2 rooms, 1 A/C. How to get the cold air to the second room? {Necropost}

@medz The problem will be making sure the cats will still go through the doorway with air blowing. I have one of those metal round fans that move a lot of air. Works well, but even after a week the cats would only occasionally dart thought the door in a belly drag position. Using someone else’s suggestion of putting it on a small table might work.

@Kidsandliz @medz suggestion of the vornado type fans seems to be because they push a ‘beam’ of air some distance. The fan could be a few feet away from the doorway and still push air into (or out of, whatever works) the bedroom…

@Kidsandliz right, as other person said, the vornado could be near the AC and shoot the cool air through the door. That way the noise isn’t by the door to scare the kittehs

@medz Unfortunately the placement of the AC vs the door isn’t right for that to work

@duodec How far do they shoot air?

@Kidsandliz Honestly don’t know. I’ve seen them in stores and played with the model units and could definitely feel the push of air 6’ away from a smaller (10" or so) unit. They come in a variety of sizes. They get a premium price compared to other fans (kind of like the Dysons).

@Kidsandliz I don’t know the exact model, but I have a full sized Vornado “whole room air circulator”. I can feel a pretty concentrated stream of air at least 20 feet away.

/woot Vornado

@medz So likely I won’t need a full sized one as it won’t need to go 20’… good to know.

@medz Well I just missed that sale - March 27th. Looks like they do them sometime March and August each year…

@Kidsandliz As it turns out, I bought this one https://meh.com/forum/topics/vornado-midsize-fan for $28 I think. I couldn’t remember if it was a woot or meh purchase. Sadly, it doesn’t look like either has had any for sale recently.

@thismyusername I wish. This place has those side to side slider windows.

@thismyusername @Kidsandliz This, if you have a window in the bedroom. Alternate (more expensive, less efficient, more space but also easier to deal with) is a rollaround portable unit; a plate with one or two hoses mounts in your window instead of the whole A/C unit. Much less obtrusive from the outside. Two hose units are generally better/more efficient but also more expensive. We have one and have used it to stay comfy when the main A/C fails.

And edited to add, our bedroom has side-slider windows and the hose plate fits fine. And they do make casement style window air conditioners but they are more expensive…

@duodec they are great, @Kidsandliz just remember you need to dump the water they collect or work out a drainage solution.

@thismyusername @Kidsandliz some of the portables take the condensate and atomize it into the exhaust stream (out the hose). Again, two hose units are generally better at that. We never had condensation issues at home even running the unit for several days during the muggy summers.

@duodec @thismyusername The slider window is 45" high. Do these work in something that tall? I have nothing to block the part of the window that wouldn’t have the hose stuff in it.

@Kidsandliz in most horizontal slider window ac installs I’ve seen they usually sorta perma-install them and place a window above them… or wood panels etc. Some have air barrier blankets they seal around them in the winter, or if they planned ahead they have the sorta perma-install thing designed to remove easily (a couple screws etc).

the key is sealing the window off anyway… my pet peeve is when I see any window unit with giant gaps around it… they are wasting the precious cold by letting more hot air in AT THE COOL SOURCE

@Kidsandliz The plate with the hose attachment that came with mine is in two pieces that slide together and can extend from about 24 inches to about 40. Our sideslides are also taller, so I bought a piece of acrylic-like plastic (translucent white) and glued it to one of the two plates. Now when fully extended the plate fits top to bottom. The channels in the window are deep enough to ‘trap’ the plate in place, and a little hardware store stick on foam strip insulation on the plate seals it up fine.

@thismyusername Doing that I am sure would freak out the management here but sure would solve my problem LOL. OMG those people are micromanaging. Saturday I told the desk Nazi that last I knew we were not inmates here and still had first amendment rights. I had been yelled at by her for talking with and “swarming” the comcast guy at the apartment building entrance - he had come to fix my internet - like how is he supposed to do that if I don’t talk with him?. I have been told (when the manager entered my apartment without knocking - she didn’t think I was home as my car was in the shop) I am not allowed to put anything on top of the fridge, am not allowed to stack those Arko-Mils boxes I have along the far wall, put any furniture under the windows… (and the list goes on and on).

@Kidsandliz WOW!

@chienfou HUD housing. Apparently we lose basic rights (likely illegally but they have us over a barrel as they can kick us out) living here. I so need a full time job!!

@Kidsandliz
Take notes. This could be a novel.

@huja The problem with the cats is the blowing air scares them so I need to get the fan off the floor. Likely I don’t need all that powerful of a fan since the rooms are small and I don’t really want this blowing hard in my face either. Do the Dyson fans move much air?

