Air Conditioning Curiosities

Heya Fellow Cavers.

It's no secret Texas has had 22 days with 100+ temps and this aint going to get cooler any time soon. I recently installed two 21" box fans in the window of the Man Cave (24' X 20' or so garage with 9 a foot ceiling) pointing out to - hopefully - suck some of the hot air out and at least keep some air moving in there. That seemed to help a bit when running a couple of osculating fans in the area and leaving the utility room door open to grab a bit of cool air from the central vent in that small room.

Anyway...

Today I scored a used window air conditioning unit. It's old, has no clear labels on it to tell me anything but it's blowing nice cold air. My dilemma is I can't install it in the window, that would point it right out the front of the house and be a "No No" with my HOA. So I've got it sitting on a cooler. My question is, will it not run efficiently set up this way? I noticed the hot air blowing from the rear of the unit, I'm wondering if that simply offsets what cool air is coming out the front.

I sat down for Rescue Me late tonight and it was 91 outside, 105 in the cave. Not exactly what I expected... When I had the utility room door open and was grabbing A/C from that room it was in the afternoon and 105 outside and 90 in the cave.

Any A/C experts have some advice? Thanks in advance!

Edit: Found a tag on the inside. JC Penney, 8000 BTU. A quick Google says todays 8000 BTU units will cool 320 to 250 square feet.

You can cut hole in the wall. use some 2*4 to frame it out. Just make sure it it is pitch to the outside so water will drain outside not inside. Just help a freind with that monday for his man cave. Kelly ferguson

I had a window installed, is that an option on a wall that doesn't offend the HOA? I spoke to the HVAC tech who did a maint check, he stated my idea of connecting some vents to my house system is illegal, due to the possibility of Carbon Monoxide entering the system. Oh well. Good luck.

Thanks for the feedback. My delema is the window faces the front of the house and the HOA probably wouldn't like it there, and the house is currently up for sale so my intention of cutting a hole in the side wall to install a unit is off the table. I did however set the unit on a table just to try it out, as it turns out the heat coming from the back of the unit cancels out the cool from the front. If you're right in front of it its great but the room itself never cools down. Then I built a box around it with an exhaust and a fan pulling the hot air out, which helped a great deal but still not as effective as I'd like.

So, I gave the unit to a friend and we enjoy it in his Man Cave.

Another lesson learned. Can't wait til the house sells and I get to start all over on a new hang out!

This seems to be something new and unique. Its called ClimateRight Portable Tent and Small RV Air Conditioner/Heater Combo. It's 7,000 btu plus heat, which should be perfect for the 16's. It sits outside and two maybe 4" dia ducts exchange the air through a window or... But I am hopping to get confirmation of it's ability to cool. I can't find ratings or reviews yet. It's $599 at camping world.....