Air conditioning died....portable air unit ?

[dreamin_disney]

Our air conditioning died last Wednesday. We had someone come out on Friday to look at it. He called around to find the motor but he waited an hour and no call backs and he had another job. He said thy might have to order from manufacture. We stayed in a hotel sat-sun. Called the company today to see whats going on and the worker who looked at our air is suppose to call us back . 3 hours later and still no call.

I read online about portable air conditioners and was wondering if anyone has one and what you think. I told hubby if its going to take a few more days then maybe we should look into one. It 99* here and we have our ceiling fans and plug in fans going.

 

[Alesia]

Just go to walmart or any home improvement store and buy a couple of cheap window units. It'll probably cost you about what you spent on the hotel.

You can sell them after you get your central air fixed and recoup some of your money

 

[kymom99]

I would call another company

 

[LYSE]

Yup get some window units and hide in those rooms.

 

[neatokimmo]

The portable units push out an incredible amount of heat in the bottom part, you still have to vent it. You could accomplish the same output with a small window unit and a fan to push it through the house.

 

[dreamin_disney]

I would call another company

Hubby called the place where we bought our unit and they even aid for the type of motor we are looking for we might have to call the manufacture. We've had our unit for 11 years

 

[dreamin_disney]

The portable units push out an incredible amount of heat in the bottom part, you still have to vent it. You could accomplish the same output with a small window unit and a fan to push it through the house.

Thank for that info

 

[dreamin_disney]

how do the window units work if windows open side to side (right to left). We will have a big gap above the unit

 

[scard192]

how do the window units work if windows open side to side (right to left). We will have a big gap above the unit

I use a piece of plexi glass to hold the AC unit in place and cover the "gap". not as easy as windows that open bottom to top.

 

[Alesia]

I use a piece of plexi glass to hold the AC unit in place and cover the "gap". not as easy as windows that open bottom to top.

I would probably use a piece of foam insulation.

They may actually make something for that specific purpose. I would check at the home improvement store

 

[manning]

Just go to walmart or any home improvement store and buy a couple of cheap window units. It'll probably cost you about what you spent on the hotel.

You can sell them after you get your central air fixed and recoup some of your money

You want to blow the air out. This will suck air in from all windows.

 

[dreamin_disney]

DH talked to the air guy and was told he cant find the motor. Next thing I know, Dh is taking the motor out of the unit to get the info. He said he was going to take it and see if another business can find the motor. I'm like well what the heck is the air guy gonna do just give up? What other options do we have?

Dh goes to another business and the guy said he will try seeing if he can find it because they don't sell parts there. If he finds it he would have to come and look at it and he's have to put it in. Dh told him that's fine we just need it to be found and we will pay him to put it in. Hopefully we hear back tomorrow. I guess if they don't find it we will have to see what they can do. Its the part in the house the motor. I hope they figure it out and I'm sure it will cost us a lot.

 

[kymom99]

I hope they find it and get it fixed quickly. Ours took a week but they were able to get ours somewhat working in the meantime. Lucky for us because it was in the 90s every day. We had lots of people offering us a place to stay but fortunately it wasn't necessary.

 

[pixiegoose]

They do make window units for windows that open/close vertically (as opposed to the more traditional horizontally) but they’re not easy to find. Your easiest option will be to just get a few portable units, as only the vent goes in the window and it can be positioned vertically or horizontally. And they’re much easier to un/install so you can move them around as needed. And any unit, window or portable, will work best if you can close off the room it’s meant to be cooling. For our bedrooms (with window units), that’s easy, just shut the door. For our living room (portable unit), we had to get creative and hang fabric shower curtains on shower curtain rods in the doorways to keep the cool air in.

When the thermostat in the hallway gets up to 82-85, we’ll run the ac’s in all rooms with doors closed for awhile and then open them all and use fans to move the cool air to the main living space to get the temperature down a bit. We can usually get it down to 78. I’m just happy I talked DH into a window unit for the kitchen this year (bought on clearance last year as a replacement for our odd’s room but it was too big (by about half inch!) for her window) because cooking in the summer with no ac is miserable.

 

[dreamin_disney]

I hope they find it and get it fixed quickly. Ours took a week but they were able to get ours somewhat working in the meantime. Lucky for us because it was in the 90s every day. We had lots of people offering us a place to stay but fortunately it wasn't necessary.

We haven't said anything to family. Plus we don't want to impose. Hubby is working nights so sleeps during the day. DD is off from college and I'm off for the summer so we are home all day. We spent two night in a hotel and thought our air guy would say he found the part and ready to fix. I was tempted to spend another 2 night but decided to try sticking it out.

 

[kristenrice]

Our central air died last summer and, due to a series of unfortunate events, our budget priorities do not include replacing or repairing it at this point. When we were forecasted for a heat index of 110, I knew that our dogs would probably not survive if we didn't do something. The fans in the house were making it tolerable (not comfortable, but tolerable) for us up until that point, but that was too much.

We also have sliding windows and worried about how we would install a window unit or vent a portable unit. We finally decided on this unit from Sam's Club...
https://www.samsclub.com/sams/12k-portable-ac-inclub-980097924/prod22260007.ip?xid=plp_product_1_1
It came with 2 inserts that fit in the "gap" in the window but our window was actually about 5" taller which left a gap about 5" x 3". It was very easy to simply seal that gap with duct tape.

