Smell from air conditioner...

[mistisrising]

I've searched, and searched, but I can't find anything that mentions whether air conditioners will convey smell to the outside. Will a window a/c unit take the smell out, or does it smell up the area it is venting to? And, will a in-room unit function the same?

 

[NatzTurnazHeadzBustaz]

I've searched, and searched, but I can't find anything that mentions whether air conditioners will convey smell to the outside. Will a window a/c unit take the smell out, or does it smell up the area it is venting to? And, will a in-room unit function the same?

In a High Times August 09 issue it is an article on this the guy in the article is using a portable A/C but I hope this helps:"Instead of exhausting through the supplied window vent, I simply drilled a 5-inch hole through the wall and mounted a standard clothes-dryer vent outside,disguising it nicely. I use a 5-inch-diameter activated charcoal carbon filter attached to the A/C's intake, which hangs high in the room to suck out the hottest air. I also installed a 10-inch axial fan covered with a simple box filter to blow fresh air into the room; this pressurizes the veg room, which in turn forces air through the carbon filter, the through the air conditioner and out the wall."

 

[monkeybusiness]

While I'm sure someone who's had direct experience with window ac units in windows of growrooms will be able to give a definitive answer, i can tell you that window ac units don't vent the inside air to the outside. It takes air from the inside, cools it, and send it back into the room. At the same time it takes outside air and blows it through the coils and back out to cool the system. The two, in theory, are seperate.
hxxp://home.howstuffworks.com/ac2.htm
(replace xx's with tt's)

Now I'm not saying super smelly bud's wouldn't leak through (I'm kind of curious about that myself) but it doesn't vent the inside to the outside.

It's also my understanding that portable ac's use inner ambient air to blow through the condenser for cooling which means they do vent the inside to the outside. I've never used one so I'm not sure that's 100% true, but certainly worth researching.

 

[mistisrising]

Just as a note: I somehow posted this in the totally wrong section. Could a mod move this to setup and design?

 

[smokybear]

I'm not too sure if it would smell outside or not. Chances are it would be ok but you can never be too safe.. I would definitely make sure it's ok before doing it. I would be worried about the spaces on each side of the a/c after it's in the window. I know most a/c's have the extendable thingies on each side to cover the space but it's not really going to seal the smell in. Just be careful about it. Just my thoughts. Take care and be safe.

 

[Super Silver Haze]

i use a window ac unit to control temps in a small wardrobe closet that was sitting next to the ac and YES i could smell it outside the window. i believe the smell leaked through the metal case or the seal but YES i could smell it. i relocated everything and vented into attic.

you might try and use an expanding foam to seal under the unit as well as any cracks.

you might want to check for light leaks also.

good luck

 

[The Effen Gee]

The smell can be transfered through the condensation your ac unit produces.

 

[Six]

The smell can be transfered through the condensation your ac unit produces.

YES>>>ABSOLUTELY....bad idea....the smell condenses in the moisture draining from the bottom of the unit....it will not mask any odors of any kind...cold air actually amplifies the smell inside the room too...the smell of mj carries alot further in the winter then it does in the summer FYI.....

 

[D3]

I use a window unit. You will get some odor outside. I do. It's not bad, though.

 

[greenfriend]

i use 3 window AC units and they collect water in the base pan, but it gets blown back into the air with a slinger fan. the dehumidifier dumps out about 12L of water a day, i havent smelled much odor in it, but my carbon scrubber/can fan runs 1300cfm so it filters all the air in the growroom every 1min 40s

 

[mistisrising]

Awesome, thanks guys.

 

[Six]

I use a window unit. You will get some odor outside. I do. It's not bad, though.

Not on the side of paranoid but just precautious...whatever we can smell, a dog can smell at a minimum, 10x better...and a cop doesnt need a warrant to walk around your house...but if hes got probable cause, he can come inside too...be safe...:batman:...i am batman...:chuck:

 

[hanfhead]

I use a portable a/c. It did smell outside even filtering with a can 66 filter. I vented up the chimney and problem solved. http://www.marijuanapassion.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43816

Also I saw a thread here to convert a window a/c and put ducting on it. Check the diy section. That would be a sealed system and not smell out the exhaust.

 

[mistisrising]

Natz posted earlier in this about an article in august 09 hight times about cooling, so I went out a bought the issue. It's a pretty good article, and it says that the front of the ac isn't cut off from the back, but the in room ac units are, so you can filter the intake to keep the smell inside. It suggests that the 9000 to 12000 btu units will take care of up to 3000w of light. The author adds that in his grow is 200 sqft, 8000w, and he needs 3600 btu's (3 tons of cooling) to keep it under control in the hottest days of summer. He also recommends that you use larger that 4" ducting, he says that it seems to matter more than you would think when it comes to venting heat. Also, keeping your ballasts in a separate area helps a lot.

 

[MindzEye]

Im a journeyman HVAC mechanic, I also use a window shaker in my growroom because I have no attic or crawl space there to run duct work...

You will have little to no smell coming from it, those units pull air out of the room and run it through a coil filled with liquid refrigerant, the refrigerant absorbs heat from the air, then the air is pushed back into the room after the heat has been removed...

The fan on the outside of the window is using outside air and passing through another coil that is inline with the coil inside, the refrigerant is then absorbing the heat from that air and becoming a super heated gas, then it goes to a compressor, the refrigerant has to be a gas in order to compress because it is impossible to compress a liquid... Once the compressor relieves pressure from the refrigerant it rapidly cools and becomes a liquid again... The whole process repeats itself....

So there is no direct link between inside air and outside air, condensation can trap smells but it is very minimal, and you will only get condensation if it is humid in your room....

So the likly hood of smell transfer is minimal...

What hanfhead is talking about above is a portable unit, the entire unit is inside the growroom not just half of it... Window units wont have this problem...

However a portable unit uses air from inside your growroom for the second coil or (condenser coil) then uses a duct to exhaust that air outside, so you are pulling air from inside your growroom and exhausting it outside... That would smell a lot worse.... Plus portable units are not efficient, because they are using the air you just spent all this energy to cool then moving it outside...

If you use a scrubber or a filter on a portable unit then you are not getting the airflow that is rated for the coil also known as a (seer rating)... You could end up with a big chunk of ice over the coil then your a/c wont work until you turn it off and thaw it out

I have read many articles in Hightimes about a/c's and they usually have thier facts wrong, although they may be good at growing weed they suck at climate control... I went to 5 years of school to learn this.... Dont turn to Hightimes about air conditioning turn to a professional

 

[The Effen Gee]

My ac unit has a satelite condenser unit located outside my room, so no hot air is dumped into the grow room.

My ac unit (Delonghi) was found on the side of the road with a peice of printer paper marked "Free".

It doubles as my climate control and dehumidifier.
10 gallons of condensation over 24 hours.