Window Air Conditioner Freezing Up, Will Portable AC Do the Same?

chemphlegm

chemphlegm

Well-Known Member
Huckster79 said:
Ive been thinking of building a thermostat controlled inlet fan to outside in winter. Kinda foolish to pay to cool air in winter... if others have ideas how to do this please share! I was just going to use the thermostat switch i have my window shaker
Plugged into (its not in window but into my basemen) and put a louvered vent w duct booster in it to pull outside air in when it reaches certain temp instead of ac unit in winter... i use a thermostat switch on my window unit so i can set different temps for day and night...instead of the controls on the ac unit which would be constant temp all the time. I got it for $40 at big box home improvement store. Then was going to attempt to difuse air up after it exits the louvers inside so that if its real cold out girls dont get a blast of bitter air on em... let the cool sink over the room. . On outside was just going to put a dryer vent with baffle out being air would be in reverse to normal operation, the downward facing not multi louvered type, just to prevent wind from blowing inside louvers open...

Seems like pretty cheap cool air just the electric cost of duct booster fan...
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yes, it sucks to see your ac cycling in the middle of winter grrrr.
I tried using the outdoor air and was nothing but troubles for me, costing much more than sealing it up and running an ac full time if needed. humidity, mold, condensation pissed me off.....My ac costs are less than my heat costs, combined year round with my dehuey even average less than 125$ a month, I'm doing something right in my 12x 40 outdoor building room. its all 220, 2 baseboard heaters(veg/flower), a 12kbtu window shaker, no exhaust or intake in the room(s) but they do share air with each other.
 
Huckster79

Huckster79

Well-Known Member
chemphlegm said:
yes, it sucks to see your ac cycling in the middle of winter grrrr.
I tried using the outdoor air and was nothing but troubles for me, costing much more than sealing it up and running an ac full time if needed. humidity, mold, condensation pissed me off.....My ac costs are less than my heat costs, combined year round with my dehuey even average less than 125$ a month, I'm doing something right in my 12x 40 outdoor building room. its all 220, 2 baseboard heaters(veg/flower), a 12kbtu window shaker, no exhaust or intake in the room(s) but they do share air with each other.
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That’s interesting, I would have thought once cold out winters are usually pretty low humidity besides warm wet snow type days- you’ve given me pause that maybe my ideas not a good one.... maybe I will just add another duct booster to my ac unit to pump the warm air where it would be useful in the House... my window shaker is in a box with a duct booster and ducting to take it out of my work room area into general basement as it got sweltering in there with it direct discharging in my work room. If I ducted it maybe to my cold crawl space would warm the floors up at least...

So you think bringing in outside winter air brought u mold? Man I’ve never had mold not sure about this now...
 
Lite

Lite

Well-Known Member
chemphlegm said:
My room stays 70 lights off 78 lights on, temps outdoors between 25-89, water is frozen in the bucket if I catch the ac drainage during winter, (not today, its nice out right now)
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freezing does not come from the drain line. while it can freeze the drain during the winter, that is very different than the copper refrigerant lines freezing
 
chemphlegm

chemphlegm

Well-Known Member
innerG said:
Doesn’t your window AC have a ‘fan’ function that blows in outdoor air without running the AC compressor?
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yes, I think they all may. mine is always in the closed position. I dont want the outdoor air spoiling my prime indoor air anymore
 
chemphlegm

chemphlegm

Well-Known Member
Huckster79 said:
That’s interesting, I would have thought once cold out winters are usually pretty low humidity besides warm wet snow type days- you’ve given me pause that maybe my ideas not a good one.... maybe I will just add another duct booster to my ac unit to pump the warm air where it would be useful in the House... my window shaker is in a box with a duct booster and ducting to take it out of my work room area into general basement as it got sweltering in there with it direct discharging in my work room. If I ducted it maybe to my cold crawl space would warm the floors up at least...

So you think bringing in outside winter air brought u mold? Man I’ve never had mold not sure about this now...
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exhausting warm humid grow space air into cold spaces like attics and crawls could result in molds.
 
chemphlegm

chemphlegm

Well-Known Member
Lite said:
freezing does not come from the drain line. while it can freeze the drain during the winter, that is very different than the copper refrigerant lines freezing
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sure, but now you know the winter temps here, as my bucket is frozen.
the only issue I've ever had (and I have heard of your mentioned one too, but dared it here successfully) was the water in the catch pan freezing, and/or inhibiting the fan blade. no other problems have arose since 2008 of the same. I immediately put a light under it, that worked for awhile till I got around to a nice drain with heat tape/thermostat for that pan.
no unusual power draws, no issues, knock on hash.

now we know its frozen water weather.... why is it still functioning so well for me?
 
