Do air conditioners that work in high humidity areas that don't need a window exist?

[manlymatt83]

The OP is in a small apartment... he doesn't need a $50,000 unit.

hell... he doesn't even need a $200 unit...

a $20 dehumidifier would work fine.

This is true. It's VERY small. No larger than an average school classroom.

 

[Ken g6]

High humidity means you can't really use the heat to turn water to a gas. You need to do something with the heat and you're saying you don't want to dump it outside. I would be surprised if what you seek exists.

If you do find such a thing, watch out! Sooner or later, the Sontarans will use it to gas you!

 

[Capt Caveman]

Matt, your best option will be a portable ac. It will only take about 6 inches of your window for exhausting. The only problem is that they're fairly bulkly and take a bit of space up.

If it was for a bedroom, I would recommend a low-profile window a/c.

 

[sjwaste]

You have two choices.

1. A window unit.
2. A box fan and a bag of ice. You keep replacing the ice as needed.

#2 does work, requires no exhaust, but you do need to drain the water somewhere.

 

[manlymatt83]

So I didn't notice this, but I actually have a second window. It's very small though, and is way at the top (by the ceiling) in the living room, in the corner above the door. I would say the whole window is 3 feet wide by 1.5 feet tall, but the part I can open is only about a foot wide by 1.5 feet tall. Is it possible to get a portable air conditioner with a long enough hose (I'd say at least 10 feet) to reach up to the ceiling, and can it use a 1 x 1.5 feet space to exhaust?

Also, for what it's worth, RIGHT next to this window there's a weird looking plug. It looks like an international plug or something. Since it's RIGHT next to the window, I wonder if it was originally used for another air conditioner?

 

[edro]

You need a window unit, sorry.

Stand alone units still need to drain the condensation.
Dehumidifiers are are generally very low powered AC units.
You cannot stop humidity from entering your apartment.
Humidity creeps in through the walls, ceiling, floor, etc.

Windows units are you best option as far as capacity, cost and draining condensation outside.

 

[2Xtreme21]

You have only one window that will be blocked entirely by a window AC? Do you live in a prison cell?

 

[Bignate603]

What the OP is asking is technically impossible. A normal AC unit is just a heat pump, all it does is pump the heat from one location to another. That's why all the AC units he's seeing needs a window so it can dump the heat out of the apartment.

An evaporative cooler (aka swamp cooler) cools by evaporating water into the air which cools it. This ADDS humidity to the air, it does not remove it like another poster is suggesting. You can use these to cool rooms pretty effectively in low humidity areas.

Also, using a dehumidifier to try and cool a room won't work. Like someone else mentioned a typical dehumidifier is just an AC unit. It sucks air in, pumps the heat out of it so it drops below the dew point and has the water condenses out of the air, and then the drier air is blown back into the room. However, because it's just a heat pump it has a radiator that dumps the heat that it removed right back into the room. Because the heat is never removed from the room running a dehumidifier won't cool it. In fact, it will heat it up because the power used to run the compressor is all turned to heat.

 

[killster1]

Using dry ice is a option but remember the gas that comes off it is POISON SO be careful, also hooking a internal ac is a option with small exhaust out the side your house. (just drill a good size hole and patch it later. I wouldnt want to use a window unit as you see them stolen or access gained to house through that opening maybe.

 

[Capt Caveman]

So I didn't notice this, but I actually have a second window. It's very small though, and is way at the top (by the ceiling) in the living room, in the corner above the door. I would say the whole window is 3 feet wide by 1.5 feet tall, but the part I can open is only about a foot wide by 1.5 feet tall. Is it possible to get a portable air conditioner with a long enough hose (I'd say at least 10 feet) to reach up to the ceiling, and can it use a 1 x 1.5 feet space to exhaust?

Also, for what it's worth, RIGHT next to this window there's a weird looking plug. It looks like an international plug or something. Since it's RIGHT next to the window, I wonder if it was originally used for another air conditioner?

