Cool 1 or 2 rooms with portable unit

Thursday, June 28, 2007
James Dulley

Qlike fresh air, but my kids have allergies, so I close the windows and air-condition sometimes. I thought about getting a portable air conditioner to use in various rooms. Are they efficient?

Asing a portable air condi tioner or heat pump would be an efficient solution for your family. They are mounted on castors so you can easily roll one from room to room depending on where your children are having problems. Most operate on standard 120-volt electricity, so they can be plugged into any wall outlet near a window.

I use a Soleus portable heat pump model in my own home/ office for year-round savings. In addition to cooling the room during summer, it also functions as an efficient portable electric heater during winter. It produces 14,000 Btuh of cooling and 11,000 Btuh of heating (more than standard 120-volt space heaters).

A portable air conditioner/ heat pump operates similarly to a typical window unit. The primary difference is it is on castors and rests on the floor. Round air ducts, similar to dryer ducts, connect the unit to a window adapter. You open a window, place the adapter in the opening and close the window against it. This exhausts the heat outdoors when cooling.

The efficiency of a portable air conditioner is similar to a window air conditioner. Although this is less efficient than the newest central air conditioners, using one can still save money. By keeping just one or two rooms comfortably cool, you can set your central thermostat higher and save electricity overall. Use it in the dining room for dinner, roll it into the living room for television and then to the bedroom for sleeping.

There are two basic designs of portable units. One design uses a single duct to the window adapter. This is the simplest system and works well, but it does draw some cooled or heated room air to the outdoors. I use a Northstar one-duct model, with a remote control, in my second- floor bedroom at night.

The other design uses two ducts. All of the air flowing through the condenser is drawn from outdoors and exhausted back outdoors. This is more energy efficient, especially when operating a heat pump model in the heating mode during winter. Some two-duct heat pump models can also be set up with only one duct.

Another feature to consider is how the condensed water is handled in the cooling mode. Some evaporative models mix it with the air exhausted outdoors so there is nothing to empty. Other models, which also work well as dehumidifiers, capture the water in a small tank which you must empty. I use the distilled water from the tank to water my plants.

The following companies offer portable air conditioners: Northstar, 1-800-326-1365, www.freecomac.com; Soleus Int'l., 1-513-985-1211, www.soleusair.com; Sunpentown, 1-800-330-0388, www.sunpentown.com; Toyotomi, 1-203-775-1909, www.toyotomiusa.com; and Windchaser, 1-800-405-2943, www.windchaserproducts.com.

Qhave a wood stove in a room that is over a storage cellar. I thought the heat would eventually work its way down to the cellar, but it does not. How can I get the heated air down into the cellar?

Aeat energy from a hot stove radiates in all directions equally, but hot air rises, as you have found. Put a vent through the floor in one corner of the room that is seldom used.

Somewhere near the stove, install a floor fan to blow the warm air down into the cellar. This will force cold air up the corner vent. By the time the cold air reaches people, it will have mixed with the warmer air and be comfortable.

Source : http://www.cleveland.com/living/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/living-0/1183031787174780.xml&coll=2

Hazy, heat, humidity, thunderstorms, power outages

June 28, 2007

Temperatures reached into the 90s on Wednesday with a fair share of clouds and haze, high humidity levels. By mid-afternoon, thunderstorms rolled into the region, knocking out power to some areas.

Metro-North Railroad commuters faced some delays following a lightening strike in New York City that temporarily disrupted power for some 400,000 people during the afternoon commute. Railroad officials expected the ride home to the north would be nightmare, but when power was restored relatively quickly, the ride home eased somewhat.

As of 5:00 this morning, some 15,000 people were reported still without electricity in parts of Westchester County and Long Island.

Another set of thunderstorms passed through the Hudson Valley in the evening hours with reports of a couple of houses being struck by lightening and catching fire.

Orange and Rockland Utilities, which provides electric service to a significant portion of the Hudson Valley, suggested consumers conserve energy this summertime.

Set your central air conditioner thermostat at 78 degrees F or higher to achieve maximum savings on your cooling costs. Setting the room temperature on the air conditioner at 75 degrees costs nearly 20 percent more. A 72-degree setting costs almost 40 percent more than the 78-degree setting.

Install a timer or clock thermostat on your air conditioner so you can program it to operate and shut-off at pre-determined hours. That saves you from running it all day so you return at day’s end to a cool house.

Hire a qualified technician to perform routine maintenance service on your air conditioner annually. Check, clean or replace the filter in your air conditioner at least once a month.

Install your window/wall air conditioner on the north or east side of the house. Avoiding the hot afternoon sun can save as much as 5 percent on your cooling expense.

Plan cooking, baking or other household activities that produce heat and humidity for the cooler times of the day and night.

Use a portable or ceiling fan to circulate the pre-cooled air in your air-conditioned home.

Source : http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/weather-28Jun07.html

Hot Tempers Over Cool Air

Thursday, June 28, 2007

By Julia Vail
Special to The Moscow Times

	Igor Tabakov / MT

Tensions between Russia and the West arise from many sources: nuclear proliferation, missile defense systems, and, of course, air conditioning.

An age-old Russian belief that air conditioning is a sure route to colds and flu has led to growing numbers of hot and grumpy expats in the summer.

"There is a low-level civil war going on in my office between those for and against the air conditioning, which apparently is bad for your health," said one expat, who withheld his name for fear of aggravating his anti-air-conditioning colleagues.

During the recent heatwave, people in his office had been "turning [the air-conditioning up], then down, opening windows, others angrily closing them, hiding the air-conditioner remote ... I am sure the same is going on in every office in the city," he said.

Though considered archaic by many Westerners, the belief that air-conditioning causes illness still enjoys widespread acceptance in Russia.

"Air conditioning can cause colds," said university student Anna Chikhrai. "Especially if you're sitting in an office and there's an air conditioner nearby, the cold air can hurt your throat."

Muscovite Andrei Kolganov said he also believed air conditioning could lead to disease.

"I'm not a specialist," he said. "However, I think when a person undergoes any severe change in temperature, it can cause a cold."

Many medical specialists share Kolganov's opinion.

"Some people come in from the hot street and want to get cool as soon as possible," said Dr. Nikita Romashko of American Medical Centers. "But when temperatures change quickly, it causes immune disturbances, and as a result, disease."

Romashko offered some advice for the safe use of air conditioning.

"You shouldn't change the temperature more than five degrees from the outside temperature. When an organism gets air that is too cold, it affects resistance and immunity to bacteria."

Elena Baud, a therapist and intern at the Swiss Medical Association in Zurich, said that air conditioners are not risky, if one knows how to handle them. She also gave several tips to prevent illness.

First, the conditioner should be switched off when opening windows. Second, sitting very close to the air conditioner can be harmful, especially after coming in from the hot street or an unconditioned room.

Finally, one should ensure that the technical features of the air conditioner are compatible with the conditions where it will be working.

"Sometimes bad quality or outdated technical appliances can be the reason for getting a cold, so one has to consider the price-quality dilemma very carefully," she said.

A doctor from Ne Bolit Medical Center, who asked to be identified only as Irina, stressed the importance of air conditioner maintenance.

"Viruses grow in air-conditioning filters," she said. "When people do not clean their filters very often, it can circulate viruses in the air, causing diseases."

Source : http://www.moscowtimes.ru/stories/2007/06/28/026.html