Portable AC Question

[dwm]

I just installed a portable AC unit in my laundry room. The Laundry room is in the garage and has no windows and a weather sealed exterior door. I vented the unit through the wall.

The room is very small 7X10. It is not cooling very well. I am thinking that the room is sealed to tight and I need to cut a vent in the wall and maybe one in the ceiling for some air exchange. If I cross vent the room to the garage, it is going to suck in hot air. There is no common wall to cross vent to a conditioned space.

Any recommendations or advise? I know these portable units will only do so much, but with such a small space and half ton unit, I thought it would have no problem working at least as well as a windo unit.

[gevans]

Make sure your dryer is properly vented. It produces more heat than a half ton unit can handle.
When the dryer is running, it exhausts air outdoors. Therefore, it MUST have a place to draw fresh air to work properly. So you can't just completely seal the room.
You may also have zero insulation in the walls and ceiling.
Laundry rooms are very hard to cool.

[hvaclover]

In the garage?

How much wall area is exposed to garage area? Is that wall insulated?

Any outside walls?

And yes, the dryer could literally be sucking the cooled air out faster than the ac is cooling new air.

[dwm]

Room won't cool even when dryer is not running. This is a very small space we are talking about, 70 squar feet.

The room is sealed up pretty good. My question is, should I vent it? If so should I just put a vent in the wall to the garage or should I cut on into the ceiling also?

I am not sure which is worse, having the room sealed too tight, or sucking air in from an unconditioned room.

Opinions???

[dwm]

Room won't cool even when dryer is not running. This is a very small space we are talking about, 70 squar feet.

The room is sealed up pretty good. My question is, should I vent it? If so should I just put a vent in the wall to the garage or should I cut on into the ceiling also?

I am not sure which is worse, having the room sealed too tight, or sucking air in from an unconditioned room.

Opinions???

[dwm]

Room won't cool even when dryer is not running. This is a very small space we are talking about, 70 squar feet.

The room is sealed up pretty good. My question is, should I vent it? If so should I just put a vent in the wall to the garage or should I cut on into the ceiling also?

I am not sure which is worse, having the room sealed too tight, or sucking air in from an unconditioned room.

Opinions???

[billva]

Your dryer needs air to work properly, no air in= no air out.

Have you noticed it takes a long time to dry your clothes?

Fortunatly you CANNOT pull air from the garage (CO and all). you will need to install a fresh air intake to this closeted area.

[Shophound]

Room won't cool even when dryer is not running. This is a very small space we are talking about, 70 squar feet.

The room is sealed up pretty good. My question is, should I vent it? If so should I just put a vent in the wall to the garage or should I cut on into the ceiling also?

I am not sure which is worse, having the room sealed too tight, or sucking air in from an unconditioned room.

Opinions???

We heard ya the first time.

Are you running this little portable job with nowhere for the condenser heat to be exhausted from the room? That is, if there's a hose that pumps out hot air, is it just dumping into the laundry room?

Or...are you exhausting the hot air from this hose into the garage, without providing make-up air for the condenser also outside of the laundry room?

Either way will result in a 70 square foot room with no other appliances running from getting cool with a 1/2 ton unit in it. You not only have to reject the heat from this dinky space, but not suck the cool air out trying to do it.

All this said assuming what I think you mean by "portable" a/c, like a "Port a Cool" (spot cooler) or such that is on wheels and has a flexible duct for exhausting hot air.

[dwm]

Yes, it is one of those portable ac units on wheels. I have the exhaust hose attached to a vent through the wall to the outside but there is no source/vent for replacement fresh air to be sucked in. The room is sealed pretty tight, but I do get a powerful stream of air exhausting out of the vent even when the door is shut.

I can cut a vent in the wall through to the garage, but my concern is weather that is a good idea since I will be pulling hot air in from the garage. I can cut the vent right behind the unit so most of the "replacement air" gets sucked into the unit. I think this is what I am going to do, but I was just looking for advice before I cut a hole in the wall, I don't want to make the matter worse.

Second part of my question is whether I should cut a vent in the ceiling to let hot air rise into the attic space above.

Sorry for weekend warrior post, but I am no AC guy which is why I thought I would post here. This site was very helpful when I replaced my central AC system earlier this year.