Thanks for the video on installing a portable AC vent into a casement video. I had to watch several videos to give me some ideas of how to tackle the problem the way I wanted to. Ultimately, I just went with a piece of chloroplast that I cut to fit into the rails of my bug screen, and then used some weather stripping to keep it tight and leak proof. I then just cut it to line up with where the vent opening is on the kit that came with the AC to latch it into the window. It works really good and I don't notice any more heat coming in through that vs. the normal window. As for the AC struggling to get much colder than a few degrees, I wouldn't think it is the walls that are causing the AC to struggle because brick actually provides an excellent thermal barrier. There are two likely culprits here instead: SACC rating and single vs. dual hose exhaust. The first being that your unit is not of sufficient BTU size for your space. Many manufacturers got away with listing the rated capacity in the best case scenario for years, but now there is the Seasonally Adjusted Cooling Capacity (SACC). This accounts for losses in efficiency such as heat radiating off of the pipe etc. So, your AC my actually have a SACC rating far too low for the room. Secondly, your unit is a single hose unit, which draws air in from the room to blow over the condenser and then out the tube you ran to your window. This creates a negative pressure in your house, drawing hot air from outside back in through whatever openings it can find, working against the unit. That is also something SACC takes into account, and you will notice some units listing 14,000 BTU with a SACC rating of a measly 7,000 BTU. This would likely indicate that the unit draws far too much air from the room to cool itself, sucking in much more hot air from the outside. A double hose unit draws air from outside to cool the condenser, and then blows that now hotter air back outside again. Beware though, there are some horribly inefficient dual hose designs as well! As such, the recommendation is to buy a unit with the SACC rating you need to cool the space. Just keep in mind that even if a single hose unit has the SACC BTU rating for your space, it will make other areas in your house hotter as hot air will be drawn into them and not actively cooled by the AC. Regardless, great video and thanks for the help!
I do think there was a lot of heat coming off the walls, I could measure them being 29-30 degrees on their surfaces. You're also right though that there's something really messed up with the ratings, which I think is why there are almost no dual-hose units you can buy. Just going by the ratings dual-hose offers no advantage, but of course that's bullshit, the physics is clear on that.
This was a great idea but the fatal flaw was using particle board. This will quickly deteriorate when it gets wet. Try using anything else that isn't damaged by moisture. Plywood that has been painted/prepared to withstand the moisture and look better. 1" pink solid insulation sheets would also be ideal, less expensive and easier to work with. I would also add some foam weatherstripping to help seal the edges against the window frame.
The board has a white melamin coating that is waterproof. It also looks fine. In theory the vulnerable edges are "inside", but there's still a good chance some water will seep into it. Once this panel does swell up I think plywood would be the easiest choice. So far I've been able to just remove the thing before rain starts. On hot summer days there's usually little wind so the rain falls straight down too.
@@antalz Thanks for your super quick reply! Honestly, you should look at this first. It's perfect for this and super easy to work with. Very lightweight, has better insulating qualities, it's waterproof and you can cut it with a utility knife. You could probably paint it pretty easily as well. It comes in 1/2" thickness as well. YT won't let me put a picture in the comment but this is what I mean... Owens Corning FOAMULAR NGX F-150 1 in. x 4 ft. x 8 ft. SSE R-5 XPS Rigid Foam Board Insulation
@@RustyTheGeek I hadn't considered XPS insulation before, is that stuff rigid enough you think? And can you cut and drill the holes easily enough? The hose adapter is also secured with M4 screws, does that work? That could be a material I could use more often.
@@antalz Best to just go look at it in the home center. I'm guessing the 1" will be best and the most rigid. It's literally just very dense solid foam so any screws will need to pass through it into something on the opposite side to hold well in a sandwich configuration. It can be cut easily with a knife, ideally one that is long and straight such as an extendable razor knife. I think you'll find it to be ideal for this specific use.
I came onto youtube just to see how others had done this tonight and really love your solution. I just got myself a portable air conditioner, I get my office lowered by 3 - 4 degrees in a 18 cubic meter room witha very similar set of windows to yours that opens outwards, I had some 12mm ply lying around that I cut to size to fit across all the windows in the bay. I secured it with a few suction pads that I could press onto the two surrounding windows. Your solution is really neat and well thought through, I may modify mine to allow at least some light in the window, the latches are a great idea, having the mosquito net rails sure was handy!
@@Chris_t0 are you sure you’re talking about an air conditioner? From what I gather this is what I should expect from a portable one. I’ve never used it to heat a room
@@daveawb oh yeah i mean it in a bad way like my room is hot asf like 26c even when its only 18c outside, so if this only takes my room down 4 degrees its kinda useless for me. I need like -8 or -10 degrees
@@Chris_t0 Ah I see! Yeah you're probably better off with a full mounted system then. I've not found a portable one yet that is good enough to do that.
