Mini Air Conditioner

[keymaker]

If the room next door has a window, you could install the window box near the floor where you have unused wallspace and it would dump the hot air to the room next door which would have an exhaust fan in the window (use bars to secure it the room)<p>
Now that might work, right? Would it cause any fires or anything if the exhaust fan failed?

[Mike]

well, there is one of those thin little windows that one side slides open, but i forgot what they are called. And its too weak to hold a fan.

[jollyrgr]

There is still another type of air conditioner you can use. It is a floor air conditioner and has two flexible pipes (like a dryer vent pipe) that go to the window. The air conditioner sits on the floor like a dehumidifier would. The air exchange with the outside air takes place through the two pipes. Both pipes are attached to a frame that fits in the window. The pipes are "somewhat" rigid and virtually no weight is placed on the window frame itself. You simply flex the two tubes until the frame they are mounted to is positioned in the window opening. The sides of the hose frame expands to meet the left and right edges of the window frame. You then slide the window down onto the top of the hose frame to "seal" the window closed. This would work nicely in your situation.

[MrAl]

Hello again,<p>Another idea would be to build a small closet.
The closet would have a window built in it so
that you could mount a standard ac unit in it.
You would then have two large diameter pipes
at the top of the closet -- one to bring
fresh air from outside via a high velocity
fan and another to vent it out.
Of course the pipes would have to run
though the ceiling and through the wall
in the room upstairs. The diameter of
the pipes depend on the power of the
fan you choose. A good fan means you can
use smaller diameter pipes. A 'blower'
type fan would work well i think, but
i would probably want to go with a minimum of
six inch diameter pipes (duct work).<p>If you do end up connecting to the heating
system vent, be aware that any heating system
exhaust contains deadly gases that must be
prevented from entering the living quarters
no matter what.<p>Take care,
Al

[Dave_H]

One possible solution is to find a place where you can cut a vent through the floor, to the Air Conditioned room above your computer room. Transfer conditioned air when its needed. Without doing a heat load its hard to say how big the vent would have to be. Ballpark - 4 x 8 or 10 x 6 should be plenty. Be sure you can dampen it off for times it isn't needed. You may possibly need a small fan for forced ventilation. Something the size of a bathroom vent will do it (provided this isn't some huge room). If you're lucky the basement won't be sealed off to tightly from the main house. Return air could be a problem.

[Mike]

Hmm, I don't really care for the idea of drilling holes and rigging pipes through my wall, which is why I originally asked if there is a way to do it without generating heat.<p>So, thanks for the suggestions, but I do not think I'll be doing any of them.<p>But I was thinking, there is a sink in the bathroom right next to that room. If I ever were to get a peltier junction or something, could I watercool the hot side with water from the sink and then just send it down the drain? Or would it require a lot of water? What I would plan to do is so I don't waste water I would let it just trickle over it.

[perfectbite]

Mike, When your equipment is on the hot air it produces rises and gradually displaces/warms the cooler air underneath it. Your head could be hot but your knees could be cool. <p>Make a stack of 110VAC square fans just the right size for that narrow sliding window and exhaust the top most hot air to the outside. Put the strongest most reliable fan at the very top of the window. Put a cowl or duct to reach that upper hot air layer if the window isn't high enough. You should have make up air coming from somewhere to establish an exhaust airflow. If there is no make up air the fans will work, you'll see them going, but no air will be moving because they have a very limited pressure gradient they can work with. The air from an adequately sized air conditioner is cool and sinks to the floor but there is so much continuously produced cool air that it displaces/cools the warmer air above it. Cool air is denser than warm air and will fall until the floor stops it. The area below your sink or in the sink itself from an energy and water intensive Peltier device would be about all you would get in the way of cooling. In the meantime, the Peltier's power supply Tx, the wall wart, would be pumping its heat into the space too, adding to the heat build up you're trying to control.

[perfectbite]

AND........ That narrow window should not be the only source of that space's make up air due to a phenomemon called 'short cycling' where hot or stale (oxygen depleted) air is exhausted and is immediately drawn back into the space and there is no fresh air change for the whole of the space, not even for that limited part of the space. <p>Mr Al's suggestion of a closet within that room containing an A/C unit (a floor to ceiling wooden 2"x4" frame (strong enough to support the A/C unit) covered both sides with plastic sheeting (even cut up and paper stapled Hefty bags) would suffice but ideally you'll have adequate make up air flow to that space 24/7. Otherwise you'll starve not just yourself of oxygen but also the brains and bodies of others who spend even a short time in that space too. <p>Just because the air feels cool and 'tingles' your nose doesn't mean it has enough oxygen and although ozone (a nose tingler too) is a form of oxygen it won't support life and enough ozone will irreparably damage the lungs.

[GoodSamaritan]

Ok, I may be a newb, but I beleive I have a solution for this one. <p>Mike, you said that your home has a "full house ac system" and that the furnace room is right next to yours. <p>Well almost every central air system I have ever seen puts the evaporator (the cold side of the a/c system) in with the furnace. <p>If your furnace fan is kicking on and off during the summer all the cold air you will ever need is right on the other side of your wall. <p>Drill a small easily plugged hole in the ductwork coming from the furnace. When the a/c kicks on see if that whole is blowing cold air.
If it is one the suction or air inlet side plug the whole, and find the output side. <p>Once you find the right duct, use some of the flexible dryer vent hose and a cheap wall grate from a hardware store to plumb it into your room.

[jollyrgr]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Hi Tek Hillbilly:

<SNIP>
Drill a small easily plugged hole in the ductwork coming from the furnace. When the a/c kicks on see if that whole is blowing cold air.
If it is one the suction or air inlet side plug the whole, and find the output side. <p>Once you find the right duct, use some of the flexible dryer vent hose and a cheap wall grate from a hardware store to plumb it into your room.<hr></blockquote><p>There should be no need to drill a hole to find the right duct. Just look for the copper tubes going to the evaporator coil. The evaporator coil sits in the "supply" side of the air stream. Also note the location of the air filter. The air filter is in the "return" side of the furnace. You want to take air from the "supply" side.<p>And NEVER use plastic flexible hose. The metal/foil type is okay. But the plastic type can melt with the amount of heat provided by the furnace.