Okay, replaced my portable A/C unit a few months back. I went with the Wirecutter recommended LG unit
And am happy to say it works much better than the previous 2 units that got me through the past 7-10 years and is a lot more efficient power wise, been kinda shocked how much less power this thing uses.
However, some things I need to solve, it’s a single hose unit and I have windows that open from the bottom and pivot/swing from the top.I also have a mesh bug screen over the window.
That leads to 3 problems
- Wind - on windy days the heat from the exhaust hose can get blown back into the room and right into my face as that’s where my workspace is. Changing my workspace is not currently an option.
- Wind - strong winds can push the window closed. I currently use an opened up coat hanger attached to the window handle with the other end against the outside frame of the window. This generally work well unless we are getting really heavy wind gusts.
- Smoke from the neighbour’s tenant - this only occurs a few months of the year and but it’s pretty unpleasant as the tenant smokes a lot and the smokes comes pretty much right into my window. I’ve had the talk with them, but pretty much anywhere they smoke on the property ends up in my window.
You can see current setup now
My original thought was to put a piece of high temp plexiglass (tube temp gets up to high 40’s celsius) covering the window with a door under the tube to allow access to the outside for repositioning the window.
However my wife came across various window mounts on Amazon.ca and I settled on and ordered one of these which arrives tomorrow
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07FJX5T3F
It’ll solve the heat blowback and the cigarette smoke issue but now I realize it gives me 2 new problems,
- Control of the window opening with my hanger solution
- No way to have a screen over the window. Given that this mounting blocks the open part of the window, that’s less of an issue than I originally thought, however there will be time when it gets closer to the fall where the a/c isn’t used anymore because it’s cool enough but still warm enough for bugs to be about. At that time of the year I usually take down the a/c hoses and mountings. I could swap the screen back in at that time, but I’d like to find a solution that allows me to have both screen and a/c mount installed concurrently.
Any suggestions?