Venting Your Portable Air Conditioner For Dallas Homeowners
In order to cool your space, all portable air conditioners must be installed properly and exhaust hot air as they cool. This warm air is typically exhausted outside using an included window kit, but traditional windows aren’t always available.
Portable air conditioners are great for cooling individual rooms or areas that just can’t support a traditional central or window air conditioner.
How to Vent a Portable Air Conditioner
Portable air conditioners are air conditioning units that can be transferred from one room to another. They’re self-contained systems that do not require any permanent installation. However, portable air conditioners do require venting via a window or wall. Once you’ve positioned the portable air conditioner where you’d like it, you must set the exhaust hose through an opening to the outside so that it can vent hot air out of the room.
Step by Step:
Step 1 – Determine Location of Exhaust Opening
As mentioned previously, the easiest and most logical location for a portable air conditioner exhaust opening is through a window. However, if the room does not have windows, you must consider other options. To effectively cool the room, you may have to cut a vent hole in the wall, floor, or ceiling.
Step 2 – Determine the Configuration
For horizontal or vertical sliding track windows, venting portable air conditioning exhaust is almost effortless. Your unit should’ve included a window venting kit at no extra cost at the time of purchase. If the original kit has been lost or damaged, a replacement can be ordered from the manufacturer. It will contain a sheet of plastic with a hole in it, a long corrugated tube, and adapters to make airtight seals between the exhaust system components.
If you have hinged or casement windows the conventional kit may not work. Instead, you will have to place a large sheet of plexiglass in the opening or cover it with plastic visqueen curtains. The same is also true if you plan to cut the opening through an exterior wall.
Step 3 – Measure and Cut to Size
Whether you are using plastic sheeting, plexiglass, or the window kit, you will need to measure the intended vent opening to trim your material to the appropriate dimensions. You can also cut the exhaust hose shorter but be careful not to make it too short.
If you aren’t using a window, you can also take this time to measure, mark, and cut the vent hole with a drywall saw.
Step 4 – Attach Exhaust Hose
Connect the venting adapter to the window kit or plastic and set it in the exhaust opening. Slide the window closed as far as possible to wedge the kit into place or add padding and weather stripping around the plastic to get it snug. Then, fit one end of the exhaust hose into the vent hole and the other to the discharge opening at the back of the portable air conditioner. You can test for air tightness around the hose openings with soapy water; bubbles will form at the site of leaks.
Why You Need To Vent Your Portable Air Conditioner
It’s necessary to vent portable air conditioners because they extract hot air. If you want your air conditioning system to cool the room effectively, you need to let the hot air vent to the outside. Call (214) 238-8353 us for your home service and repair needs.
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