Window Air Conditioner to Portable AC Convert?

[Lilstinky420]

Has anyone ever done it? The cheapest portable ac i can find new is like 300 bucks and window ac like 75-- but on craigslist i can get window ac for like 5 to 10 bucks so im up for the project. I don't wanna spend any money except possibly on ducting and a duct booster maybe. I have plenty of big rubbermaid tubs around the place i could use for drainage and duct tape and card board galore. I'm not even all too sure how window units work, but couldnt i form a box around the exhaust and vent it into attic and run the drainage into a big rubbermaid tub somehow? Is the exhaust on the ac sufficient to vent itself into teh attic or am i gonna need another duct booster? Can it even be done lol? Thx much, I got a 3x4 space with 1000 watt hps i need to cool off that runs from 82 to 88 atm. I do not have money for a real fan atm for exhaust so im using a 165cfm 6inch duct booster, I figure if i can cool it down about 10 more degrees with an ac i can skip on the real fan since the room ventilation is already pretty good.

 

[Lilstinky420]

No thoughts yet huh hehe? Well i went ahead and got the 5$ ac lol, it works suprisingly well , really cold. I have to clean it, found some creature in/on it that looked like it came from the moon. It has a vent switch on that lets me turn it too off or exhaust. I seems to exhaust straight outta the back and take in air from the sides because i cannot feel hot air from them. I plan to build a box around the back of it and run it into my attic. The air blowing outta the the back has some force but not much, it only has to travel straight up but i might put a fan there if it doesnt blow out of there. I will have pics to come.

Ok, the box im gonna build that around the backside of it, and try to cool it off with this- This fan is rated at 150cfm and it's ball bearing, the tricky part is finding a 12v dc 1.8 amp charger for it to work full speed. I have a 12volt 750amp running on it now and it's not really enough. I know ive heard this thing tear it up before, it used to sound like a lawn mower. Any idea's on finding a cheap ac/dc charger cord besides forking over money at radio shack?

 

[Lilstinky420]

Still no chiming in huh hehe? Well after some thinking I wanted to do this as cheap as possible first to see if it works, I built a box around the back of the AC exhaust that im gonna slide to the very back so that it does not get in the way of the drainage hopefully. Im hoping this unit drains out of the bottom and not the back. It's gonna sit on top of like a 30 gallon rubbermaid tub to catch the water once i figure out where the water likes to come out. Im gonna attempt to use this fan which is underpowred because i could not find the right dc amperage/volt for it but it only has to exhaust a cubic foot or so and put it staight up about 8 feet. It is also being helped by the fan of the as so i hope it is enough. Here's a pic, gonna run it tonight maybe and rig up the exhaust to attic prolly tommorow.

Allright, so i tested the box out kinda and i ended up putting the 750millamp charger on there instead of the 2amp one, my fan is rated at 1.8amps - These fans i guess have a built in thermometer and i thought this fan just sucked ballz till the hot air from the ac hit it and it kicked in turbo with only 750millamps. I'd say at least 120cfm, it creates more of a gust than my 6inch duct booster rated at 165free flow cfm. The only thing im worried about is it running full speed most of the time since the ac exhaust will always be hot. I also am debating scrapping the whole thing since i put it in my grow room and it takes up more space than my grow area, making me wonder if it's even worth having since im only down 5$ and 10$ on ducting that i can return or use later. If i can figure a way to use it and get more grow room i might keep it.

 

[Hackk]

ok, here it goes for my very first post. I was planning on getting a journal going, but I came upon a little problem myself, that identically relates to your situation...

So Im gonna throw up some pictures of the setup I have going, and maybe we can brainstorm together on this one. Now let me just figure out how to post pictures...

 

[Racefan]

The problem your going to have is exhausting the heat from the window unit. Into the attic might not be the best bet because with that heat there will be a ton of moisture. Plus your going to have water dripping somewhere from it. AC's work as dehumidifyers too you know? They collect that water from the air into the bottom of the unit. The unit is designed to be run with a slight backwards tilt. If it was in the window the moisture would collect in the bottom tray and the tilt would direct the water to drain outside to the ground through a small hose outlet on the tray lip. I have a portable for my room and it has a hose that goes out the window with a super small hose inside the bigger one that hooks to a water pump built into the bottom of the AC. On the end of the water line is a atomiser and it is atomised and dries in the AC exhaust.

