Home Made/Portable AC

[WidespreadHigh]

Are there any threads out there on that discuss making your own portable AC
or at least a makeshift one?

I am short some money.....and
please help
wsh

 

[Reign of Terror]

this is as close as youll get, http://www.firststreetonline.com/product.jsp?path=-1&id=44186&from=homepage&WT.svl=44186

it depends on your grow room but i know this will fit the cab i plan on making, just used semi crushed ice and let that baby blow

there are no such thing as portable AC that are small if thats what you want,
otherwise, google portable air conditioner

 

[WidespreadHigh]

try this for help

try this for help

I am running a 1000w hps, and it is in a pretty closed area. Presently, the temps approach 95 easily, in the summer. Great space for three seasons, just not summer in ________...welll never mind that....

Thank you Reign, but I am worried about moisture getting real high in there...what I was thinking was whether I could just stick an AC unit in there that I bought at the pawn shop, and then vent the air that comes off the back out somehow.......kind of like a giant condom off the back.....with a hole in it of course.

thanks

 

[Grat3fulh3ad]

I saw an article somewhere sometime where a fella had put a coil of copper tubing on a fan cage and gravity fed iced water from a big trash can thru it while running the fan, thus cooling the air somewhat....

 

[WidespreadHigh]

The efficacy of

The efficacy of

Dear GratefulH,

Oh, thanks for writing ..... I have been admiring your genetics lately. I love your product names, and stuff.....not counting the fact that Ratdog is coming here very soon....since they are in the western us, it is dry here.....I guess i could pop for a watercooled set up, a portable swamp cooler. ...the permanent ones work well for homes here...it is dry...

And by the way....for a quick finish, high yield that withstands heat, what GRateful genetics rule. ???
wsh

 

[Grat3fulh3ad]

G13-Diesel.... 8 to 9 weeks.... superb smoke....

 

[packn2puff]

The main difference between a portable A/C and window unit..is the portable has to also have a system to move the condenser heat away from the coils and out a duct..
Most portables also get rid of their condensed water on the cond coil and exhaust it..
a some have a dehumidifier function..to do just that without a pan to empty
Seems you can make an enclosure for a window unit..gonna need a fan to move the air out..
You can go real ghetto and make a Ice cooler into a fan box..but you have to fill it with ice everyday..
I'm looking at a 10,000 btu portable with dehumidifier function..for $350..at Costco..
All an A/C does is move heat from one place to another..the result is cool air..
and that comes at an energy cost..A/C doesn't just have upfront costs..but energy costs as well..
so you have to think will your makeshift A/C actually save you any money or lose in the long-run to efficiency..
portables claim about 90% efficiency..and they were designed to be portables.. My

 

[Guest]

so... could you run a 5,000 BTU Window Air Conditioner and just have it placed inside your growroom on the floor?

 

[WidespreadHigh]

now i am an expert

now i am an expert

thank you all for your thoughts......keep em coming..especially about the air cooled option.....I could probably withstand the damned moisture given how dry it is here....

btw baller, i dont think a window unit laying on your grow room floor would do much more than move hot air from one area to another.

best wsh

 

[MTF-Sandman]

so... could you run a 5,000 BTU Window Air Conditioner and just have it placed inside your growroom on the floor?

Not unless you duct out the hot air off the back of the AC. An AC doesn't magically make the heat disappear...it just moves it from the front of the AC out the back. If you just stick a window unit AC in the room, all it's going to do is raise the temps by the amount of electrical consumption that it uses...in that case it'll add about 1500btu's to the room - roughly equivalent to a 600w.

WSH - you can get a 5K btu AC at WM for under $100 that should do wonders for cooling your area. If you don't have a window in your grow area, you can put the AC in the room next to your grow and duct the cool air into the grow area.