I made one out of lexan because the window was bigger and using wood would've made the room too dark. I also opted to buy the split unit. It didn't make sense to exhaust the room air. It would be throwing the baby out with the bath water sort of thing! 10 Years on, and still going every summer. Since you installed your board inside, you should install a sort of awning/rain gutter for the bottom of the outside, so that when the rain hits the windows sideways, water doesn't slide down the board and into the window ledge. That way, when the rain hits the board and comes down, it will hit the awning/rain gutter at the bottom, and is diverted outside. I used construction tape from the outside to seal the bottom. At the end of the season, the tape is ripped out and thrown away.
That's quite clever, I made mine with quick install and removal in mind. If I see a rainshower coming I either just accept a little wetness, or I just remove the board and close the window. I feel like it's usually not that hot before big rainshowers anyway. I do want to convert this thing into a dual-hose unit, which is kinda similar to, but not as good as, a split system. I don't have a good place to hang the outside unit.
You can also make the latches entirely from wood, primarily using dowel rod you can buy from the hardware store. I had wanted to make an update video showing that, but I never got around to it.
downside where i live windows open inwards - only think i can find is them thin plastic window seals that rip after a few days using - shame my flat didnt have built in air con as portable air on only way to cool down but so much hot air wasted as half comes back in the window
Is it perhaps possible to put a plate on the outside, with the latches holding it in place on the inside? But yeah there are a bunch of window designs that are challenging, like some crank windows or windows kept in place with a sheet metal bar that locks on a peg.
@@thewolfydragon1989 That's a huge bummer. I went with this wood plate because I knew one of those window kits wouldn't work, so I'm a bit sad to hear that even where they do work in theory they're still bad. And I suppose you have communal heating because heating can be done with a boiler that lives inside the building. AC needs equipment outside, usually on the roof. There are tons of people suffering from that problem, maybe I can come up with a more universal and more accesible way of sealing a window with a plate. A few people couldn't recreate the latches for example, because they had no 3D printer or no ability to modify the file to suit their windowframe thickness.
@@antalz yeh that's why I ahd to go with portable air conditioning as I coudlnt get an outside unit and as I rent I can't really drill hole through wall either. I might try see if I can find insulation and glue it onto the fabric seals see if it stops bit more heat. (they do work but still lot of wasted energy) if that makes sense? Not sure how good it will be but it's next idea I can think of. (saying that the heatwave here in the UK is ending tonight but least for future use it will save energy and cool loss/heat coming back in as my flat regular gets hot when sunny in summer)
The latches are 3D printed, files are linked in the description. Are you able to have them printed, and/or adjust them for your windowframe? You're definitely not the first person with this issue.
Hi, they're not purchased, they're 3D printed. The files are linked in the description, but I'm not sure if that helps you. I think you can recreate the same idea out of wood, with two pieces of dowel rod, one large and one small diameter.
That is a fair point. My more regular audience should be able to adapt the files and print, but I understand that's not feasible for many. I should probably come back to this, making latches from dowel rod and some scrap wood should be quite easy.
@@antalz thank you. I have made a board but the one problem is how to secure it. I look forward to a video using as you say dowel. Cant work it out myself as the tension would pull off the base catch...due to the tension?
@@stephenprice8835 I'm afraid it'll be a while, I got some other video ideas and I still haven't started back up, it's been over a year since my last upload. My idea is basically: 1) Cut a dowel roughly to length, diameter matches plate hole diameter 2) Drill holes in two scraps, put the dowel through the board, slide on scrap from either side of the board, screw the scraps to the dowel. This prevents the dowel from sliding forward or backward through the plate 3) Cut out a handle, glue that on. Cut out a latchingbit, glue that on. Or screw I suppose. File a small taper on the latch so it grips well. 4) Adjust the position of the scraps as needed Will probably require a pretty big hole, to accomodate a thick dowel. Something like 12 mm.
Thanks for the video on installing a portable AC vent into a casement video. I had to watch several videos to give me some ideas of how to tackle the problem the way I wanted to. Ultimately, I just went with a piece of chloroplast that I cut to fit into the rails of my bug screen, and then used some weather stripping to keep it tight and leak proof. I then just cut it to line up with where the vent opening is on the kit that came with the AC to latch it into the window. It works really good and I don't notice any more heat coming in through that vs. the normal window.
