Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[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.

 

[Folly's place]

Here we have hot water heat, so no ducts, and having whole house air conditioning was going to be very expensive, because of that. We also have casement windows, so window units were out. So instead we have two wall units, one that manages the dining room, kitchen, and living room, and another one in the master bedroom, that does the back of the house. They can be much heavier duty than those movable units, and work well.
Look those up before buying the above.
Mary

 

[aart]

Here we have hot water heat, so no ducts, and having whole house air conditioning was going to be very expensive, because of that. We also have casement windows, so window units were out. So instead we have two wall units, one that manages the dining room, kitchen, and living room, and another one in the master bedroom, that does the back of the house. They can be much heavier duty than those movable units, and work well.
Look those up before buying the above.
Mary

Yep, same situation here, hot water heat and slider windows.
Yeah, have thought about cutting a hole in the wall for a 'window' unit but that's major construction and I have so many windows there's very little wall space left.
Am a bit surprised the portables cover so little area.

 

[snowflake]

Hello. Mom died on Monday last, my B-Day was Friday. Had a bunch of baby goats born the same week. Hotter than Hades here but doing farming anyway. Would love to sit for RaZ but that's all the way on the other side. About it. Peace out!

sympathy's , sorry about your mom.

 

[RaZ]

Yep, same situation here, hot water heat and slider windows.
Yeah, have thought about cutting a hole in the wall for a 'window' unit but that's major construction and I have so many windows there's very little wall space left.
Am a bit surprised the portables cover so little area.

There was one of those portable units in this house when I got my first walk through. It was in the living room. It took up a lot of space and was ugly to see. I don't know how well it worked. It did remind of a job I worked that had one. The only cooling that one did was right in front of the unit. The office was barely below the ambient. Plus the drone of it operating was annoying.

Can you do a window unit in your bedroom?

This house I have now doesn't have A/C. It is pretty shaded though. Currently it's 84 degrees outside and inside it is 79 with 68% humidity. I rely on ceiling fans and a box fan in the hallway to move the air. I do have a window unit I could use in the bedroom but I don't like the noise or the increase in my electric bill.

I hope you find a solution that works for you. Geothermal perhaps?

 

[chickflick]

I don't know what I'd do without AC! I can't stand the humidity! It's so bad outside!

 

[Folly's place]

As we've gotten
more mature', our tolerance for high heat has gone down, way down. AC feels really good!
Mary

 

[aart]

Will just have to live with the heat and humidity.
Have occasionally explored all the various options over the last 20 years.
None are really effective in this house.
Used to have a window unit in bedroom, was necessary when I was working.
Hated the noise too....and one room cooled only makes the others feel terrible,
can't live in one room.
And most years the heat waves were of much shorter duration than this year,
wasn't worth dealing with the installation for only a few unbearable nights.
Only reason(mostly) I'm looking now is I am being pushed to do so by others, even tho I know it won't work out.

 

[1muttsfan]

My house is well insulated with good windows, so we keep it closed up during the day with ceiling fans running, and open it up at night to cool back down. It stays around 10 degrees cooler inside than out, and with the fans running is it comfortable. I know it sounds counter-intuitive to seal the house during the day, but it keeps the hot, humid air on the outside. I don't think that would work in a house that was not very well insulated.

I remember watching some of those home redesign shows where a design team comes in and redoes a home in 2 days. One of the things they ALWAYS did was remove the ceiling fans. Which I would NEVER have allowed, they are amazing at keeping you more comfortable in the summer, and even in the winter if you have very high ceilings.

 

[1muttsfan]

I would rather have a wall unit than a window unit, if I was to have Air and not a central unit. If installed properly, they fit the space much better and leak less cold air in the winter, and are not clogging up a window.