This time aldi have a reverse cycle aircon for $299. Think I ll be getting this one. but heres a question.
I have a large cavity under house, and the air is always cool like a cellar. I was thinking of mounting the portable aircon under the house - pointing the hot air tube through a gap in the bricks to vent outside. then cutting a hole in the floor and putting in a length of ducting from the hole to the output of the aircon.
idea is the aircon removes heat from already cooler air from under house and injecting this extra cool air into the house. Is there an issue doing this??
seems like a real good idea as the air under house is always a good 5 degrees cooler than in house.
It would definitely make an improvement to be sucking already cool air in
The only thing you have to look at with these portable units is that those that I have seen in the past, only have an exhaust tube for hot air that usually goes out the window but have no intake tube to the outside. This means that the air con has be taking already cooled air from in the room and pushing it outside when the hot air is blown out, therefore wasting energy. This is made even worse by the fact that the portable unit sits at floor level (see the aldi promo pic) which makes this even worse as the lower down it is, the cooler the air is.
In your situation, you will be solving these problems, (probably without realising it) but you will have another problem, the thermostat will not work, as this measures the temperature at the air INTAKE, and that will be under the house where the temperature never changes as this area is not being cooled by the unit.
You will need to connect a thermostat upstairs in the cooled area, or the air con will run constantly, and if the under the house temperature drops dramatically at certain times (night?) and upstairs does not, then the unit will shut down, right when you don't want it to.
Like most modern air con units, If the thermostat sensor is the solid state type, you can unclip it from the fins and extend it upstairs, locating it away it away from the cool air outlet.
Unless you just want to "set and forget" the unit, you will have to extend the controls and possibly the digital display somehow. The simplest way would be to take the remote upstairs, and use an IR repeater (commonly available for use with operating TV sets/set top boxes etc that are located in another room).
How will you measure the return air to control the thing? Mate spend a bit of money and get something decent. These cheap Aldi units are not designed to have ducts etc. If the air is that cool under your house you most likely will have problems with the de-ice cycle during winter
Thanks for feedback; You made good points.. The first is these aircons suck out already cooled air(sitting on gnd) out the window wasting energy.. Sucking in air from underhouse does solve this.. brilliant!!
The thermostat. Didnt think of that. Will have to find thermostat where ever it is located and run wires up to room.
The IR repeater idea I had thought of - looking on ebay for remote control xtender.
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I do see a problem in reverse cycle in winter. It will be sucking freezing cold air to to heat. Would be inefficient in reverse cycle but more efficient in cooling mode in summer.
The fact that you're in the mountains would make this a real issue.
Several years ago I mounted the outdoor unit of a split-system A/C under = the house (had about a 150cm clearance, house on brick piers) and the = setup worked brilliantly in both Winter and Summer. But I was on a clay = base far lower than you (Penrith) and found the sub-floor area was = actually several degrees warmer in Winter than the outside air.
Perhaps wait 'til Winter and check the under-house temperature then to = determine if it's feasible? Either way, I'd suggest you do it with a = proper split-system setup rather than butchering a portable air = conditioner - the latter's only designed for occasional use and would = probably fail quite quickly.
Have just seen the ad for the said Aircon. It's a big ask for what you want it to do. With regards to the return air stat. Most likely capillary operated. Very awkward to refit and extend. Don't forget that you will need a GPO under your house and you unit will be cycling at about 10 amps
Might be easier to go and buy a "through the wall" unit. If you don't want a hole in the wall, (IE: Rental property) can take out a window, and put a wood panel in there.
If you havent got a lot of money to spend on this, there are often used units around cheap. With a removable window panel, its a lot easier to resize a hole in a panel than in a wall when they stuff up and need replacing.
Another thought, would be to put a fan and vent in to blow that cool air up into the house. That would cost a lot less to run, and could work for a lot of the summer season
Another thought, would be to put a fan and vent in to blow that cool air up into the house. That would cost a lot less to run, and could work for a lot of the summer season
With a filter of course, great idea...........................
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