# Cooling the basement



## Mr.N00bLaR

I live in my basement because that is where the computers are! Unfortunately the basement is somewhere between 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit with all of the electronics on. I have a few older computers, TVs, and a dehumidifier that spits out heat like forced air lol. As it stands, there are two windows down here in another room not big enough to fit one of those window air conditioners. I remember reading somewhere that they need to be in a window because they need to have the back side of the unit out of the house/building so the room can stay cold. Is this true or did it come to me wrongly in a dream? If the unit does need its backside facing out of the building, would it be possible for me to mod a window ac unit so it could work down here? If this is a lost cause, how else can I cool my basement?


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## saiyanzzrage

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mr.N00bLaR* 
I live in my basement because that is where the computers are! Unfortunately the basement is somewhere between 80-90 degrees Fahrenheit with all of the electronics on. I have a few older computers, TVs, and a dehumidifier that spits out heat like forced air lol. As it stands, there are two windows down here in another room not big enough to fit one of those window air conditioners. I remember reading somewhere that they need to be in a window because they need to have the back side of the unit out of the house/building so the room can stay cold. Is this true or did it come to me wrongly in a dream? If the unit does need its backside facing out of the building, would it be possible for me to mod a window ac unit so it could work down here? If this is a lost cause, how else can I cool my basement?

i have the SAME exact problem! Im in the basement, and the dehumidifier makes the entire room hot as hell! I was thinking of putting a fan, but all that would likely do it recirculate the already hot air. I have two of those TINY windows, but theres no way in hell an air conditioner would fit in it. This stinks because the ambient temps are heating my cpu up..let me know what you come up with


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## saiyanzzrage

did some research, and apparently they make portable air conditioners, but they seem to vent hot air, and are not meant to cool an entire room, just an area of a room, which might actually be good, if we keep them by the pc's. However, i think how they work (called evaporative air conditioners) is, you guessed it, water. They use either water or ice to cool, and that would be counterintuitive in a basement (mold city) and are EXPENSIVE

link to a portable air conditioner site:

http://store.portableairshop.com/sho...ditioners.html

ill keep looking for a solution


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## mnipps29

If money isn't an issue you could get a mini-split system. It consists of a wall mount unit which contains the coil and blower then a line set is run to a condensing unit outside. They vary in tonnage and can cool a room or multiple rooms depending on size. Since it a "true" a/c humidity is not a problem, because that is what it is removing from the air. Feel free to drop me a line I am in HVAC and can answer some questions for you. The site also has some info on portables as well. http://www.ac-world.com/SplitAir.php


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## DuckieHo

Why not just mount a AC unit and have vent leading outside? Mount a fan on the small window to help exhaust the heat?


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## l3dness

From what i have seen you need to have the back of the air conditioner out the window for it to vent it's heat because it works basically like a phase change system. Another problem is that all air conditioners dehumidify the air so you must have a window unit tilted out of the room so the water can drain. I can say from experience that thoughts portable air conditioners are awsome. I use to have an 6000btu in my window for my small room( just enough room for a queen size bead a dresser and a desk) and once i got me second monitor the air conditioner couldn't keep up the room was gradually heating up over 80F. I stole a portable 9500btu sharp from my dads house and it works like a dream. I currently have it set to 18c (thats about 64F give or take a few) and it works good and yes the vents to put out ALOT of heat even touching the tubing you can tell that it is putting out alot of hot air. Also with the portable ones you have to drain the water every once in a while i have had this one about 2 weeks and haven't had to drain it. When it was over my dads house it was cooling a whole floor and they had to drain it about every 2 days. So if you have that dehumidifier you shouldn't have to drain it to often. Depending on your price range i would suggest 2 10kbtu units for all of that. Each is about 500 though so that is up to you. One unit should make a significant difference.


