Air Conditioner Placement

We live in an old farmhouse with a boiler and radiator heating system. Air conditioning is done by window units except for the living room, which has a very old through-the-wall unit. As you can see in the picture linked belo w, the placement is very bad but that's where they put it 30+ years ago.

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The unit is under the porch roof on the right side in the picture, right be hind the hanging plant. When it's on, the hot air exhaust blows right acros s the door so you get hit with a blast of hot air when you come in or out. Also, since it's under the roof, circulation is poor so I imagine that a lo t of that hot air gets sucked back into the cooling air ports, reducing eff iciency.

I want to replace the unit this summer and there's really no other spot to put it in the living room. Besides, I'd hate to have to cut another hole in the wall.

I had an idea to get a new unit (the room size requires about 11K BTU) and mount it in the same place. I'd build a sheet metal plenum to catch the hot air exhaust and run an exhaust duct up through the porch roof. This would eliminate the blast furnace effect when opening the door and hopefully make the unit more efficient since it wouldn't be recirculating the hot air. So unds weird, I know. Any comments from the HVAC experts on the group?

The other idea was a split unit but they cost twice what a through-the-wall unit costs and need professional installation.

I could also get two window units as a last resort.

Paul

Reply to
Pavel314
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r conditioning is done by window units except for the living room, which ha s a very old through-the-wall unit. As you can see in the picture linked be low, the placement is very bad but that's where they put it 30+ years ago.

behind the hanging plant. When it's on, the hot air exhaust blows right acr oss the door so you get hit with a blast of hot air when you come in or out . Also, since it's under the roof, circulation is poor so I imagine that a lot of that hot air gets sucked back into the cooling air ports, reducing e fficiency.

o put it in the living room. Besides, I'd hate to have to cut another hole in the wall.

d mount it in the same place. I'd build a sheet metal plenum to catch the h ot air exhaust and run an exhaust duct up through the porch roof. This woul d eliminate the blast furnace effect when opening the door and hopefully ma ke the unit more efficient since it wouldn't be recirculating the hot air. Sounds weird, I know. Any comments from the HVAC experts on the group?

ll unit costs and need professional installation.

Could you put a thru the wall unit under a living-room window???

Reply to
hrhofmann

put it above the porch? I know it would be high, but a step stool would solve that...and you might get better interior cooling circulation

Reply to
Malcom "Mal" Reynolds

In my last house, I put the AC under the dining room window and it did the living room just fine. Of course, it was very open.

I don't see many options. Yes, the split is more money, but it does have benefits and you will be living with whatever you do for many years.

To make a better recommendation, we'd have to see the room layout and your wallet thickness.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

the wall.

Simple seems to want to put a down diverter on the rear. I'm no expert.

Greg

Reply to
gregz

r conditioning is done by window units except for the living room, which ha s a very old through-the-wall unit. As you can see in the picture linked be low, the placement is very bad but that's where they put it 30+ years ago.

behind the hanging plant. When it's on, the hot air exhaust blows right acr oss the door so you get hit with a blast of hot air when you come in or out . Also, since it's under the roof, circulation is poor so I imagine that a lot of that hot air gets sucked back into the cooling air ports, reducing e fficiency.

o put it in the living room. Besides, I'd hate to have to cut another hole in the wall.

d mount it in the same place. I'd build a sheet metal plenum to catch the h ot air exhaust and run an exhaust duct up through the porch roof. This woul d eliminate the blast furnace effect when opening the door and hopefully ma ke the unit more efficient since it wouldn't be recirculating the hot air. Sounds weird, I know. Any comments from the HVAC experts on the group?

ll unit costs and need professional installation.

I think some of the mini-splits are coming charged with "plug-in" lines now . You might want to look around a bit before giving up on them.

Reply to
jamesgang

Air conditioning is done by window units except for the living room, which has a very old through-the-wall unit. As you can see in the picture linked below, the placement is very bad but that's where they put it 30+ years ago .

t behind the hanging plant. When it's on, the hot air exhaust blows right a cross the door so you get hit with a blast of hot air when you come in or o ut. Also, since it's under the roof, circulation is poor so I imagine that a lot of that hot air gets sucked back into the cooling air ports, reducing efficiency.

to put it in the living room. Besides, I'd hate to have to cut another hol e in the wall.

and mount it in the same place. I'd build a sheet metal plenum to catch the hot air exhaust and run an exhaust duct up through the porch roof. This wo uld eliminate the blast furnace effect when opening the door and hopefully make the unit more efficient since it wouldn't be recirculating the hot air . Sounds weird, I know. Any comments from the HVAC experts on the group?

wall unit costs and need professional installation.

ow.  You might want to look around a bit before giving up on them.- Hide quoted text -

I was thinking that too, ie that they could be a DIY install. Still, they are going to be more expensive than a conventional unit. The real problem here is that the original install location was a piss-poor one.

Since the problem here is the hot air blast, I wonder if the newer units might have less forceful air coming out? It's probably something that you can't figure out, until you've bought it. I guess he could start checking how much hot air is coming out from any he happens across. But then that is also going to depend on how many btu's if the compressor is on, etc.

Reply to
trader4

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