As for the AC struggling to get much colder than a few degrees, I wouldn't think it is the walls that are causing the AC to struggle because brick actually provides an excellent thermal barrier. There are two likely culprits here instead: SACC rating and single vs. dual hose exhaust. The first being that your unit is not of sufficient BTU size for your space. Many manufacturers got away with listing the rated capacity in the best case scenario for years, but now there is the Seasonally Adjusted Cooling Capacity (SACC). This accounts for losses in efficiency such as heat radiating off of the pipe etc. So, your AC my actually have a SACC rating far too low for the room. Secondly, your unit is a single hose unit, which draws air in from the room to blow over the condenser and then out the tube you ran to your window. This creates a negative pressure in your house, drawing hot air from outside back in through whatever openings it can find, working against the unit. That is also something SACC takes into account, and you will notice some units listing 14,000 BTU with a SACC rating of a measly 7,000 BTU. This would likely indicate that the unit draws far too much air from the room to cool itself, sucking in much more hot air from the outside. A double hose unit draws air from outside to cool the condenser, and then blows that now hotter air back outside again. Beware though, there are some horribly inefficient dual hose designs as well! As such, the recommendation is to buy a unit with the SACC rating you need to cool the space. Just keep in mind that even if a single hose unit has the SACC BTU rating for your space, it will make other areas in your house hotter as hot air will be drawn into them and not actively cooled by the AC.
Regardless, great video and thanks for the help!
I do think there was a lot of heat coming off the walls, I could measure them being 29-30 degrees on their surfaces. You're also right though that there's something really messed up with the ratings, which I think is why there are almost no dual-hose units you can buy. Just going by the ratings dual-hose offers no advantage, but of course that's bullshit, the physics is clear on that.
Thanks from the UK.
I also now know why my apartment gets hotter when the sun goes down 👍
This was a great idea but the fatal flaw was using particle board. This will quickly deteriorate when it gets wet. Try using anything else that isn't damaged by moisture. Plywood that has been painted/prepared to withstand the moisture and look better. 1" pink solid insulation sheets would also be ideal, less expensive and easier to work with. I would also add some foam weatherstripping to help seal the edges against the window frame.
The board has a white melamin coating that is waterproof. It also looks fine. In theory the vulnerable edges are "inside", but there's still a good chance some water will seep into it. Once this panel does swell up I think plywood would be the easiest choice. So far I've been able to just remove the thing before rain starts. On hot summer days there's usually little wind so the rain falls straight down too.
@@antalz Thanks for your super quick reply! Honestly, you should look at this first. It's perfect for this and super easy to work with. Very lightweight, has better insulating qualities, it's waterproof and you can cut it with a utility knife. You could probably paint it pretty easily as well. It comes in 1/2" thickness as well. YT won't let me put a picture in the comment but this is what I mean... Owens Corning FOAMULAR NGX F-150 1 in. x 4 ft. x 8 ft. SSE R-5 XPS Rigid Foam Board Insulation
@@RustyTheGeek I hadn't considered XPS insulation before, is that stuff rigid enough you think? And can you cut and drill the holes easily enough? The hose adapter is also secured with M4 screws, does that work? That could be a material I could use more often.
@@antalz Best to just go look at it in the home center. I'm guessing the 1" will be best and the most rigid. It's literally just very dense solid foam so any screws will need to pass through it into something on the opposite side to hold well in a sandwich configuration. It can be cut easily with a knife, ideally one that is long and straight such as an extendable razor knife. I think you'll find it to be ideal for this specific use.
I came onto youtube just to see how others had done this tonight and really love your solution. I just got myself a portable air conditioner, I get my office lowered by 3 - 4 degrees in a 18 cubic meter room witha very similar set of windows to yours that opens outwards, I had some 12mm ply lying around that I cut to size to fit across all the windows in the bay. I secured it with a few suction pads that I could press onto the two surrounding windows. Your solution is really neat and well thought through, I may modify mine to allow at least some light in the window, the latches are a great idea, having the mosquito net rails sure was handy!
Using suction cups sounds really clever! Thanks for that idea, and thanks for watching
3-4 degrees wtf that is awful, my bedroom is 26c even when its 18c outside
@@Chris_t0 are you sure you’re talking about an air conditioner? From what I gather this is what I should expect from a portable one. I’ve never used it to heat a room
@@daveawb oh yeah i mean it in a bad way like my room is hot asf like 26c even when its only 18c outside, so if this only takes my room down 4 degrees its kinda useless for me. I need like -8 or -10 degrees
@@Chris_t0 Ah I see! Yeah you're probably better off with a full mounted system then. I've not found a portable one yet that is good enough to do that.
Great video! Thanks for showing us your idea!
I made one out of lexan because the window was bigger and using wood would've made the room too dark.
I also opted to buy the split unit. It didn't make sense to exhaust the room air. It would be throwing the baby out with the bath water sort of thing!
10 Years on, and still going every summer.
Since you installed your board inside, you should install a sort of awning/rain gutter for the bottom of the outside, so that when the rain hits the windows sideways, water doesn't slide down the board and into the window ledge.
That way, when the rain hits the board and comes down, it will hit the awning/rain gutter at the bottom, and is diverted outside.
I used construction tape from the outside to seal the bottom. At the end of the season, the tape is ripped out and thrown away.