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## hvacgaspiping

mnipps29 has the best solution to your problem. However, this system isn`t cheap. If you can`t afford the above, then the portable unit may be right for you as long as you properly vent the hot condenser air outside. The condensate from the evaporator coil can be removed automatically with a condensate pump/reservoir setup. This is not very expensive ( 20 or 30 bucks at an HVAC supply house). It is powered by 110 volts, with the only extra thing needed is some plastic or copper tubing from the pump discharge to outside the house. This pump also comes with a float switch that can be wired into the low voltage control circuit of the portable A/C unit to shut it off if the pump malfunctions.


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## ern2428

there are ac's that you can put in the middle of the room they have a hose that vents outside you can get them at any store that sells ac's


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## Mr.N00bLaR

I don't think I have the money to spend on a portable Air Conditioner ATM. I was thinking of getting a regular window one. I would drill small holes for water on the bottom. The entire back would be encased in some material that led to the small window. Does anyone see problems with that? I can probably get a window unit for >150$ so, modding seems like a much more wallet friendly idea to me haha.

I would need to figure out what material would be most cost effective to encase the back side in and vent the air out.


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## hvacgaspiping

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Mr.N00bLaR* 
I don't think I have the money to spend on a portable Air Conditioner ATM. I was thinking of getting a regular window one. I would drill small holes for water on the bottom. The entire back would be encased in some material that led to the small window. Does anyone see problems with that? I can probably get a window unit for >150$ so, modding seems like a much more wallet friendly idea to me haha.

I would need to figure out what material would be most cost effective to encase the back side in and vent the air out.

I assume that you would install this unit in a basement window, and this would be fine as long as you do something different with the condensate. Drilling holes in the "bottom" would only let water drip onto the ground right outside your basement window. This would quickly become a mud mess, attract wasps and other vermin (possibly termites), and over time cause foundation cracks. You need to have a way to get the condensate to a place where it will not cause any of the above. One idea would be to place a condensate pump underneath the unit where it could have a short drain stub drilled into the bottom of the unit. Of course there would have to be enough room for the pump beneath the unit and the ground it would sit upon. Then your discharge line from the pump could be routed to a drain or area where it would dry up or run off quickly.


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## Mr.N00bLaR

These are small windows that the AC unit will not fit in. I was planning on a small bench for this rig up. The AC unit sit on the bench and the holes would have a small tube or pan wich goes into a magical hole in my basement (honestly, no clue what it is for very small). If that doesn't get rid of it, I'm sure the dehumidifier next to it will. I talking about something like this MS paint picture.


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## Bal3Wolf

Does your house have central air ? and is the basement a completed ceiling or open you could rerout one of the duct works from central air to the area you wanna cool. And ac units wont work right usualy if their not tilted they will freeze up had that problem with window units when the outside mount legs were set to high the unit kept freezing.


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## Mr.N00bLaR

My house does not have central air









I could assemble a table to hold the AC unit at an angle.


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## Bal3Wolf

that might work you could even sit it outside on a table at a angle and use duct to run it in thru the windows for power you would need to use some weather proof stuff on the power cord. So up stairs stays cooler then downstairs if whoever your living with would let you you could cut floor vents going to basement so air upstairs could get to the downstairs to. Heat rises tho so heat from basement would leak into the upstairs.


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## Mr.N00bLaR

Oh no, my mom would freak. The basement is sealed up so floor 1 can be cold..


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## Bal3Wolf

im outa ideas then lol but i wouldnt pay full price for a window unit look at pawn shops and stuff. Wrong time of year to buy them now sence its summer prices are hiked spring time their usualy really cheap.


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## hvacgaspiping

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Mr.N00bLaR*


These are small windows that the AC unit will not fit in. I was planning on a small bench for this rig up. The AC unit sit on the bench and the holes would have a small tube or pan wich goes into a magical hole in my basement (honestly, no clue what it is for very small). If that doesn't get rid of it, I'm sure the dehumidifier next to it will. I talking about something like this MS paint picture.