@Kidsandliz Not sure how much air it moves, but it certainly must move a lot more air than cats.

@lordbowen The little table is a good idea until I can come up with something better. This apt is so small that there is hardly any room for anything which is why I was hoping there was an off the floor solution.

@Barney Now I feel stupid LOL I should have thought of this. I was stuck on one of those corner fans you put in the top of a doorway both because they would not take up floor space and also because they are reasonably quiet. This would still have the floor space issue but would take up less room than a small table (or at least I think it would) as this place is about 450ish square feet and space is at a premium.

@Kidsandliz Ahem. You’re not alone in not thinking of a standard floor fan. Good thing Barney has a better memory, hmm?

@Barney I have one of these in my bedroom. Very quiet. I think it was about $18 at Walmart.

@moondrake I use one in my bedroom during the summer.

@Kidsandliz I bought two standing fans at Family Dollar last year for $20 each. I compared theirs to the ones at Walmart and the FD fans were surprisingly well constructed and much more solid than the Walmart fans. Definitely a good place to look if you have one around you.

@f00l Ha! Great minds.

@Barney
Are you crazy like me?

/giphy twins

@f00l Gawd, I hope not.

@Barney
I guess your mind is not quite as great as my mind then?

Haw haw haw.

@f00l Fortunately I face north (well fortunately for heat, not so fortunately from the point of view that I miss the sun).

@f00l I am greater because I am older and wiser.

@Barney
I’ll concede on both.

And I’ll always be younger. Haw haw haw.

Hail, you of greater age: we salute you.

@Kidsandliz
If you face north, in the summer you might get some midday sun. Depending.

Do you?

@Barney Wiser, probably. Older: nuh uh.

@f00l No sun ever.

@f00l You may always be younger that @Barney, however you will always be celebrating a “hand me down” birthday as she will have already used it first.

@Kidsandliz
Gosh, my celebrations just lost all their joy.

I give up. ; )

@f00l Oh don’t worry - I am sure she will pass you down a birthday in reasonably decent condition… Cake might be a bit stale, but otherwise useful. : )

@f00l @Barney @narfcake

@cinoclav Ha! We need to lego the idea that @f00l is my evil twin. She’s evil all right, but no relation to me. Whew!

@Barney
/giphy sure

@duodec Door casement is metal. Door shuts flush on the bedroom side and opens in to the bedroom. On the living room side it is just under 2.75 inches. I figured I’d have to fill holes - hopefully not to hard to hide holes in metal when I finally earn enough money to get the heck out of here.

@Kidsandliz Presuming the casement is steel (check with a magnet) you probably don’t want to drill it. It might be hard to patch and paint cleanly. Got some old hard drives you can disassemble, or someone with hard drive magnets they don’t need (or other very strong flat magnets)? Get a door corner fan (like This one), glue a magnet on each flat side, and stick it to the casement. I don’t know if the magnetic tape they sell (adhesive on one side) would be strong enough but I doubt it.

If its not steel/magnetic, you could use double-face tape (strong stuff like This) or possibly several pieces of the 3M command tape used for hooks, leaving the tabs sticking out so you could remove them. If you clean the surfaces well that should hold up OK, though the strong tape might be a bit of pain to remove and clean down the road.

The fan should exhaust from the hot area to the cooler one since its up high. Be aware though that 100cfm corner fan will help but won’t make a huge difference unless it runs a long time. That just isn’t much airflow, though its better than nothing.

Another option, if the casement trim on the outside is ‘deep’ enough for a spring or screw clamp to get a good hold (> 1/2" maybe), Walmart (and others sell small personal fans with spring or screw clamps, and somewhat positionable fan heads. If one of those would stay attached to the trim it would be cheaper than the corner fan and might push more air. Mounted high it would still be out of the way.

@Kidsandliz And another one. Assuming this won’t cause you headroom issues in the doorway: Chin up bar. Expand into the casement high up on the outside of the door. You should not need the reinforcing cups if you don’t put much weight on it (just unscrew it so its tight in the doorframe, though I’d consider a piece of double face tape at each end to discourage it loosening from vibration) and then clamping one or more of the small cheap clamp fans to it aimed how you want.

If that is not too Rube Goldberg…

@duodec Chin up bar might work it if is really high (I am tall) and I put the fan in one corner so I don’t run into it all the time.

@Pantheist Not entirely clear how I’d set this up?? I can’t put any holes in the wall.

@Kidsandliz
Perhaps start with stand fans (1 or more) and see if that does the trick before you go messing with fixes that involve actual work?

