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Thank you, this is all very helpful and I'm going to give it a try tonight. I have already checked the registers/vents and cool air is coming out of them. I noticed last night that I feel comfortable until the a/c shuts off, then the heat comes back. I like the idea of running the fan.
We moved into this place during the spring (we didn't need heat or air) and noticed all of the registers in the basement were closed. We didn't even think about it and just opened them back up.
I just ran across this short video that explains why buying a portable A/C unit should be done as a "last resort". He goes pretty quickly over the technical stuff in the first half of the video, but if you can make it through that, the latter half is the "payoff". https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-mBeYC2KGc
If you do look into a portable AC, see if you can get one with a double hose. They use one for intake and one for exhaust are are more effective.
I have an aging upstairs AC which is struggling to keep up, so as a backup (and supplement) I bought a cheap single hose portable. It pulls in room air and exhausts it outside, creating a negative pressure situation. As my main floor AC is fine this isn’t too much of an issue.
It’s also a temporary thing, not meant to be permanent.
Thank you, this is all very helpful and I'm going to give it a try tonight. I have already checked the registers/vents and cool air is coming out of them. I noticed last night that I feel comfortable until the a/c shuts off, then the heat comes back. I like the idea of running the fan.
We moved into this place during the spring (we didn't need heat or air) and noticed all of the registers in the basement were closed. We didn't even think about it and just opened them back up.
Close the basement vents at least when the AC is on. In Maryland we only partially open one vent at the back of the basement in the winter to get some airflow. The basement is the coolest place in the house. Also make sure your filters are replaced more often to maximize airflow through them.
As others said evaporative coolers don't work in the Mid Atlantic, humidity is too high. But don't overlook fans. Anything that moves air around makes warmer temps bearable.
Another term for swamp cooler is evaporative cooler. It will never work where humidity is relatively high. Instead i would use a suitably sized ceiling fan on all the time and keep the bedroom door open. Keep drapes closed during the day.
In the old days before ac folks would get a huge block of ice and blow a fan over it. Of course melting would be a problem.
My upstairs bedroom is ridiculously hot. I cannot have a window unit, per hoa rules. I'm debating between a swamp cooler vs a portable ac unit. Does anyone have any ideas as to which would be better. Mid-Atlantic region if that matters. The house does have central A/C, but the bedroom is still too hot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by markjames68
If you do look into a portable AC, see if you can get one with a double hose. They use one for intake and one for exhaust are are more effective.
I have an aging upstairs AC which is struggling to keep up, so as a backup (and supplement) I bought a cheap single hose portable. It pulls in room air and exhausts it outside, creating a negative pressure situation. As my main floor AC is fine this isn’t too much of an issue.
It’s also a temporary thing, not meant to be permanent.
^This!
The 'single hose' type units will PULL IN hot air somewhere else in the house that your central-ac will then have to cool, DOUBLING your energy costs.
Some really nice portable AC units (with 2-hoses) even 'reject' the waste water along with the 'hot air', so no tank emptying needed.
My upstairs bedroom is ridiculously hot. I cannot have a window unit, per hoa rules. I'm debating between a swamp cooler vs a portable ac unit. Does anyone have any ideas as to which would be better. Mid-Atlantic region if that matters. The house does have central A/C, but the bedroom is still too hot.
I'd be concerned about humidity. Go with portable A/C. Window unit would be cheaper (by 1/2, for comparable square-footage rated models) and more efficient than the floor-standing units with a hose out the window.
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I went ahead and closed some of the vents in the basement. I also changed the filter. I had the fan on "auto" for the night.
I have thermal drapes and they are closed. I then re-arranged my bedroom furniture to maximize the airflow and bought an oscillating fan. Last night was much cooler. Thanks for all of the tips.
I'm in deep very humid & hot south. When my a/c was on the blink last summer, I got a good portable a/c unit from Sam's Club. It was awesome! It worked very well.
It's not very attractive, decor-wise, to have a portable machine sitting in the room, but it is what it is.
You have to attach the hose to an outlet (comes w/the unit) lodged in the partially raised window. It's super easy to set it up. The outlet takes up the entire width of the window, so no need to worry about that.
I got a Delonghi portable a/c that cost several hundred dollars. It has built in wheels. It didn't pull humidity out like a regular a/c unit would, but it did help with that. The air was so coooooool! It had good settings for different uses. I love it. (Tip: cover the hose with insulation because it gets hot, which only adds to the work that the a/c unit has to do.)
You can't move your bedroom to a lower level for the summer?
Evaporative coolers are sooo Fred Flintstone. They were preferred back in the day when air conditioners ate up electricity by the megakilowatt.
In the past 20 years there has been a revolution in refrigeration. Todays through the wall air conditioners are extremely efficient - no more of an electricity guzzler than a messy moldy evaporative cooler - but much cleaner, no water line needed. Mine uses about as much electricity as a 40 watt light bulb - and that only when the compressor is actually working. Gets my BR cold as a morgue, very cheaply, even on a 110 degree day. Just go online. There you can easily get complete info on efficiency, the size you want, etc. The info there is usually very complete. "Comments" will tell you which one is the quietest.
As a result, evaporative coolers are useless dinosaurs. Yeah...some old year 'round desert dwellers still insist on an evap cooler. It's just a habit, nothing more.
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