Okay, so your windows are too small for a window shaker. So, if you set it on a table/stilts, or whatever, just buy/make a rectangular to round adapter to fit over the condenser that you can attach a flexduct small enough to go through the basement window. Then set up your condensate pump beneath the drain hole of the window shaker pan, and pipe the discharge line from the pump to a drain or someplace outside where the condensate won`t be a problem. Don`t use a "magical hole" you know nothing about and end up with a couple of inches of water the next morning and mosquitos breeding. BTW, using a dehumidifier not only won`t do any amount of cooling, but you still have to empty it. And, trust me, that window shaker will make a lot more condensate than any humidifier will "mop up".


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## hvacgaspiping

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Bal3Wolf*


Does your house have central air ? and is the basement a completed ceiling or open you could rerout one of the duct works from central air to the area you wanna cool. And ac units wont work right usualy if their not tilted they will freeze up had that problem with window units when the outside mount legs were set to high the unit kept freezing.


The only thing the tilt does is allow the condensate to run to the back of the pan of the window shaker where there are holes for the condensate to run out. Freezing is caused only by insufficient air flow (dirty filter/evaporator coil/blower wheel), insufficient refrigerant charge, or a restriction in the capillary tube or liquid line.


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## christian_piper

http://www.kingersons.com/portable_ac_9020E.htm

$300.. It looks perfect.. Bit expensive, but fits the application perfectly.

http://www.kingersons.com/portable_ac_7500m.htm

A bit smaller- and cheaper.

Remember- I believe these units will also function as dehumidifiers. So you can sell the dehumidifier..
You can have the ac units fill a water tank, or continuously drain. Is there a sink in the basement? Put the AC above it, and you got a self emptying dehumidifier.

CHEAP IDEA! Find a way to duct the dehumidifier exhaust out one of the windows...

And a reverse duct from a window into your computer for free extra computer / room cooling during winter (And anytime the basment is hotter than outside)


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## AJ-9000

I like the dual hose type portable air conditioner because it dosn't exhaust cooled air outdoors and condensation is Self-Evaporated.
http://www.kingersons.com/portable_ac_wa_1340dh.html

The "ductless mini split air conditioner" because it has the compressor outdoors is alot quieter, the downside is it cost more because you need to install refrigerant lines, wiring ect.
http://www.kingersons.com/mini-split...nditioner.html


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## christian_piper

But, in his case, self evaporation would be bad.. He already has a dehumidifier!


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## l3dness

Quote:



Originally Posted by *Mr.N00bLaR*


I don't think I have the money to spend on a portable Air Conditioner ATM. I was thinking of getting a regular window one. I would drill small holes for water on the bottom. The entire back would be encased in some material that led to the small window. Does anyone see problems with that? I can probably get a window unit for >150$ so, modding seems like a much more wallet friendly idea to me haha.

I would need to figure out what material would be most cost effective to encase the back side in and vent the air out.


For getting the water to drip out you could probably get the water to drain better if you dented part of the bottom of the air conditioner and drilled a hole at the lowest point then just take some tubing to a pan or something. And as far as ducting it out the window sound fine but I would put a fan in the window to pull to air from the vent so you are getting sufficient flow and the air just doesn't sit there. From the pictures you have drawn in another post it looks a little far from the window. Depending on how insulated the vent is i would make it closer to the window. The tube for my portable gets extremely hot and cycles allot of the heat back into the room so i had to insulate it with a blanket. There was a significant temp drop after that. For ceiling up the back of the unit i was thinking something like a garbage bag but if you want something that looks a little better i would go with one of funnel like things they use for venting in a house (don't know the name of them) and just ceil it onto the back.


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## dualhYbrid

no, window units in rooms dont work. i've tried it. it makes it hotter.......
and it blows the compressor


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## v!p3r^

just move your computers from the basement upstairs or something problem solved hehe


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