BYC Café

[Shadrach]

Good afternoon Cafe.
Thanks for the coffee DL. It's been get out and get as much done as I can before it gets too hot. Today that's meant a trip into the nearest town. Seriously, this place is a linguistic mess if you're not born here and can speak at least 3 of the languages.
I've just had a conversation in a Post Office with a very helpful guy who was trying to explain to me what details I need to use the Western Union money transfer service there. I had tried with one of the staff. They would only speak Spanish to me. I know they speak Catalan. It's a politics thing.

The helpful guy was North African. He spoke a bit of Spanish/Catalan/English/Dutch all mixed together.

 

[aart]

Boy is she pissed!

Madder than a wet hen!

 

[aart]

Hitting on the collective mind here....
Anyone have any experience with a portable Air Conditioner?
The kind that sits on the floor inside and has exhaust hose thru window?

Biggest I've found is 12kBTU, say up to 350sqft and I have 700.
Open floor plan is a huge concern,
not to mention the open stairway to lower level and hallway to bedrooms off the 700sqft main living area.
Afraid it would be a waste of money,
both in outlay(~$500) and power consumption.
Not sure it's worth it to drop the temp 10°.
Sigh.

 

[ronott1]

Good afternoon Cafe.
Thanks for the coffee DL. It's been get out and get as much done as I can before it gets too hot. Today that's meant a trip into the nearest town. Seriously, this place is a linguistic mess if you're not born here and can speak at least 3 of the languages.
I've just had a conversation in a Post Office with a very helpful guy who was trying to explain to me what details I need to use the Western Union money transfer service there. I had tried with one of the staff. They would only speak Spanish to me. I know they speak Catalan. It's a politics thing.View attachment 2232796
The helpful guy was North African. He spoke a bit of Spanish/Catalan/English/Dutch all mixed together.

Thank goodness for the North African Guy!

 

[ronott1]

Hitting on the collective mind here....
Anyone have any experience with a portable Air Conditioner?
The kind that sits on the floor inside and has exhaust hose thru window?

Biggest I've found is 12kBTU, say up to 350sqft and I have 700.
Open floor plan is a huge concern,
not to mention the open stairway to lower level and hallway to bedrooms off the 700sqft main living area.
Afraid it would be a waste of money,
both in outlay(~$500) and power consumption.
Not sure it's worth it to drop the temp 10°.
Sigh.
View attachment 2232810

We used one in a two car garage and it did help

 

[bruceha2000]

Anyone have any experience with a portable Air Conditioner?
The kind that sits on the floor inside and has exhaust hose thru window?

Yeah we had one of those. Issues:

1. It pulled air from the room and blew it out the window. The plastic hose going out the window was HOT. So not a lot of gain when you pull heat out of the inside air then put a quantity of it back in with radiation before it gets outside.
2. Blowing air out of the house creates a vacuum thus outside air is pulled into the house from whatever openings exist. And even if tiny they do exist or your house would collapse. OK, the A/C unit wouldn't have that much power but if the structure WAS airtight, the A/C unit would fail since it couldn't blow the air out.
3. It had a tray for the condensate that I swear didn't hold but MAYBE a cup. And it was a REALLY shallow tray just above the floor that you spilled half out of it trying to get it to the sink to dump.

Thus my review, at least of the one we had (and how different are they? it wasn't cheap) is it was a waste of money both in purchase and to run and was a big source of frustration with no actual benefit.

My guess is you would be better off with a dehumidifier. The air will be more comfortable because it will be less humid even if the temp doesn't go down.

 

[bruceha2000]

Maybe this will be a great way to break them.

Tough breaking them when we are going into yet another heat wave!

I had tried with one of the staff. They would only speak Spanish to me. I know they speak Catalan. It's a politics thing.

Politics because the P.O. employees work for the National Government? I thought "NO CATALAN" went when Franco did. I know that my aunt and her brother and sister grew up (Barcelona) not being able to speak Catalan outside the house and even in the house was potentially dangerous. She and my uncle got married and she moved to So. Cal in 1962 so she didn't have to suffer under Franco as long as the rest.

 

[aart]

Yeah we had one of those. Issues:

1. It pulled air from the room and blew it out the window. The plastic hose going out the window was HOT. So not a lot of gain when you pull heat out of the inside air then put a quantity of it back in with radiation before it gets outside.
2. Blowing air out of the house creates a vacuum thus outside air is pulled into the house from whatever openings exist. And even if tiny they do exist or your house would collapse. OK, the A/C unit wouldn't have that much power but if the structure WAS airtight, the A/C unit would fail since it couldn't blow the air out.
3. It had a tray for the condensate that I swear didn't hold but MAYBE a cup. And it was a REALLY shallow tray just above the floor that you spilled half out of it trying to get it to the sink to dump.

Thus my review, at least of the one we had (and how different are they? it wasn't cheap) is it was a waste of money both in purchase and to run and was a big source of frustration with no actual benefit.

My guess is you would be better off with a dehumidifier. The air will be more comfortable because it will be less humid even if the temp doesn't go down.

Nicely laid out cons, thanks....all I've thought of.

Makeup air..."And even if tiny they do exist or your house would collapse. "

Have seen a couple in the past that had both exhaust and intake hoses...which were really so close together as to be ridiculous.

Have considered a dehumidifier too. Wish I could borrow one to experiment.

 

[DobieLover]

Nicely laid out cons, thanks....all I've thought of.

Makeup air..."And even if tiny they do exist or your house would collapse. "

Have seen a couple in the past that had both exhaust and intake hoses...which were really so close together as to be ridiculous.

Have considered a dehumidifier too. Wish I could borrow one to experiment.

I used one but jury rigged it to avoid most of the cons Bruce mentioned and it DID help keep the house comfortable. I used it when marketing 3 flips so they were comfortable during heat waves.
I elevated it on a platform and fed the condensate line into a condensate pump that went out the window through a hole I drilled through the vent plate that holds the exhaust tube in the window.
Sealed around the tube.
Bought a condensate pump off Amazon for less than $30.
I wrapped the exhaust vent in insulation and then a bunch of fabric to minimize the heat coming off it.
I liked it. I bought an older used unit for $200 and it finally bit the dust 2 years ago.

 

[Shadrach]

Tough breaking them when we are going into yet another heat wave!


Politics because the P.O. employees work for the National Government? I thought "NO CATALAN" went when Franco did. I know that my aunt and her brother and sister grew up (Barcelona) not being able to speak Catalan outside the house and even in the house was potentially dangerous. She and my uncle got married and she moved to So. Cal in 1962 so she didn't have to suffer under Franco as long as the rest.

I don't know. I think he just spoke Spanish which is fine, it's the National language.