Condo Air conditioner advice

[Jayems]

Howdy folks.

Story is as follows:

Fiancee's condo is hot. Very hot. Regardless of the season of year, it's always feels about 35c in the condo. In the winter, because of radiator heating, the place gets stinkin hot, even if you only tell it to be on 10c. In order to have it warm in the main room, it has to sit at about 15c on the thermometer. But that means it's 2x as warm in the bedroom for some reason.

In summer with the thermometer off, it's crazy hot in that place, even with two fans in the bedroom.

Our dog can't sleep at night, even with shaving all his fur off and blasting all the fans we can.

We need an air conditioner ASAP. My fiancee told me that someone told her there are hook ups in the room for an AC unit, although I've never looked to see exactly what the hook-ups are, if any (never owned an AC before). Freon supply? I have no idea.

Anyway, we're looking for something to turn on sporadically throughout the day to cool at least the bedroom down.

Does anyone know where we can find or can recommend a good AC unit that IS NOT FITTED THROUGH THE WINDOW. The windows in the condo only open about an inch, so that's not an option.

Is there such thing as a timer AC unit? We don't want it running all day to keep costs down, but we'd like to be able to tell it to automatically turn on at 12 p.m. and off at 1 or something to cool the room down for the dog while we're away.

Sorry for the big, long story.

[Bagor]

Something like this?

http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/s...k=P_PartNumber

...dependent on getting the hose out the window. Maybe you could rig it up so that the hose could be tapered down to 1" diameter?

[RT14]

I don't understand why these aren't available in Canada yet, or maybe they are but I'm not aware of it:

Almost every single apartment in China has these things in multiple rooms. We have 3 in our appartment. They are not too big, mounted up high on the wall and are much cheaper than those portable A/C's I see on the Home Depot website. They have timer controls, remotes, some are CE approved and cool a room down quickly.

Maybe it's because the fan for them is quite large and must be mounted on the outside of the building and the city bylaws would not allow it?

Has anyone seen something like that in Canada?

[Rhettzky]

Originally Posted by Bagor

Something like this?

http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs/s...k=P_PartNumber

...dependent on getting the hose out the window. Maybe you could rig it up so that the hose could be tapered down to 1" diameter?

I've used a unit like this before and it worked pretty good for keeping one room cool. The hose has an end piece that tapers it into a rectangle about 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide by about 4ish inches long. Sears has a crap load of different models on for pretty cheap and varying BTU's. IRC, we had a 7,500 BTU model and it was borderline for one room. Something in the 10,000 range would probably work a whole lot better.

As for the timer, some of them come equiped with one but if it didn't you could just get one of those plug timers and try that out.

[photon]

We've got two similar to what Bagor posted, great units IMO. Work well for keeping a bedroom cool so that you can sleep.

Originally Posted by RT14

I don't understand why these aren't available in Canada yet, or maybe they are but I'm not aware of it:

Almost every single apartment in China has these things in multiple rooms. We have 3 in our appartment. They are not too big, mounted up high on the wall and are much cheaper than those portable A/C's I see on the Home Depot website. They have timer controls, remotes, some are CE approved and cool a room down quickly.

Maybe it's because the fan for them is quite large and must be mounted on the outside of the building and the city bylaws would not allow it?

Has anyone seen something like that in Canada?

We have two of these in our office, so they're available here.

[mykalberta]

I have something similar to this.

http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product....=1&topnav=&s=1

Only with one hose.

Here are my observations.

If you put it in a bedroom it cools it after about 2 hours if it is 30C outside.

I put it against my screen door, if I set the timer to start at 4pm then its comfortably cool in my place if I keep the 2 bedroom doors closed when I get home at 7pm.

I like the portability and the fact that I can move it without hassle of unscrewing anything. Also the timer is bloody easy to use and very useful.

I purchased it last summer as it was unbearable in my condo, I would sit and watch movies on the weekend and lose half my bodyweight to sweat on my leathe couches.

Michael.

[ken0042]

Looks like some good suggestions in this thread. Keep in mind you can't get a small "inside only" unit like you would for a space heater, because if you recall your high school physics there is no such thing as adding cold. You can add heat or remove heat, but if you remove heat you need to have somewhere for that heat to go.

Is the "Hook ups for an AC unit" a vent to the outside? Or is it a plug that is on its own circuit breaker?

[metal_geek]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

I have something similar to this.

http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product....=1&topnav=&s=1

Only with one hose.

Here are my observations.

If you put it in a bedroom it cools it after about 2 hours if it is 30C outside.

I put it against my screen door, if I set the timer to start at 4pm then its comfortably cool in my place if I keep the 2 bedroom doors closed when I get home at 7pm.

I like the portability and the fact that I can move it without hassle of unscrewing anything. Also the timer is bloody easy to use and very useful.

I purchased it last summer as it was unbearable in my condo, I would sit and watch movies on the weekend and lose half my bodyweight to sweat on my leathe couches.

Michael.

I've had the same kinda thing for about 6 years now. it lives in my basement in the winter as a heater.. and Bedroom in the summer as AC.

On really humid days it'll run 8 hours before the water catch fills up. I turn it on a few min before I goto bed and I can make the room uncomfortably cold if it's not that HOT outside. What makes the real difference is you have to block the vents in the room, the cold air return
and keep the doors closed. Of course you can only do that kinda stuff in the bedroom but that's the only place I really want it anyway. We're happy with ours
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SEX REHAB FORUM

[mykalberta]

Originally Posted by metal_geek

I've had the same kinda thing for about 6 years now. it lives in my basement in the winter as a heater.. and Bedroom in the summer as AC.

On really humid days it'll run 8 hours before the water catch fills up. I turn it on a few min before I goto bed and I can make the room uncomfortably cold if it's not that HOT outside. What makes the real difference is you have to block the vents in the room, the cold air return
and keep the doors closed. Of course you can only do that kinda stuff in the bedroom but that's the only place I really want it anyway. We're happy with ours

Its stange, I have a hose for water catching but according to the manual I have its only if I use it as a dehumidifier. Of course the hose attaches to wall attachment which I put up against my window screens but I have never need a water catcher.

It has saved me. Its not the greatest, it is only really useful for 500sq feet so it either works in one of 2 bedrooms or in the living room if I keep my bedroom door close.

That ranks in my top 5 home purchases of all time along with my Weber E310 BBQ, my water cooler, my Cosmos comptuer case and of course, my huge ass George Forman grill.

[metal_geek]

Originally Posted by mykalberta

Its stange, I have a hose for water catching but according to the manual I have its only if I use it as a dehumidifier. Of course the hose attaches to wall attachment which I put up against my window screens but I have never need a water catcher.

It has saved me. Its not the greatest, it is only really useful for 500sq feet so it either works in one of 2 bedrooms or in the living room if I keep my bedroom door close.

That ranks in my top 5 home purchases of all time along with my Weber E310 BBQ, my water cooler, my Cosmos comptuer case and of course, my huge ass George Forman grill.

Mine is an older type and doesn't have an outlet for the water, just a big container that fills with water and shuts it off when it's full. Which is why it on really humid nights, I don't turn it on till later
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MARIJUANA DISPENSARY

[Jayems]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Is the "Hook ups for an AC unit" a vent to the outside? Or is it a plug that is on its own circuit breaker?

It's just a connection in the wall that's been covered up by a cover. i assume it's a vent. It's the same size as an electrical outlet.

[photon]

That's not a central vacuum port?

[Hemi-Cuda]

this is why i'm glad my condo is on the first floor and doesn't get direct sunlight, makes such a huge difference