Portable air conditioner - exhaust pipe connected to old chimney?

Hi.

Soon I will be the owner of a portable air conditioner with a capacity of 2.65 kW with a hot air exhaust pipe 150 cm long / 12.7 cm in diameter.

It is a single-family house. The room to be cooled is approximately 20m2 and has a fairly low ceiling. This room has access to a chimney that has not been used for several decades, formerly used as a chimney for a tiled stove. Recently, I have gravity ventilation in it, with an opening only in this (one) room. In the evenings, even in hot weather, it seems to me that the thrust is good - you can feel the breath of the "sucked" air with your hand. It is about 4-6m up to the end of the chimney (maybe even less, only the attic is left). The chimney inside is about 29 / 29cm.

From what I read and found out, the manufacturers of portable air conditioning advise against (or even prohibit) the installation of an "exhaust" pipe in the vents. I wonder, however, is it not a protection against people living in blocks, which would thus disturb the circulation of neighbors? In your opinion, is it worth trying to connect the exhaust to this chimney, or rather it can significantly reduce the efficiency / damage the portable air conditioner? I must admit that despite the purchase of a window seal, I would prefer a solution with an entrance to the chimney.

I am asking for feedback and advice on this installation.

I have two connected to the ventilation duct and somehow nothing has happened for 3 years and then you have mental comfort because the window is closed

marcin.koz2910 wrote:

I have two connected to the ventilation duct and somehow nothing has happened for 3 years and then you have mental comfort because the window is closed

Exactly, nothing should be wrong

Only the question of where the air comes from when the windows are closed. The chimney is thrown and the tributary?

piloo1 wrote:

Only the question of where the air comes from when the windows are closed. The chimney is thrown and the tributary?

Probably from another upstream ventilation chimney.
If you can, withdraw from the purchase and try to get a normal split or at least a transportable "two-pipe".
The twin-tube, as the name suggests, has two pipes. One to draw air from the outside and the other to expel it outside, which is almost like a split.
Read the posts on these one-limbs.
Overall a failure. The cooling power that can be obtained in practice is several times lower than the declared one, and the power consumption is higher than for a split of the same nominal power.
The unicorn simply cools the cosmos more than the room in which it is located.
"In the package" there are other "attractions" such as noise and heating of other rooms influencing, if it can even be influenced, by the outside air.

Thanks for the answers.

I had little knowledge of the "force" of air, and it seemed to me that it would easily get in through the "crevices". After connecting to the ventilation chimney, the air could not actually get back to the room and it was losing efficiency, and after switching it off, there was an immediate "backflow" through the chimney. This is because in this room there is no access to any other air-blown ventilation chimney. The only thing that was especially less airtight windows was that they let air through when they were closed, but that was not enough.

Then I tried the sealing foil on the frame of the tilted window. Again, after turning on the air conditioner, there was a "backflow" from the ventilation duct in the chimney, so I upgraded it with a check valve (for the future).

At the moment, after turning on the air conditioner, I leave the bottom of the window exposed and the exhaust pipe raised. The hot air from the pipe does not come back into the room, and you can even feel a chill outside. In addition, I run a fan in the "chimney", so that it potentially does not suck anything from the other side, and it removes the warmer air that circulates somewhere higher even faster.

The effect is that in 30-50 minutes it was possible to cool down from 28C (in a room) to 22-23C, with an outside temperature of around 26C. I took measurements with a different device (a weather module for a single board computer), so the result is reliable and not "distorted" by the air conditioner.

I am happy with this solution, because it is a bedroom facing the west, which heats up very much in the evenings and maintains a higher temperature than the one outside. The exhaust fan did not do much in terms of air flow. The current solution helps to cool the room very quickly in the evenings (before going to bed), and non-stop air conditioning is not needed in this room. The cost and ease of installation are therefore at + for me. I am not saying that ordinary air conditioning (with an external module) would not be better, but what I have at the moment is in my case 90% satisfactory. On the downside, the pipe needs to be pulled out after cooling, but logically, if the outside temperature is lower (as it happens in the evenings after hot weather), I can leave the window open and the temperature will maintain. Earlier in this room I had a pathology of the type that it was 23C outside and 29.43C in the room ...

Using the chimney and check valve seems to be an effective solution. It’s great that you’re seeing such a significant drop in temperature. If it works well for you, that’s what matters most! Stay cool! 🌬️❄️