 

[Hackk]

first off racefan, I admire your work, so your advice is absorbed with ease.
Now to explain the pictures, It's late, so Ill resize tomorrow, but for now, my photobucket will have to do.
Most of these photos was taken a week ago, so there has been quite a bit of growth since then, both plant wise, and setup. Biggest change was the switch to a mh conversion. So to explain the photos, and hopefully get a bit of advice. My biggest problem has been the pressure build up of the exhaust out the back of the A/C unit. I have changed the setup bit by bit to see what improves, and so far I have had very little luck. Once the back pressure builds up, the unit shuts down the cooling compressor due to overheating. In the following pictures, you can see my progression of one jimmy-rigged idea to the next...

1) first picture is the basic setup, since that was taken I have turned it into a zippered flap. That has been the only change as far as the front is concerned. If you see the little circular fan on the ground, that was my "thermostat" until I eventually purchased one. I controlled the temp by how much COLD air I sucked out of the space since the a/c was constantly on, by moving the fan closer or farther away from the a/c port. And of course, Im running the MH now, so its not the hps you see here

2) The box sticking into the right wall is the duct going from the a/c unit, other than that, the temp probe is now at plant top level and the light is closer to the plants (6-8" to the plants) I lowered it once I got a replacement glass.

3) The upper view of the A/C exhaust coming from two ports into a Y-fitting and out the closet to the window

This is where it gets tricky... I first temporarily used a trash bag as the fitting to the unit, and connected a single hose and aimed it straight out my bedroom door with only a few twists and kinks, but mainly straight (this method caused too much backup, and it overheated) I then connected a second hose, joined them with the Y-fitting, aimed it the same direction and it worked fine. Feeling confident with the setup, is when I led the ducts up and above the grow space which can be seen in the first and third picture. But unfortunately, this caused too much back pressure so just took off the hoses temporarily until I came up with a better plan (that is why you just see a corner of the bag cut open, the hose was originally connected to that hole)

and finally, that leads us to my "better plan". I basically put together a wood frame and lined it with left over panda film. I figured that maybe the angle of the frame would help force the exhausted air up and out. But once it was all hooked up, it began to overheat once again. The air coming out of the very end of the ducts is maybe 30% of the force compared to the force coming straight out of the holes when the ducts are not connected. So that where the idea of a duct booster fan come into play, if the consensus feels I need one.

I hope I explained my situation to be understood clearly. And lilstinky, Im sure you will face the same problems that I have. So lets all brainstorm and get all the work I put into this to not feel like a complete waste of my time.

Thanks!

P.S. any other advice about the plants in general you can think of would be awesome too. Ill take more pictures tomorrow once the girls wake up

 

[Hackk]

no opinions people?

 

[Lilstinky420]

Heya guys, thx much for the replies. I managed to get my AC in the closet and ran the duct to the attic with 6inch ducting and 6inch duct booster at 165cfm. I ripped it off of my cooltube, so my 1000 watt bulb is not being vented in anyway in a 3x4 room, but i am still managing to keep it 76-78 degrees at almost all times except when lights first come on. So my temperature is perfect , something ive been struggling with the past 3 or 4 go arounds, so i feel like ive accomplished something. I can keep the door shut and not have to worry about it getting to hot.

The AC unit itself has not dripped any water yet. Ive had it running for about 6 days now and there is not a single sign of water run off anywhere around the uniit that i can see. I guess it's all being evaporated into my attic which sucks because it's not very well ventilated. I was thinking i can run the ducting about 8 more feet to one of the only passive vents in the attic. Ive got a 6inch duct booster and the first 8 feet are straight up so im thinking it will be enough to get it to the vent. It is better than mold for sure.

I will include pics shortly-
How are the privacy policies with pictures, grow reports, account info ect nowadays?

