Ducting Question for Ideal-Air Dual Hose Portable A/C 12k Unit

[Bad Habits]

So I'm looking for ways to cool my veg room in the summer heat. I've settled on this unit:

http://www.ideal-air.com/products/p...l-air-dual-hose-portable-ac---12,000-btu.aspx

Two of my friends own it, and you hook up 2 ducting hoses both to the outside. Apparently this creates a closed loop so no air from the room itself is actually exhausted, and thus no smell goes out as well.

My question: is there any reason why you couldn't hook up a carbon scrubber in the room to the intake duct? Would this exhaust the scrubbed air through the AC unit outside? It theory it seems like it should work in my mind, but I'm no HVAC tech.

If not, it's fine, it would just save me from having to drill one more 6" hole in the wall to exhaust out of (running passive intake/scrubbed exhaust in the room).

 

[stoney917]

The system was not designed to have the resistance of a filter on the intake... u will burn the unit out .... if its for veg i wouldn't sweat it... i would if i had to would be exhaust the air elsewhere slap a filter on the exhaust end but i also add a small fan to help... these units werent designed for scrubbers so they need a boost to work right..

 

[dansbuds]

i ran one of the 12k btu units last summer .....what a piece of shit !!! had to insulate both tubes or the heat in the room was rediculous & it was about as efficient as a 5k btu window banger . complete garbage !!!! made for a good dehumidifier , but thats about it .

sorry i didn't get to ya before you bought it dude .

 

[Bad Habits]

The system was not designed to have the resistance of a filter on the intake... u will burn the unit out .... if its for veg i wouldn't sweat it... i would if i had to would be exhaust the air elsewhere slap a filter on the exhaust end but i also add a small fan to help... these units werent designed for scrubbers so they need a boost to work right..

Thanks for dropping in

Not sure if we're quite on the same page. I'm talking about having a carbon filter, placing an inline fan on top of the filter so it's Pulling through the filter, than ducting that to the AC unit so it's pushing that air into the intake hole.

Considering the inline fan would be pushing the air into the intake, does this change that??

i ran one of the 12k btu units last summer .....what a piece of shit !!! had to insulate both tubes or the heat in the room was rediculous & it was about as efficient as a 5k btu window banger . complete garbage !!!! made for a good dehumidifier , but thats about it .

sorry i didn't get to ya before you bought it dude .

That's interesting I actually haven't purchased it yet...

My buddy has one in his apartment just for personal use and it works well in there (obviously no lights going but its high 80s there because of summer heat).

And the dispensary down the block from me uses one in their clone room with about 4 8-bulb T5s and the owner said he hasn't had any issues with it...

I only need to cool like 6 T5s with it, and probably won't even need it in the winter...

Don't want a window banger because of exhausting smell.

Any recommendations on something else???

Always appreciate your posts Dan.

 

[dansbuds]

i use a window banger & haven't had issues with smell getting out , but i have a filter in every room too though , including the lung room cuz i dry in there . a mini split would the best option , but i can't here (rental) & they're a bit pricey .

 

[Bad Habits]

i use a window banger & haven't had issues with smell getting out , but i have a filter in every room too though , including the lung room cuz i dry in there . a mini split would the best option , but i can't here (rental) & they're a bit pricey .

I was planning on maybe using 1 cab to flower in for test strains/pheno hunting, and the shed is outside not connected to anything so a window banger is a no-go... Not to mention a shed with an AC unit visible on the outside would look pretty suspicious to neighbors

And for only T5s a mini split just seems like major overkill, not to mention it'd be nice to be able to just plug it into the outlet and not have to do any wiring at all...

I have no problem with insulating the portable units hoses. So even after insulating them you felt like it was only about a 5000 btu unit? Would you guess that would be enough to cool 4-6 T5 8 bulbers?

 

[dansbuds]

i'd say it would do the trick if the shed is well insulated . but insulate the ducting from the unit to help keep the heat down . especially on the exhaust tube . mine had to cool 2400 watts plus a couple T5's in an finished attic space .
i've got a 12K window banger in now (biggest that would fit in my window ) & it kicks the shit out of that Ideal 12K portable . its in my basement now acting as a dehuey lol

 

[Bad Habits]

i'd say it would do the trick if the shed is well insulated . but insulate the ducting from the unit to help keep the heat down . especially on the exhaust tube . mine had to cool 2400 watts plus a couple T5's in an finished attic space .
i've got a 12K window banger in now (biggest that would fit in my window ) & it kicks the shit out of that Ideal 12K portable . its in my basement now acting as a dehuey lol

Thanks for the response man.

