I doubt that if you ever took it back for warranty that anyone would notice and should they just tell them you had to because it would drip into your house some times so you had to put the hole in.
How to make a clean hole in sheet metal?
- Thread starter wayneh
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Lestraveled
- Joined May 19, 2014
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Won't anything you thread into the bottom create a ridge that will prevent the water from completely emptying out? I suggest the following:
- Drill and tap a hole to fit a hose barb in the bottom of the AC.
- Cross cut vertically through the threads down to the flat surface of the nut of the hose barb, but not into the surface.
- Use RTV gasket maker to seal the hose barb into the bottom of the AC. Place the RTV so it does not clog the slits cut into the threads when screwed into the bottom.
The segmented threads will hold the hose barb into the bottom of the AC. The gasket maker seal the hose barb. The slits in the treads will allow all the water to drain out.
- Drill and tap a hole to fit a hose barb in the bottom of the AC.
- Cross cut vertically through the threads down to the flat surface of the nut of the hose barb, but not into the surface.
- Use RTV gasket maker to seal the hose barb into the bottom of the AC. Place the RTV so it does not clog the slits cut into the threads when screwed into the bottom.
The segmented threads will hold the hose barb into the bottom of the AC. The gasket maker seal the hose barb. The slits in the treads will allow all the water to drain out.
For the record, the thermodynamics were never the entire question. Just because they can be calculated doesn't fully answer the question at hand, which is which device will give the lowest lifetime cost to remove humidity from a basement. The total cost of operation or TCO is much harder to estimate because longevity is a big part of it, and that's a statistical crapshoot.
The experiment I'm running will continue in the other thread.
That's essentially what I'm planning, but I'm not worried about the last 1/8" or so. I'll probably just cut most of the threads off the hose barb fitting since they won't contact anything anyway. There is a slight depression there in the case bottom already and there's clearance before water starts getting picked up by the slinger ring. As long as I'm below the slinger ring, I'm good.
wayneh said: ↑
The unit is designed to sling the condensate on the condenser coils and blow all the water at your neighbors
The unit is designed to sling the condensate on the condenser coils and blow all the water at your neighbors
Alec, it sounds like you may be missing the fact that, when used as an air conditioner, the condenser and condensate being blown away are outside of the room being cooled, but when used as a dehumidifier, the whole device, including the condenser, are inside the room so you obviously don't want any of the condensate going back into the room or evaporated back into the air.
@#12
My apologies, I misunderstood what the TS is planning to do with his new air conditioner.
1) I presumed he was exhausting the A/C outside, as it is intended to do. It was this statement of his, "The unit is designed to sling the condensate on the condenser coils and blow all the water at your neighbors," that misled me.
2) Thus, I focused on what to do with the excess water that such A/C's produce. By excess, I mean the amount of water that is not re-evaporated into the exhaust.
Since it appears he is not exhausting the unit to the outside, he has apparently bought a room heater with minimal ability to dehumidify. I say minimal, because I once had a smaller room A/C by Danby that worked as claimed. That is, no additional drain for condensed water was needed.
Bottom line, wayneth has bought the wrong tool for the job. His net collection of water (i.e., dehumidification) will depend on how well the A/C doesn't work as intended.
Some options to consider:
1) Use as intended in another room and enjoy the benefits of cool and dehumidified air. Buy a purpose-made dehumidifier. That will warm the basement a little and dehumidify.
2) Return to store for a dehumidifier and hope the returns clerk doesn't see the extra hole.
3) Put a yellow plug in the hole and pretend it was factory-intended. Then return.
4) Return to the store as defective, because it has an extra hole and leaks on the floor.
John
My apologies, I misunderstood what the TS is planning to do with his new air conditioner.
1) I presumed he was exhausting the A/C outside, as it is intended to do. It was this statement of his, "The unit is designed to sling the condensate on the condenser coils and blow all the water at your neighbors," that misled me.
2) Thus, I focused on what to do with the excess water that such A/C's produce. By excess, I mean the amount of water that is not re-evaporated into the exhaust.
Since it appears he is not exhausting the unit to the outside, he has apparently bought a room heater with minimal ability to dehumidify. I say minimal, because I once had a smaller room A/C by Danby that worked as claimed. That is, no additional drain for condensed water was needed.
Bottom line, wayneth has bought the wrong tool for the job. His net collection of water (i.e., dehumidification) will depend on how well the A/C doesn't work as intended.
Some options to consider:
1) Use as intended in another room and enjoy the benefits of cool and dehumidified air. Buy a purpose-made dehumidifier. That will warm the basement a little and dehumidify.
2) Return to store for a dehumidifier and hope the returns clerk doesn't see the extra hole.
3) Put a yellow plug in the hole and pretend it was factory-intended. Then return.
4) Return to the store as defective, because it has an extra hole and leaks on the floor.