 

[bizzlefoh20]

Hey stank, so even tho me and my girlfriend are potheads, this isnt about pot, its about the portable ac. We live in a hot stuffy basement appt and the windows are too small to fit an air conditioner so i came up with the idea of converting the window ac we got to an indoor one, and i came across your thread and its basicly what i thought of doing. Wut i wanna ask is if its still working good and if you have anymore pics or tips or anything, im going to attempt this project over the weekend so hopefully we got cool air goin. funny how us potheads had to come up with this idea huhh lol. Thanx

 

[Hackk]

I'll chime in on this one

I also did a similar setup as you can see in the pictures above. The main question I have to ask, are you planning just making a smaller a/c rear to fit the window better, or are you going to duct it? Because I finally remedied my heat exhausting problems, its over kill, but it works until this grow is finished. I hooked up an 8" 747cfm vortex fan to the ducting to pull/push the air out of the a/c. The a/c unit doesnt have the power to vent with a high static pressure, thats why it kept over heating. Since the vortex, hasnt happened since. Personally, I wouldnt trust the smaller 6" booster fans if you are going to be runing duct more than 10feet. When I have my vortex at 80% power, I can still feel a little air being pushed through the seams of the port box, at 90% I can finally trust its removing ALL the exhaust.

hope this helps

 

[italianfudge]

OMG I need this THREAD ++++ Rep for starting it, no one has responded to mine that I have made and TONS of home work has gotten me minimal answers. I to have built one for my AC and it runs for minutes then starts blowing luke warm air out ? I would love to get responses from Hack and Lilstinky420 being there at problems 101 as I myself am. Just steps away. Here is some 411.....

There is a maybe two inch gap for the top vent to move air to the back of the box to be vented by the 6 " hole. The back of the box is about 4 inches from the back vents. the only vent that is covered by wood is the right hand one in the pic which is similar to the top vents by the way. I have one 6 inch exhaust that I have tried running everywhere and now currently going out of the tent.

Its blowing air out but not cool air. Its like surrounding air warm. I have sealed the box with silicone and even put a blanket over the back to insulate. I am clueless at this point. Do I need to make another exhaust is that a big factor ? I have one top back corner.

Pleeeease help its hot in there !

 

[Hackk]

Italian, I read and reread your description, but Im having a VERY hard time picturing what you are describing. Can you take pictures? It would help a LOT! Im happy to help you work out your issue, I just need to understand it a bit better.

 

[chillen7]

were those clones ????wow ???different strains can handle a little heat /But I also had heat problems this last week !!~~I used a a.c and a clip on front 2 vent all my air 2 the right spot via ducking /also ran my ducting 4 hot air into my heater /air vents ??!!~~also b-4 i just had fans I was lucky 2 have a window 2 draw cool air from !! good luck !~~*

 

[italianfudge]

I got it figured out yay !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[italianfudge]

Its gravy baby lol. I trial and tribulated and have a "self" cooling portable system me and the homie made my current grow Herijuana and Basic Beer

 

[portableac7]

ok, here it goes for my very first post. I was planning on getting a journal going, but I came upon a little problem myself, that identically relates to your situation...

So Im gonna throw up some pictures of the setup I have going, and maybe we can brainstorm together on this one. Now let me just figure out how to post pictures...

I have similar opinion.......newbie here

 

[ArcH420]

2 words, FIRE HAZARD!!! get some $5 smoke detectors too!! smoke the stuff dude, dont let it smoke you. these are the grow rooms that catch fire and bring "indoor" growing a bad name, and needless to say, possibly kill someone!!!

if that unit went out of control, your place would be history in about 4 minutes. more air, more fire, more smoke. dont think for one second you could unplug it, that mess would be out of control before you even had a chance.

sorry, im not trying to bash a "self-reliant,intelligent,crafty" person, i am one myself. i use, reuse, and modify just about everything, lol.

seriously, rethink your setup.

 

[budlydoright]

You guys need to check out this post. Here's how it'a done safely, effectivle and best of all on the cheap!

Window AC conversion for an enclosed space

 

[slimbrady]

wrong topic soz