10000 BTU portable A/C not helping, would a 12000 BTU split unit suffice?

legallyflying said:

He is referring to a minisplit AC unit. IF your going to run AC, don't waste your money on any other kind. They are the most efficient, quietest, and don't exchange ANY air.

The best prices are here: http://www.minisplitwarehouse.com/

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I agree if you are running AC & Co2 either use central AC or a mini split, they do make dual hose portable AC for grow rooms but you still get some Co2 loss..

If the AC unit is making the room hotter you dont have it set up right. AC units are heat pumps. They extract heat from the front coils by evaporating the refrigerant and then dump it in the back by compressing the refrigerant. The heat at the back needs to be completely exhausted to the outside or some other space. The better the airflow over the unit the better it will work. IMO the first thing you should consider is to buy a $90 inline vortex fan to boost the AC exhaust.

Portables are expensive. Window units are very cheap. You could get two 10,000 btu units for less than a portable. I have a 5000 BTU window AC ( $90 at Lowes ) unit installed completely inside the grow room and use a 4" inline vortex fans to extract the heat. You can see my setup at:

https://www.rollitup.org/general-marijuana-growing/432521-fixing-grow-60-day-wonder.html#post5869152 and the following post.

The same inline fan also pulls the cooling air through the lamp hood. I have no trouble keeping temps under control. But I am using a 3'x5'x7' high closet. What size is your grow space? You might consider partitioning with curtains to reduce the volume the AC has to cool.

What wattage are you running and is your lamp air cooled? 1000W = 3400 BTU. If you are air cooling the lamp, most of the heat is extracted. A properly functioning 5000 BTU unit should be able to handle a 1000W light with capacity to spare.

legallyflying said:

A portable AC is the most inefficient AC you can buy. Yeah, they are super cheap...until you actually have to run the fucker.

That unit is about 10 SEER..less actually.. it uses 935 watts to pruduce 9000 btu of cooling power. My mini split is rated 18 SEER so it uses half of the electricity for more (12k) btu). So if I you saved $75 a month, my unit would pay for itself in a year or less.

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Can you send me a LINK to the AC unit your describing please, if it does a better job than mine and costs less to run, that can only be good does it make much noise when its operating ? Do you use it every day, or just on extremely hot days ? and how much did it cost you ?? - STELTHY

stelthy said:

Can you send me a LINK to the AC unit your describing please, if it does a better job than mine and costs less to run, that can only be good does it make much noise when its operating ? Do you use it every day, or just on extremely hot days ? and how much did it cost you ?? - STELTHY

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This is the one I'm using: http://www.heatandcool.com/INVERTER-DUCTLESS-SPLIT-A-C-p/ksim018-h217.htm

It barely makes any noise at all. I think I paid 1400. That's a 17SEER so it's supposed to be very efficient. I'm not sure about the bill yet, but I'm betting it will be much cheaper than the 10000 portable 10 seer I used previous. I just set mine to 74 and it runs when it needs to. It also has a good fan I leave running always. It has no problems cooling my ~4000 watt garden even when it's 102 degrees out .

formfactor said:

This is the one I'm using: http://www.heatandcool.com/INVERTER-DUCTLESS-SPLIT-A-C-p/ksim018-h217.htm

It barely makes any noise at all. I think I paid 1400. That's a 17SEER so it's supposed to be very efficient. I'm not sure about the bill yet, but I'm betting it will be much cheaper than the 10000 portable 10 seer I used previous. I just set mine to 74 and it runs when it needs to. It also has a good fan I leave running always. It has no problems cooling my ~4000 watt garden even when it's 102 degrees out .

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Would it be over-kill for a single 400/600w grow and surrounding room?? do you know if 17seer or simerlar is available on a smaller scale to cope with my much lower wattage and heat ?? - and still be more cost efficient like yours ?? - STELTHY

Yes, an 18000 btu unit is probably overkill, but maybe a 10-12k btu unit might work perfect. I'm not sure if portables adhere to seer efficiency standards.