@f00l Floor space issue (rather lack there of) is a big problem. As it is I trip over junk as I have way too much in this sardine can.

@Kidsandliz Just hang the ducting with anything that works with what you have- a hanger, some tape, some wire and picture hooks… Run it through the open door, take it down when you want to close the door

@moondrake Thanks. I wouldn’t be able to afford that. I, unfortunately, have to look at the inexpensive solutions. Even some of the fans suggested are beyond my budget.

@moondrake I would need the mirror image of this fan because I wouldn’t be able to put it on the outside of the room and have it blow in. On the inside blowing in I wouldn’t be able to shut the door, not to mention that side of the door is pretty flush with the closet. Rats as this would work well. I could just mount it at the top and put the fan in the top corner and bingo I’d be set except for the fact it is “right handed and I need left handed” so to speak.

@Kidsandliz What if you mounted it on a hinged plate, so you could rotate it out of the way when you weren’t using it? I’m not envisioning the closet issue, just the door’s direction. You’d either have to be able to drill through the plate to match the fan, or find one that matches. Alternatively, you could bolt a piece of wood to the hinge and the fan to the piece of wood eliminating the match up issue.

@moondrake And idea… wonder if I could then open the door from the other side from the fan since it would be in my bedroom and I’d be in the other room (for example I shut the cats in my BR when someone comes to the door)…

@Kidsandliz If it’s rotated out of the way it shouldn’t impede the door at all. This is the sort of ad hoc fixup that I do as I don’t actually know how to do this stuff so I just have to power through problems with my girly drill and my electric screwdriver. Since I splurged on $20 titanium bits for my $12 drill life has been a lot easier.

@Kidsandliz Reverse the wires that bring power to the motor?

@Kidsandliz @Seeds
unfortunately that won’t change anything for a 110v ac electric souce…

@MrMark Pffffff No way. I have had these 16 years. They are broken in, trained, and worship the space I occupy; and want to sit on or near me, purr their little hearts out… What more could I ask? (well besides not being scared of hard blowing air) LOL

You missed some, mediocrebot. http://home.woot.com/plus/delonghi-portable-air-conditioners-5

@medz Thanks - but out of my price range right now (wish that were not the case).

@djslack Yeah, the condensate is not an issue here. With the humidity in my house pretty much never exceeding 5%, I don’t think I’ll ever have to empty mine.

@moondrake You could use a portable swamp cooler/evaporative cooler and get good results. Those are even cheaper to buy and to operate. Around here the humidity is generally too high for them to work well.

@moondrake Don’t ever move to this state then - practically rains inside with the humidity. In fact the other day I had fog coming out of the AC vents due to how humid it was outside the car. Never had that happen before. It was freaky until I realized what was going on (eg the fog off the lake phenomena only in my car).

@djslack … yeah that is a good price

@djslack I had a portable evaporative cooler but replacing the pads was a pain. I have a swamp cooler on the roof, although I haven’t had someone out to turn it on yet. It’s barely broken 90 yet, so the house has been staying pretty comfortable. Days when it’s 100-110+ outside the swamp cooler just can’t keep up. My elderly dog was really suffering last summer so I got this AC unit mostly for him. I only run it for about an hour every night to drop the temp a few degrees.

@moondrake
Had swamp coolers during childhood. Here it’s too humid for them to work all that well. Finally got the real thing.

Fort Worth year-round-avg humidity:
Daily Average 65
Morning Average 82
Afternoon Average 49

@f00l Tomorrow is pretty typical of spring. High of 87, 14mph wind, 10% humidity, 0% chance of precipitation. Going to be in the 90s this weekend.

@Yoda_Daenerys Nope. Already asked. That is why I posted my question.

@Kidsandliz I thought I invented something, again, but it turns out it exists.

www.buybreezelite.com - this is not the best looking version that i found, but it is the only one i found that is still available for purchase. Spend more than two minutes on Google and you may have better luck. Quirky had a much better looking one but I can’t find it anywhere for sale. It’s a small ceiling fan that screws into an existing light socket.

@djslack Interesting idea. Wonder how much air it moves. Thank’s for searching. I’ll spend some time later today looking too.

@RedOak that’s only a real option if your internet sucks.

@thismyusername @RedOak I’d like to move but I am in hud housing and so am on waiting lists to be able to move. However at least one other place I am on the waiting list for (out of state where there is medicaid expansion)has the same kind of heating/cooling system and in one room only, just like here.

@Kidsandliz
Is the other out of state place in a cooler or warmer state?

@f00l out of state up north where family lives

@SarahPiper do you enjoy sweating?

@SarahPiper
depends on where you live.