(The unit is sitting on a small table, not on the floor. Since our ceilings are so high, we wanted to elevate it to maximize the circulation. We do not have a ceiling fan in this room, but we do have ones in the kitchen and living room. If you have a ceiling fan, you probably would not want to elevate the unit since the ceiling fans would draw the cool air upward.)

It has performed beyond my expectations. I wish we had bought one last year when our A/C died. We have all East/West windows in our house so it can heat up very quickly once the sun comes up and takes a while to cool down in the evening.

We have a "great room" (living room/family room/kitchen) so it's impossible to block it off and isolate a particular area. We set this up in our front room and we have a large fan that blows down the hallways towards the bedrooms. When the peak of the heat wave came through, we "camped out" in the living room because the cool air didn't quite make it down to the bedrooms. That lasted only two nights. Since then, we've had day time temps ranging from the mid-80's to near 100 (we've had it about 2 weeks now) and this unit has been a blessing! It is still "hot" in our house...about 79-82 degrees...but we are comfortable with running a fan or two along with the portable A/C. Once we get our first electric bill after using this new unit, we may consider buying a second one to put in our bedroom. That way, we can "isolate" the hallway and bedrooms and maybe keep them cooler without having to run all of the fans.

 

[Anthony1971]

I would buy a Portable as above... They work well we have used them in our office when they central AC was having a lot of issues I would not say they cooled the place well but it made it better... I personally always keep a window unit in case my central ac goes out... I have lent it out twice so far to neighbors it is worth the investment.. you can get the portable units for the low 2's and sometimes a little less.

 

[dreamin_disney]

Our central air died last summer and, due to a series of unfortunate events, our budget priorities do not include replacing or repairing it at this point. When we were forecasted for a heat index of 110, I knew that our dogs would probably not survive if we didn't do something. The fans in the house were making it tolerable (not comfortable, but tolerable) for us up until that point, but that was too much.

We also have sliding windows and worried about how we would install a window unit or vent a portable unit. We finally decided on this unit from Sam's Club...
https://www.samsclub.com/sams/12k-portable-ac-inclub-980097924/prod22260007.ip?xid=plp_product_1_1
It came with 2 inserts that fit in the "gap" in the window but our window was actually about 5" taller which left a gap about 5" x 3". It was very easy to simply seal that gap with duct tape.
View attachment 335980
(The unit is sitting on a small table, not on the floor. Since our ceilings are so high, we wanted to elevate it to maximize the circulation. We do not have a ceiling fan in this room, but we do have ones in the kitchen and living room. If you have a ceiling fan, you probably would not want to elevate the unit since the ceiling fans would draw the cool air upward.)

It has performed beyond my expectations. I wish we had bought one last year when our A/C died. We have all East/West windows in our house so it can heat up very quickly once the sun comes up and takes a while to cool down in the evening.

We have a "great room" (living room/family room/kitchen) so it's impossible to block it off and isolate a particular area. We set this up in our front room and we have a large fan that blows down the hallways towards the bedrooms. When the peak of the heat wave came through, we "camped out" in the living room because the cool air didn't quite make it down to the bedrooms. That lasted only two nights. Since then, we've had day time temps ranging from the mid-80's to near 100 (we've had it about 2 weeks now) and this unit has been a blessing! It is still "hot" in our house...about 79-82 degrees...but we are comfortable with running a fan or two along with the portable A/C. Once we get our first electric bill after using this new unit, we may consider buying a second one to put in our bedroom. That way, we can "isolate" the hallway and bedrooms and maybe keep them cooler without having to run all of the fans.

I was looking at those but was c=confused how how to vent it out. I didn't realize it has the gap inserts.
We have a house fan and we can use that as long as there isnt any fires in the area. We used the house used last night and put this fan infront of the window and it worked great.
https://www.samsclub.com/sams/pivoting-utlity-fan/prod8670795.ip?xid=plp_product_1_2
Our main issue is through the day. We have ceiling fans and standing fans but after a certain time it starts to blow hot air. Dh is going to call and see if 2nd air co found the motor or whats the next step to fix it even if we need to change out something. DH said a friend has a unit sounds like the one in the link you posted. He said we can borrow it

I would buy a Portable as above... They work well we have used them in our office when they central AC was having a lot of issues I would not say they cooled the place well but it made it better... I personally always keep a window unit in case my central ac goes out... I have lent it out twice so far to neighbors it is worth the investment.. you can get the portable units for the low 2's and sometimes a little less.

A window unit woulnt be bad to have incase of emergency. Our house fan cant be used if there any fire even if in the next town I have asthma and I will feel it.

This summer we didn't do much since DD is hoe from college and taking 3 summer school classes. I've been good staying on summer budget and the darn air goes out and blows my budget. Luckily I have money saved but image those that don't. I'm so grateful I don't have any small kids or this would be even worse

 

[seashoreCM]

There is an inherent inefficiency with portable air conditioners with a single exhause hose.

Room air is needed to carry off the heat generated in the bottom of the A/C unit and makeup air must come from an open window elsewhere in the house. While, yes, superheated air is exhausted for a net decrease of heat inside the house, there is more introduction of new outside hot air compared with a window unit or a (rare) two hose portable unit or a central A/C with separate inside and outside units connected by tubing.

 

[kristenrice]

I came home from work today...drove home in my UN-air-conditioned car...sweltering....

...it's 92 outside and I was afraid the house was going to be about 86...

I was welcomed with a temperature of only 82 degrees in the house which is perfectly tolerable for us I had the portable unit set on "Real Feel" which is not a continuous run setting. It alternates the dehumidifier, A/C and fan to keep it in a "comfortable" range...and it worked great!