Venting / Exhausting

Do portable air conditioners require venting?

Yes, all portable air conditioners require some type of ventilation. It is important that you vent the hot air outside of the room you are trying to cool.

Our entire units comes with hoses to vent the exhaust and window filler kits to allow you to properly vent out of most windows. However, you do not need to vent the hot air out a window. The window venting kits also fit most sliding glass doors ( if you make modifications , or you may make a custom modification and vent the exhaust through a wall do not install exhaust hose into a drop ceiling or anything that does not vent outside

Can't I just let the portable air conditioner run without a vent?
Portable air conditioners are designed to operate with a vent.  Your going to be able to cool the room because front of the machine would blow cold air, but the back of the  machine will blow hot air….The two air streams will mix and you will be left with a warm room.

Extending the Exhaust Hose                         

These units are designed with the hoses included. You may have read it else ware that you can but any additional hoses will cause the compressor to shut down from back pressure, and cause the output air to be warm. This will diminish the efficiency of the unit. 

Exhaust hose placement                   

How close is the unit to the wall? If the unit is only inches away from the wall and you are running the exhaust hose out a window, more than likely their exhaust hose bend is at 90 degrees which restricts air flow. In order for the unit to run more efficiently and not overheat, it should be at least 1-1/2 feet away from the wall and the exhaust hose should not exceed more then a 45 degree angle.

Exhausting to a ceiling, attic, plenum or basement

We are going to have to say no for two reasons, if the no outside room does not have a way of pushing the heat from the exhaust to the outside, the unit will work for a short period of time and then eventually overheat and shut off.  The second reason is you our exhausting condensation into that room, which over time can lead to mold & mildew

Can I vent a portable air conditioner out a dryer vent?

Generally, this is not recommended by the manufacturer, especially if the diameter of the vent hose is greater than the diameter of the dryer vent. A standard dryer vent is 4". Most portable air conditioners have 5" exhaust hoses. Some units have smaller diameter vent hoses and these units may be vented out a dryer vent. However, you should not use the external part of the dryer vent that has flaps, as the compressor is not strong enough to push these flaps open. If you need to cover that exterior opening of the vent, we recommend using a screen.

Can I discharge the hot air out of a sliding glass door or sliding glass window.

Although most units come with window kits for traditional double hung windows - only selected units will work with sliding glass doors and sliding glass windows. In some cases this may require the purchase of additional accessories. Please see the product descriptions and / or contact us for details.

(Note the window Kit max dimension, 48” is a standard width.)

I have a casement / crank out window, will this work?

There are no portable air conditioner units with a window kit that will work for a casement window. Some customers have fashioned a solution using Plexiglas to cover their entire window area and then have a small hole cut into the Plexiglas for the hot air discharge hose. No solution is provided "out of the box" but some customers have fashioned their own.