That's quite clever, I made mine with quick install and removal in mind. If I see a rainshower coming I either just accept a little wetness, or I just remove the board and close the window. I feel like it's usually not that hot before big rainshowers anyway.
I do want to convert this thing into a dual-hose unit, which is kinda similar to, but not as good as, a split system. I don't have a good place to hang the outside unit.
That’s genius!
bravo
ik ga het proberen
dank je wel 👌🏻👍🏻
Veel succes, laat het weten als iets niet lukt
Brilliant
very interesting video, i dont have a 3d printer but might ask somebody to print the handles for me, im dreading summer XD
You can also make the latches entirely from wood, primarily using dowel rod you can buy from the hardware store. I had wanted to make an update video showing that, but I never got around to it.
Thanks so much for this video . From where did get these latches ?
The latches are 3D printed, there's a link in the description to the files
downside where i live windows open inwards - only think i can find is them thin plastic window seals that rip after a few days using - shame my flat didnt have built in air con as portable air on only way to cool down but so much hot air wasted as half comes back in the window
Is it perhaps possible to put a plate on the outside, with the latches holding it in place on the inside? But yeah there are a bunch of window designs that are challenging, like some crank windows or windows kept in place with a sheet metal bar that locks on a peg.
@@antalz sadly no :( - i live in a high rise/small skyscraper (which is why im surprised we dont have communal air con system as we do for heating)
@@thewolfydragon1989 That's a huge bummer. I went with this wood plate because I knew one of those window kits wouldn't work, so I'm a bit sad to hear that even where they do work in theory they're still bad. And I suppose you have communal heating because heating can be done with a boiler that lives inside the building. AC needs equipment outside, usually on the roof. There are tons of people suffering from that problem, maybe I can come up with a more universal and more accesible way of sealing a window with a plate. A few people couldn't recreate the latches for example, because they had no 3D printer or no ability to modify the file to suit their windowframe thickness.
@@antalz yeh that's why I ahd to go with portable air conditioning as I coudlnt get an outside unit and as I rent I can't really drill hole through wall either. I might try see if I can find insulation and glue it onto the fabric seals see if it stops bit more heat. (they do work but still lot of wasted energy) if that makes sense? Not sure how good it will be but it's next idea I can think of. (saying that the heatwave here in the UK is ending tonight but least for future use it will save energy and cool loss/heat coming back in as my flat regular gets hot when sunny in summer)
Hey, love your idea but i have a question
How thick is your board you used? 1/8th inch ,1/4th inch?
The board is 18 mm, which is about 3/4 inch. You need some thickness to it to keep it nice and stiff. I would probably recommend 1/2" or thicker.
Where did you get the latches? I can’t find them anywhere. Thank you!!
The latches are 3D printed, files are linked in the description. Are you able to have them printed, and/or adjust them for your windowframe? You're definitely not the first person with this issue.
I don't own a 3D printer, unfortunately.
@@kylelweryu3462 Yeah, I should really upload a part 2 to this. You can also get something similar put together using dowel rod or threaded rod.
Dude if I were you I would print a bunch out and just sell them. You'd make a grip just off this video! Would you sell me a couple?
@@antalz Do you have an instagram?
What counts as a heatwave in the Netherlands?
Officially 5 days of >25C, with at least 3 days >30C. It's the 30C days that are no fun.
Hi. Where did you buy the latch? I can't find it online - nor on English or Danish websites.
Hi, they're not purchased, they're 3D printed. The files are linked in the description, but I'm not sure if that helps you. I think you can recreate the same idea out of wood, with two pieces of dowel rod, one large and one small diameter.
Your video totally fails as you use a component nobody can buy. The latches. A waste of your time and ours. Very disappointing
That is a fair point. My more regular audience should be able to adapt the files and print, but I understand that's not feasible for many. I should probably come back to this, making latches from dowel rod and some scrap wood should be quite easy.
@@antalz thank you. I have made a board but the one problem is how to secure it.
I look forward to a video using as you say dowel. Cant work it out myself as the tension would pull off the base catch...due to the tension?
@@stephenprice8835 I'm afraid it'll be a while, I got some other video ideas and I still haven't started back up, it's been over a year since my last upload. My idea is basically:
1) Cut a dowel roughly to length, diameter matches plate hole diameter
2) Drill holes in two scraps, put the dowel through the board, slide on scrap from either side of the board, screw the scraps to the dowel. This prevents the dowel from sliding forward or backward through the plate
3) Cut out a handle, glue that on. Cut out a latchingbit, glue that on. Or screw I suppose. File a small taper on the latch so it grips well.
4) Adjust the position of the scraps as needed
Will probably require a pretty big hole, to accomodate a thick dowel. Something like 12 mm.
@@garygjl9036 Limited vocabulary, in a message that does not make sense. I would be please to read one that did.