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In this video i am going to explain how to increase the efficiency of a single hose indoor
portable ac.
Some consumers may try saving a few bucks buying a single hose indoor portable AC instead
of a dual hose one. This savings comes with some problem and that is a lower efficiency
in cooling your home. This translates to using more electricity and end up costing a consumer
more down the road.
So, first let me explain why a single hose AC has a low efficiency. in this diagram,
there is a house and there is a more traditional window mount AC unit mounted on a window.
There are two parts inside the AC unit, the cooling part and a heating part. The cooling
part cools the indoor air. The heating part heats up the outdoor air. In general, indoor
air remains indoor, and outdoor air remains outdoor all the time during operation. That's
how the indoor air gets cooler and cooler as the AC unit runs.
Now if this house uses a single hose indoor portable AC. The entire AC unit sits indoor
as shown in this picture. Both the heating and cooling portions of this AC unit work
the same way as a window unit. The cooling section takes warmer indoor air and turns
it into cooler air. The heating section pushes hot air outdoor. But there is a problem, because
there is only a single hose to push air outside. The heater cannot take outdoor air to produce
hot air. The only air available to use is the indoor air. This is a big problem. Problem
number 1: the indoor air that is consumed by the heating section is already cooled air.
Electricity was spent to cool this air. It is a total waste to push it away from the
house. Also letting cool air out means the indoor temperature would not go down as quick
as it should be.
And this is actually not enough, there is problem number 2. As the indoor cold air is
pushed to the outdoor, some air would leak back into the house. This happens or otherwise
the house would run out of air and become vacuum, which is not possible. With all the
air leak from the outdoor to the indoor while the AC is running, it is like running a AC
unit with windows opened! i am sure everyone has an experience what happens if you don't
close the window with the AC on. It takes forever to cool a room! To me the idea of
a single hose indoor AC is just a waste of electricity. Unless you sit in front of the
AC unit itself, there is practically no cooling at all from my experience.
Now we know the problems with single hose indoor portable ac. What is the solution?
Well, the simplest solution is simply do not buy it! Buy a dual hose model instead. Let
me show you quickly in another diagram why a dual hose model is much better. The difference
between this diagram and the previous one is the extra hose that brings outdoor air
into the heating section of the AC. With this extra hose, there is no need to push indoor
air to the outdoor to produce heated air. outdoor air comes in to the heater and it
turns around back to the outside along the two hoses. So there is no loss of cooled indoor
air, and there is no air leaking into the room from the outside.
If you are like me who already has a single hose indoor portable ac. you may convert it
into a dual hose. I think it all depends on the model of the unit, mine was easily converted
from single into a dual hose. Here is what I used:
1. plastic hoses: the same hoses we use in dryers
2. a paper box 3. Duct tape
4. A piece of wood for mounting the new hose on a window frame
5. pieces of insulation 6. plastic bags
First i took the piece of wood and cut two holes in it. I did the same to the cardboard.
I planned to use two hoses instead of one because i wanted to make sure the new intake
hoses allow more air than the AC unit can push through the exhaust hose. IN other words,
the cross section areas of the exhaust must be smaller than the combined cross section
area of the intake hoses. That's why I used two intake hoses.
Next I fit the intake hoses through the board. I connect the other end of the intake hose
to the cardboard box. Because cardboard is air permeable, I wrap a layer of
plastic on top of box.
I was lucky the back of my AC unit was flat. I simply cover the AC intake opening with
my cardboard box and my job was done. I made the box more stable with some elastic bands.
The reason I suggest using a paper box is because a paper box can be trimmed to any
shape that fits onto your AC unit.
In order to further improve overall efficiency. I wrap the exhaust hose with some insulation
material. This is because the exhaust hose is hot during operation. I want to avoid as
much heat as possible in the house.
This is all I have done to increase my AC unit efficiency. Thank you for watching.