would be easier to determine if you had refrigerant gauges on it, and will also change based on outside temps. Don't block too much, you may cause compressor damage.
 
G

Gold123

Member
inreplyavalon said:
Muchos gracias Hoosier el ac guru.

I decided to keep it seperate and have the veg space have an exhaust independent of the AC outtake. I am pleased with how it is working so far. I will post some after shots of my AC box, but here is a before.

picture.php
Click to expand...

If you ducted those light hoods to the outside it would keep the temp down to where you would use a lot less energy air conditioning
 
inreplyavalon

inreplyavalon

breathe deep
Veteran
The picture ya'll are looking at is the exhaust end of the AC. That is my veg room(only 800W) and the cooling side of the AC is in the flower room. I just finished boxing in the AC today and will post some pictures later. It is going to be cooling 5,400 Watts of which 3000 will be air cooled. The AC is 25,000btu (two tons.)
I have the exhaust running with a 10 inch Maxfan pulling about 2,000cfm and the intake for the box is a passive 14 inch duct run of about five feet with one ninety degree. Best i could do. Have not run it yet but will kick her on manana. Wish me luck...
 
Shcrews

Shcrews

DO WHO YOU BE
Veteran
random question.... I am trying to bring a 15Kbtu A/C inside.... will one 8" vortex fan (700+cfm) as an exhaust booster be enough? i know you talked about using one fan and said it can be done, but does that sound proper?

thanks
 
G

Gold123

Member
Broke down and got a 1000W and a Magnum XXXL today and a new Can Fan for the tent exhaust. I was using an in line duct booster on my 600W hood. I don't think it will push enough air to cool it enough.
I have another duct booster fan. Would it be legitimate to add it to the exhaust end to increase air flow? Thus having one pushing at one end and one pulling at the other end.
Will this help until I spring for a better fan?
 
hoosierdaddy

hoosierdaddy

Active member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
The additional duct fan will not increase the CFM or "flow" of the air, but it will increase the power it has while moving the air. Assume that the single fan met with some resistance while it was working, which will make the motor work a bit harder...kinda like putting your hand over the vacuum cleaner hose just a bit. The more you cover, the harder the vacuum works and the louder and higher pitched the noise is. The additional fan will increase the pulling power, but at near the same CFM as the single fan. No more air, just stronger.
 
G

Gold123

Member
hoosierdaddy said:
The additional duct fan will not increase the CFM or "flow" of the air, but it will increase the power it has while moving the air. Assume that the single fan met with some resistance while it was working, which will make the motor work a bit harder...kinda like putting your hand over the vacuum cleaner hose just a bit. The more you cover, the harder the vacuum works and the louder and higher pitched the noise is. The additional fan will increase the pulling power, but at near the same CFM as the single fan. No more air, just stronger.
Click to expand...

I didn't expect to move more air both duct fans are the same but I did want to make sure it was getting enough force.
My exhaust temp from the 1000W is staying around 96.7* almost the same for my 600W. I may not need to add the other fan. Do you think that is an acceptable temp for the exhaust? The tent is 80* outside room temp is 73*
 
hoosierdaddy

hoosierdaddy

Active member
ICMag Donor
Veteran
I really don't know what temps from the hoods should be at exhaust, but I don't think you are going to have problems with that set up if your tent exhaust fan keeps working.
I think with cooling bulbs it's more of making sure the air flow is constant.
If that 97f temp is being exhausted into the room, and you are still seeing no more than 80 in the tent, then you should be fine.
If you were to draw the air from outside, you could probably get the thing even cooler.
 
S

SkizOflan

Member
Hey Hoosier. Sounds like you and i have come to many of the same conclusions via hours and hours of troubleshooting.. props to you. I have a question that nobody has seemed to ask yet: Some wall a/c units (5000-25000btu) have a little tab, or bar, or sliding mechanism that allows air to travel between the front and the back of the a/c's two 'sides' (cold/hot). In my current setup, for example, near the top right side of the actual fan blade in the front there is a small black sliding bar that when pulled out towards you, opens a 1/2" square hole that i assume is allowing air from the back 'hot' side to reach the front. Have you seen this before, and if so what is the function of that mechanism? It's such a small hole that i can't imagine it does anything in the way of airflow, but it is there for a reason. Any thoughts?

Thx in advance. You Rock.
 
G

Gold123

Member
I should have mentioned that the tent is in the atrium so it is essentially outside.


Thanks
 
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