The shed has R13 fiberglass rolls, prodex, soundboard, and drywall, so it's decently insulated.

Assuming I decide on this unit I'll definitely take your recommendation on insulating the hoses. Thanks for the recommendation

Now I just gotta figure out if I can push scrubbed air into the intake side....

 

[stoney917]

I'm not certain but if u put a fan like u say it may push to much air in the unit not allowing it to do its job... Window banger would def be better those portable suck... Veg shouldn't stink put a fan filter in the area of the unit... U could also frame it out n duct the air out the back through a scrubber n into the area u want it..

 

[Bad Habits]

I'm not certain but if u put a fan like u say it may push to much air in the unit not allowing it to do its job... Window banger would def be better those portable suck... Veg shouldn't stink put a fan filter in the area of the unit... U could also frame it out n duct the air out the back through a scrubber n into the area u want it..

Ya that's kinda what my concern was - the inline fan on the carbon filter would be pushing too much air into the unit... Even if the veg doesn't smell too bad still not worth risking smell getting out for the neighbors IMO. Also might flower some test strains in their as well...

In terms of framing in an area to vent the window banger into, I wonder what the minimum size requirement would be???

 

[paper thorn]

So fire up the T5s and the portable ac, with the fan and filter just recirculating in the room, and see how it feels. Kind of lose the benefit of a dual hose portable if you exhaust your scrubbed air.
Oh, veg does need scrubbing, mine stinks without a filter.

 

[Bad Habits]

So fire up the T5s and the portable ac, with the fan and filter just recirculating in the room, and see how it feels. Kind of lose the benefit of a dual hose portable if you exhaust your scrubbed air.
Oh, veg does need scrubbing, mine stinks without a filter.

Thanks for dropping in, Paper Thorn

Could you elaborate on "Kind of lose the benefit of a dual hose portable if you exhaust your scrubbed air." ? Is it because I'm exhausting the new cold air from the AC unit out?

Recirculating only is definitely an option. The reason why I wanted to exhaust the air in the shed is because I was planning on having a few passive intakes in the shed as well in order to provide fresh air from the outside - and thus Co2 - for the plants. I don't plan on using a Co2 tank in the shed.

Previously I had read that for say a small operation like a closet simply opening the door once or twice a day would be enough Co2 for the plants via the air exchange, however considering I am planning on running 4-6 T5s I was guessing this would not work for that.

Thoughts?

 

[paper thorn]

yeah, i should have said 'exhausting your cooled air out.'

It sucks blowing that cold air out as fast as you cool it.

but hey, I do it all the time lol. i don't know about the natural co2 use by opening the door. I guess you could figure out the co2 use of that amount of plants and open the door however often is needed. i'd prolly just exhaust the air with passive intakes.

 

[Bad Habits]

yeah, i should have said 'exhausting your cooled air out.'

It sucks blowing that cold air out as fast as you cool it.

but hey, I do it all the time lol. i don't know about the natural co2 use by opening the door. I guess you could figure out the co2 use of that amount of plants and open the door however often is needed. i'd prolly just exhaust the air with passive intakes.

hey man, thanks for the follow up. That definitely makes sense.

Right now I'm planning on using a passive intakes, recirculating in the room and just using a dehuey to control humidity.

Hope this works out

 

[dragunn]

consumer reports just did a test on a bunch of portable a/c s.

they all sucked.you would be better off with a window unit.lower

cost and more efficient.

 

[Granger2]

You really need a window banger in a box. Check this: https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=40637

Not only do the portables do a poor job, they're seriously inefficient. As you said, your friend with one has no T-5's. And it's high 80's there? I don't call that very hot.

Why all the T-5's? Less heat? What I found with my 8 tube T-5 is that a 400w HPS or MH, air cooled, put off less heat than the T-5's. Good luck. -granger

 

[paper thorn]

i think the point of your question got lost a bit.

so you want to blow your exhaust through your portable a/c exhaust hose?
Your thinking of using a Y to do this I guess. Doesn't sound too unreasonable.