John
I did miss that fact. I've never needed an A/C or dehumidifier in my house, fortunately. However, my car A/C makes a splendid dehumidifier; and that certainly doesn't have the condenser or condensate inside the passenger compartment! So, I'm puzzled as to why you can't vent a room dehumidifier outside the room.
What? You guys in the UK don't build out the below-ground-levels of your home into wonderful game rooms or home theaters? If you do use these spaces, how do you avoid humidity buildup?
EDIT: never mind - I understand now.
From
https://www.homebuilding.co.uk/basement-pros-and-cons/
Last edited:
Very few houses here have below-ground-level rooms (cellars). Those that do probably date back to the Victorian era, i.e. were built around 1900.
Hahaha, talk to #12 about it! I wondered in this thread (skip ahead to post #14) if it made sense to use a window A/C as a dehumidifier, to get a more robust machine. Both #12 and tcmtech gave me positive feedback that it is indeed a good choice. @#12 was particularly enthusiastic.
Why bother? The hope is that, for little or no compromise in water-removal efficiency, you get a machine that will last longer than today's dehumidifiers. These are the most despised home appliances according to Consumer Reports and fail in about 8 years on average with many failing long before that. Amusingly, the DOE uses an 11-year life to "prove" that the efficiency improvements they demand have a positive payback. If they used 3 years, no freaking way!
Let's please take further discussion over to the dehumidifier thread linked above, not here in a thread about drilling holes.
There is a significant difference between a typical window air conditioner and the portable, room air conditioner you bought. It probably won't work without an outside exhaust for the hot air, unless you make other internal modifications.
That said, drill away.
John
That said, drill away.
John
Based on...(hope, gut instincts, science)? If science, please provide some details.
1) I read the instructions and am familar with the design.
2) I have owned too many dehumidifers to count and two "drainless" portable air conditioners in the past 4 years.
3) Thermodynamics
And your experience with portable, drainless air conditioners is?
John
If you'd jumped to my other thread as I had requested, you'd have seen that the new machine is already working fine as a dehumidifier. Why wouldn't it? A dehumidifier is just an A/C that exhausts the heat inside instead of out. That was hardly in question. Longevity is the issue.
laughable - instruction manuals say nothing about thermodynamics - especially in an off-label application. They do tell the user which knobs to turn and when to clean the filters for on-application uses but this "1)" has not convinced me that Wayne's off-label application wont work as you postulated.
My son's girlfriend has owned more cars and laptop computers than I can count. Owning a countless number of devices doesn't mean she knows anything about how they work. Not a valid argument why Wayne'e off-label application of an air conditioner will not work as you postulated. Additionally, owning a countless number of devices likely means you have no idea how to keep them working or using them correctly.
We are getting close here. Unfortunately, saying "Thermodynamics" sounds cool but, by itself, is not an argument why a compressor and condenser on an air conditioner will not pull humidity out of the air and work nearly the same way as a dehumidifier. Details are welcome of you've got them.
And, your phrase, "I have owned too many dehumidifiers to count" is the reason Wayne is even doing this experiment. He is taking #12's advice that an air conditioner is built much better than a dehumidifier. So, even if an air conditioner works less efficiently than a dehumidifier, the lower capital costs (over time) will, hopefully, outweigh the higher operating costs.
My expectation is that the warm air kicked out by the air conditioner is no greater than the warm air kicked out by the dehumidifier. In a cool basement, there are two ways to lower the relative humidity 1) remove moisture from the air, 2) raise the temperature of the air. In a closed basement, both a dehumidifier and an air conditioner drained to a sump will do the same work. I don't see that there is a difference.
Hi.
A couple of times I have done the pan draining without drilling.
A rag strip end held into the pan with a magnet holding it down extends to the outside by any gap/slot and bends downwards, wicking condensate and dripping to a drain pipe/funnel/soil.
Right now I have a 'garden window' draining any rain collected on its top with the same wick-siphon method.
A couple of times I have done the pan draining without drilling.
A rag strip end held into the pan with a magnet holding it down extends to the outside by any gap/slot and bends downwards, wicking condensate and dripping to a drain pipe/funnel/soil.
Right now I have a 'garden window' draining any rain collected on its top with the same wick-siphon method.
Thank you, the perfect idea for a drain pan on a patio planter. I'll let you know if I have success.
The success is a long enough vertical 'siphon' section following the 'capillary wicking' section. It can drain a constant stream, no only at drip-drip rate if the rag strip/wick is large enough.
I used to water planters under a window airconditioner using the excess condensate from its pan.
There is no better hole than not needing to drill one.
Somewhat pictorial, with the wick inside a hose...
----> http://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0009250904009704-gr1.jpg
I used to water planters under a window airconditioner using the excess condensate from its pan.
There is no better hole than not needing to drill one.
Somewhat pictorial, with the wick inside a hose...
----> http://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0009250904009704-gr1.jpg
