New portable A/C Unit!...

[MajicMOLE]

Hi all - Newbie here! - please help!

I am from the UK, amnd have just bought a portable air conditioning unit off ebay for a room that gets very hot. The unit is new, just ex display and came with no tubing/ venting to connect to the back to take the hot air outside/into the loft.

I cant find any info on the internet on my a/c unit whatsoever, and cannot find and of the vent connecter thingies to connect to the back! sorry if this dont make sense!

On the front on the unit it says "Watham", and on the ebay post its says "Blue Ice"
Here is the item

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5985744752&ssPageName=ADME:B:EOAB:UK:6

i am currently running the unit by an open window, but really need to get the hot air vented out because its kinda canceling out the cold air!

Any help, info or advise would be very apreciated Thankyou!

[mattison]

You should just be able to go t a home improvement store and get like drier vent to exaust it.

[rorytony]

I recently bought (new in box) 2, from different manufacturers. The hose units were practically identical, but not so's you could interchange them. Both were entirely plastic. At the end that attaches to the unit, there is a rectangular flange, which slips into a fitting around the port on the machine. I doubt you will find something like this w/o special order, but some creativityi with duct tape ought to solve the problem.

One advantage you'll have in buying your own ducting is that it can be the precise length. The boxed units come with a fairly long ribbed tube (about 1 meter), which then extends quite a bit if necessary, to allow the unit to be placed away from the window. But this means the unit CANNOT be placed directly next to a window (because of the hose, rigid when totally collapsed.)

Finally, the boxed units come with various sliding window-frame doodads to make it fairly easy to seal off the outside vent. You'll have to rig something up with more duct tape and cardboard or sheetmetal (the boxed units totally use plastic.)

[MajicMOLE]

Thankyou for your help guys

so basicly, what i need 2 do to make my own is to get some tubing/drier piping (with the diamiter big enough to cover the whole vent at the back) - take it on somehow with some tape and then we are sorted. And just to make a cover with a hole in to fit on my window.

Sounds good to me - might go out in a bit to the local DIY superstore!

[rorytony]

Right.

You might also consider insulating the pipe in some way. Depending on how long you make it, it turns out to be quite a good radiator for the room, fighting against your efforts at cooling (i.e., the pipe gets very warm.)

I've posted a question here about this, because I don't know what, if anything, is available, and I'd like to insulate mine.

Dryer vent pipes are fireproof, but very thin, hence provide no insulation (but who air conditions laundry rooms, right?)

[mattison]

Maybe try insulated flex duct.

[MajicMOLE]

Hi guys

Thanx for ya info and i have now sorted it :)

However i have another problem
its still not cooling my room (i have it for this room as it gets very hot in here)

The air con does come on, and it is cold - however after like 10-15 mins the air con goes off and the fan just spins therefore not cooling the air - and the fan can be on for like 20mins with no air cooling before it comes back on.

Is this normal? This is my 1st air con unit so i dnt no if thats normal - and i did buy it off ebay :-/ lol

Any info guys wud b appreciated

Cheers

[GregH]

Could the water tray be full?

[MajicMOLE]

no, the water tray isnt full, and the temperature setting is set well below the temperature of the room.

[594tough]

Well, my stock reply is "you get what you pay for" on ebay. I could go on an on, but .........

What is the size of the room. A true 9000 BTU unit would ..in very rough terms....cool about a 300 square foot room. This could vary a lot depending on insulation, glass, etc. If there is a HI-COOL/LOW-COOL control, you might try running it on low. On high the unit reaches max output and shuts down before the room has really cooled.

They are designed for the approx. 3½ foot hose. If the duct you installed is too small or too long, this would affect the efficiency of the unit.

[MajicMOLE]

the room is about 6m X 4X so about 220f2.
the tail is about 3 and a half m long, but even when it waz propped up next to the window with no tail, it was doing the same.

their is no cool setting, just hi, med and low speed settings of the fan

i understand you get what you pay for on ebay, but i expected it to do somethink, at least bring the heat down slightly - but its not

when the air con is on, its fine, but when it dos off again it leats the temp in the room go back to normal.

the temp in the room is about 32'c! its unbearable

i just dont klnow what to do!!!!