Lite

Lite

Well-Known Member
chemphlegm said:
sure, but now you know the winter temps here, as my bucket is frozen.
the only issue I've ever had (and I have heard of your mentioned one too, but dared it here successfully) was the water in the catch pan freezing, and/or inhibiting the fan blade. no other problems have arose since 2008 of the same. I immediately put a light under it, that worked for awhile till I got around to a nice drain with heat tape/thermostat for that pan.
no unusual power draws, no issues, knock on hash.

now we know its frozen water weather.... why is it still functioning so well for me?
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u must have a variable speed which was significantly more expensive Than a cheap one, or you are slugging the compressor with liquid refrigerant and it's gonna die prematurely, or u have a really high heat load getting pulled out that's keeping it from freezing
 
Lite

Lite

Well-Known Member
chemphlegm said:
exhausting warm humid grow space air into cold spaces like attics and crawls could result in molds.
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"exhausted" air should only be 20ish degrees warmer than ur tent temp. in winter this won't cause growth unless ur shoving the air into something porous. the air should be extremely low humidity.
 
Lite

Lite

Well-Known Member
chemphlegm said:
My room stays 70 lights off 78 lights on, temps outdoors between 25-89, water is frozen in the bucket if I catch the ac drainage during winter, (not today, its nice out right now)
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you're more likely having suspicion issues when the snow on your roof melts faster than ur neighbors.
 
chemphlegm

chemphlegm

Well-Known Member
Lite said:
you're more likely having suspicion issues when the snow on your roof melts faster than ur neighbors.
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I have a grow building, I'm in the woods. I exhaust into an unfinished area of the steel building and carry that warm humid air out to the gable vent so far my roof stays solid snow on the barn, even over the top of the growing area. its wrapped really tight inside.


I have noticed some inefficiency when its really hot in the exhaust area and I'm cooling the grow space, but not when its cold in the exhaust space. I never measured temps in the exhaust area but buckets of water freeze solid in there on the dirt floor.
my unit was 550$, near 7 years operating, I watch my digi power draw on it every time it cycles. I've got an app with a separate smart meter on the grow space, is variable speed also you're right.
 
Lite

Lite

Well-Known Member
chemphlegm said:
I have a grow building, I'm in the woods. I exhaust into an unfinished area of the steel building and carry that warm humid air out to the gable vent so far my roof stays solid snow on the barn, even over the top of the growing area. its wrapped really tight inside.


I have noticed some inefficiency when its really hot in the exhaust area and I'm cooling the grow space, but not when its cold in the exhaust space. I never measured temps in the exhaust area but buckets of water freeze solid in there on the dirt floor.
my unit was 550$, is variable speed also you're right.
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variable speeds are better for cold ambient because they will decrease the condensing fan speed in order to keep the head pressure up on the unit. your easiest fix for the drain is to have it drain into a condensate pump directly beneath the unit and run it through vinyl tubing inside.

or have the drain line drain onto a bucket of salt
 
chemphlegm

chemphlegm

Well-Known Member
Lite said:
variable speeds are better for cold ambient because they will decrease the condensing fan speed in order to keep the head pressure up on the unit. your easiest fix for the drain is to have it drain into a condensate pump directly beneath the unit and run it through vinyl tubing inside.

or have the drain line drain onto a bucket of salt
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funny you mention salt.....
my ac pan is wrapped once with heat tape on a thermo. the water runs through the hole into a pvc pipe that intersects with the drainage from the dehuey then to the outdoors into a dry well filled with salt. (buried upside down 5 gallon pail) I cant fix that, it aint broke lol
 
Gquebed

Gquebed

Well-Known Member
chemphlegm said:
what froze?
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I ran a 10,000 btu window a/c in a 5x9 with 2x1000w hid. It was on almost all the time cooling that space, as the lights were not air cooled. This was in my basement. The unit was not half outside. I cooled the basement with exhaust fans.

Anyway, One day i came to check the girls and the ac unit was frozen...front grill and back. Was still running...lucky i caught it.​
 
Gquebed

Gquebed

Well-Known Member
chemphlegm said:
you exhausted your ac into the same space you'e cooling and the unit froze? am I understanding this correctly?
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No.
My 5x9 "tent" (homemade) was built with a "window" opening for a window ac. Cooling side cools in the tent, with the ass end just hanging out exhausting into the room that my "tent" is in. That room is exhausted by a fan to outdoors using a temp switch. The room stays at 68f...while the "tent" ranges from 78f to 68f lights on to off.
If the window ac runs constantly it will eventully frost on the tent side. Oddly enough it frosted on the exhaust side too...not sure why. Was a band new unit...

Anyway... the lights are now air cooled and the ac unit works intermittently as it should.
 
Lite

Lite

Well-Known Member
freezing is caused by:
refrigerant leak, which for window units means u buy a new one

low airflow (if it gets super dirty or if the fan stops working)

restriction in refrigerant system (shouldn't happen unless u physically bend something)

low temperatures indoor or out causing pressures to get below a 32degree saturation temp. temps go down, pressures go down.
 
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