Do you live in a basement apt?

I doubt any portable a/c unit will have a hose that long, however, with a little ingenuity you can create a ghetto solution. I think using some hose clamps to connect the a/c exhaust hosing to a clothes dryer exhaust hosing then pushing that thru the window piece bracket of the a/c exhaust(removed from the original hosing) or a piece of plywood(need to cut a hole to feed the exhaust hose).

 

[herm0016]

does the plug look like this?

http://applianceguru.com/dryers/dryer_outlet.jpg


if so that window was probably the site of an installed air conditioner, maybe you should just replace it. sounds like it will be close on the dimensions. go measure some units.

 

[ElFenix]

a dehumidifier will take away the humidity, which will make the temp more bearable. it will also increase the temp a bit due to thermodynamics.

 

[Rubycon]

If you sit a window shaker in the middle of the room it's essentially a dehumidifier.

Dehumidifiers (well the ones most people are familiar with) are nothing more than an air conditioner with the evaporator coil and condenser coil between a single fan.

 

[mmntech]

Another more permanent alternative is a split unit system. AKA ductless AC. They're basically a miniaturized central system. The condenser/compressor unit is mounted outside the building. Refrigerant hoses run in through the wall to a second unit that contains the evaporator (cooling) coils and a built-in blower fan. It mounts on the inside wall.

These air fairly common outside of North America, especially East Asia and Europe. A little more expensive too but they'll likely cool a larger area and don't have to be taken down come winter. They don't block up windows either.

I'm not sure what your rental/condo agreement is but it may be worth looking into if you're going to stay in your home for a while.

Here's a Panasonic one just to show you what they look like.
https://panasonic.ca/english/appliance/airconditioner/flash/index.html
They seem to range from $500 to $1000 for smaller units. Still comparable to those portable ones.

 

[alkemyst]

don't think his rental agreement would fly with that unless he was planning on leaving it.

I believe they make some that don't need to be vented outside now, but almost all of these will need almost daily water tank dumps. I'd imagine the ones that don't need venting to be expensive.

You should be able use an in-room unit with a 'vent/drain panel' that would still give you most of your window view.

 

[bobdole369]

I believe they make some that don't need to be vented outside now

This would violate the laws of thermodynamics...... I beg thee to offer up where thou hast heard of such a magickal device! Obviously thou art an alien or from the future!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_thermodynamics

I think you have the "no need to vent outside" with "no need to dump water". Those that need no dumping evaporate the water by passing air warmed by the condensor through the water tank, thus passing it outside or into the plenum, and in most cases, it evaporates enough to keep the tank dry.

I'd imagine the ones that don't need venting to be expensive

Well its gonna either be terribly expensive, as impossible devices oft are, or really really cheap, as devices that don't exist, or simply don't work oft are.

 

[alkemyst]

which I meant as able to be vented inside a dwelling.

 

[Hacp]

You don't need a compressor to dehumidify air. Use a dessicant.

 

[Kirby]

Move?

 

[Born2bwire]

You don't need a compressor to dehumidify air. Use a dessicant.

God... stupid necro but...

You still need to remove the water from the dessicant and that is done by a heater. In the end, the unit is quieter since you do not need to run the compressor but it probably produces a bit more heat and it definitely uses a lot more electricity. The one I use is desiccant.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

The coolth within the cavity is achieved by rejecting the heat to the outside via the condenser above the floor or in the back (on some freezers).

This is no different than sitting a window shaker on a table - feels good if you sit right in front of it but actually warms up the room.

That's how thermodynamics works. Any cooling solution cannot eliminate heat, it must move it or have it consumed by doing work with something like evaporation. Even then there is a price. Having a room a few degrees cooler by pumping up the humidity means the physiologic cooling mechanism a human body has work less effectively. Worse, you are inputting additional energy which has to become heat in a closed space.

He has to find some way to install a heat exchanger to the outside.