 

[SmokeNuggs]

I agree with sandman. i got a unit from home depot for $89. it is very energy effecient and not digital so it turns back on if the power goes out for some reason . i duct taped an attachment to the output on the a/c and run it into my box (it is regulated by a thermometer controller which turns it on and off at the desired temp). i dont worry about exaust because im in a box and it doesnt matter where the exaust goes. i just duct in the cool air. you can get another duct attachment and duct the heat exaust out the same way, but youll need a small fan to pump it out. heres is what my a/c looks like going into the box.
http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f63/VanHousecoat/DSCN0169.jpg
its in the garage and none of the heat goes into the box so it exausts into the room. its like 90 in the garage and 71 in the box usually.
SmokeNuggs

 

[Watersnake]

I'm dangerous with a wrench, but couldn't you get a motor with a belt assembly and use a reconditioned car A/C from a junkyard? It's incredible what poor folks like me can do if needs be.

Any musicians? Check out John Fisher's site:

http://galileo.spaceports.com/~fishbake/index.html

This guy builds amps, guitars, stompboxes, you name it out of cheap or free parts. A great source for guitar repair, et.c.

BTW- Any wizards out there that can help me set up a Semour Duncan Humbucking to use all 4 wires? I want to build a unit that I can remove to use on either guitar or violin, and I have the pots, capacitors, and design ideas. It came with just the single red wire to hook up. I play through my Peavey bass amp,(bass is my first love) and believe me hook up a DOD FX-7 unit (hey it was free) and you can get some great bass or violin effects. Thx in advance...Snake

 

[EcoNepenthe]

small window unit, large enough rubbermaid container to hold the unit w/some space all around. You'll need to attach an exhaust fan to the back of the container to extract the heat coming from the unit, and exhausted somewhere. That's the basics. Compliments of HEADS magazine, Ghetto Tech section.
Tried it. Does work. Just needs tweaking.
Hope this helps.

Success w/ya grow.
Stay safe.

Eco

Watch em grow!!!

 

[mrwags]

Ok My 2 Cents here. Portable a/c are great but they put out a butt load of head out of the exit tube. Now this tube gets VERY HOT and therefore creating heat in the room depending on the size. What Idid was a double tube getto fab to trap the heat and lower room temps by atleast 10 degree's:







Not my normal to the T fix but used leftover tubing. Cost = 0


Mr.Wags

 

[Watersnake]

So like use an electric drier tube around a smaller exhaust tube?

 

[gsxxer]

Lets say you have a completely sealed growroom and have co2 setup to where you exhaust the room a certain amount of times a day and goes through a carbon scrubber on exit...

then you have a portable a/c unit inside the unit, when the heat goes out the exhaust tube does that also mean the smell will leake out the grow box as well??

im guessing it will because its using the air inside the growbox as intake? i know i see some portables have carbon scrubbers built in for spores and mold, i dont know how well they have them set up tho

 

[BCboy]

My home made portable a/c

My home made portable a/c

It seems to work well. I should have used insulated duct for the exhaust though.

 

[WidespreadHigh]

Good Ol Grower Ingenuity

Good Ol Grower Ingenuity

What an education.....I am a bit bummed to think that even if I spend the minimal $327 to get the COSTCO portable....(great suggestion, cheapest I have seen, and I am a member) I will still have hot air to get rid of, Ghetto Tech style, so why not just save the money, and go ghetto tech style. If only my lady, who after all owns the house, agreed with ghetto tech, and the occasional electric shocks i get when I utilize ghetto technology. She has overuled my ghetto tech approach on lights and carbon scrubbers, and just paid for the upgraded stufff. Nice, but no guts, no glory.

Any other brilliant ideas for home made portable ac? you guys are geniuses, and if only you were in the neighborhood....my gratitude is often reflected in clones. But that is not an offer to distribute, LEO so bite me.

 

[BCboy]

I actually would have perfered to get a regular portable a/c but I am going to be using a environmental controller to control the a/c. I haven't been able to find a portable 2 hose that would reset after the power had been cut and restored to the unit... thus the getto tech lol

 

[mrwags]

So like use an electric drier tube around a smaller exhaust tube?

Each portable a/c has an exhaust tube to exit the heat made by the condensor,mine like most got HOT as hell and yes EXACTLY like you said used some old tubing to encase this tube inside another tube to trap the heat. In a larger room this might not be necessary but mine is like 8x20 and doing this dropped the room temps by 10 degree's yes that tube gets freakin hot,you might not notice the diffrence until the following day when the room has cooled off and the hot cycle starts again where as the room temps will not get near as high compared to an unshielded heat producing tube.


Mr.Wags