Midea portable air conditioners

Luckyontheducky · 07-10-2007, 12:37 PM

Anyone have one? Are they any good? (made in China!) I want something to cool my garage, is 10,000BTU enough?

Helinut1970 · 07-10-2007, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luckyontheducky

Anyone have one? Are they any good? (made in China!) I want something to cool my garage, is 10,000BTU enough?

I have a portable air conditioner I use as a back up if the power goes out I can use it with the generator. As far as your question goes It depends if it (Ill try to make it simple) has two tubes coming out the back. If it is a single tube, forget it. Those create a negitive pressure in the room and throw your cooled air outside. If it sucks from outside and the exhaust is outside you will do much much better at cooling. As far as the garage? How big is it? Is it insulated? Those will be your biggest factors. You might want to go with a 220 wall unit and save money.

vegastitan21 · 07-10-2007, 02:06 PM

man u can pick up a bad *** swamp cooler at home depot for around 400 bucks and it will use much less power.

Luckyontheducky · 07-10-2007, 03:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vegastitan21

man u can pick up a bad *** swamp cooler at home depot for around 400 bucks and it will use much less power.

Swamp cooler!?...maybe in Vegas, but not Savannah Ga!

I don't understand the two tube theory. Granted there needs to be an exhaust to get rid of the hot air, but wouldn't it be better to re-cool the room air rather then bringing in fresh (hot) air? Like using max vs regular A/C on our beloved Titans? There are some Midea units on Ebay and I want to avoid hacking a big hole in the wall. Am hoping to get away with just a dryer vent type exhaust. The garage is about 20X20. I just want to make it possible to work in there during the summer.

Thanks!
L

Helinut1970 · 07-10-2007, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luckyontheducky

Swamp cooler!?...maybe in Vegas, but not Savannah Ga!

I don't understand the two tube theory. Granted there needs to be an exhaust to get rid of the hot air, but wouldn't it be better to re-cool the room air rather then bringing in fresh (hot) air? Like using max vs regular A/C on our beloved Titans? There are some Midea units on Ebay and I want to avoid hacking a big hole in the wall. Am hoping to get away with just a dryer vent type exhaust. The garage is about 20X20. I just want to make it possible to work in there during the summer.

Thanks!
L

Well I tried to make it simple but. Ok picture this. With a single tube it is like running the AC but also have a fan blowing the cold air in the room outside because it is drawing all the cooling from inside the room where you are trying to put cold air in, and blowing it outside. At the same time it is causeing negitave pressure in the room from blowing all the air out but not replaceing it with more air. Now with a dual tube AC it is pulling outside air into the unit to cool it and blowing even hotter air out with very little inside air being pulled out. It doesnt matter if the outside air is hot, it still works just as your car ac works. I hope this helps.

Helinut1970 · 07-10-2007, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vegastitan21

man u can pick up a bad *** swamp cooler at home depot for around 400 bucks and it will use much less power.

Swamp coolers work great in arid lands but not where the humidity is 100% and there is no such thing as evaporative cooling. Sorry.

Papa_D · 07-10-2007, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luckyontheducky

Swamp cooler!?...maybe in Vegas, but not Savannah Ga!

I don't understand the two tube theory. Granted there needs to be an exhaust to get rid of the hot air, but wouldn't it be better to re-cool the room air rather then bringing in fresh (hot) air? Like using max vs regular A/C on our beloved Titans? There are some Midea units on Ebay and I want to avoid hacking a big hole in the wall. Am hoping to get away with just a dryer vent type exhaust. The garage is about 20X20. I just want to make it possible to work in there during the summer.

Thanks!
L

I'll make this short and sweet, if you want to cool the garage you need a properly insulated garage door and central air with an additional air intake in the garage for circulation to really cool it properly. This was my experience at least and you are in a similar climate. I tried them all, spot cooler vented to the attic and pulling air in from the window, the two piece with the tubes and a window unit after I punched a hole in the block wall and nothing worked well enough. If you just want to cool you, spot coolers are fine but when it comes to cooling the room nothing beats central air and proper insulation. By the way, I have a 15000 BTU 115v window unit I'll let go cheap, lol.

Luckyontheducky · 07-11-2007, 05:29 AM

Is there a specific term for this 'two tube' configuration?

Nuke · 07-11-2007, 06:59 AM

I would say 30-45 BTU/sf would keep it comfortable. So for a 20x20 garage 12-18,000 BTU. An insulated garage door is going to make a difference.

Luckyontheducky · 08-14-2007, 11:29 AM

Central AC quit last week, so I was forced to buy one just to be able to stay in the house. Was Everstar brand from Home Depot for $300. Advertised as 10,000 BTU and would cool 400 sq ft. I think 200 sq ft would probably be its limit. Kept the small bedroom nice and cool, but not nearly enough to cool a hot garage. Guess I will try and sell it on Craigslist or something.

L