Is it beneficial to point a fan at the intake of a portable air conditioner

air-conditioning

Unfortunately for the time being, my whole first floor is cooled by a single portable air conditioner and "cleverly" (if that word can even be used here…) placed fans to help move the cool air around the floor space.

I don't know the specifications of the air conditioner right now but I'm sure it's not meant for the square footage of the floor.

But that aside, I'm trying to keep the air conditioner centralized in the house by keeping it in my dining room. Because the exhaust hose is short (about 4 ft), it's anchored close to my window and the AC doesn't have much wiggle room from the walls. I also have my dining room table sitting right next to it which I'm sure doesn't help.

What I'd like to know is if I can place another fan about a foot behind the AC unit to help push warmer air into the fans intake. Is this helpful? Is it dangerous? Will it even do a dang thing? Any advice is appreciated…it's hot! =(

Best Answer

If your AC is seriously undersized, the compressor is probably already running 24/7 and blowing hot air into it won't make any difference. At max capacity an AC can remove a specific amount of heat from the air per hour. If you blow hotter air into the intake you will get correspondingly hotter air coming out. It's a zero-sum game.

In addition to closing off other rooms as others have suggested, here are things you might try:

  • Block as much sunlight as possible from entering the rooms
  • If you still have any old-fashioned incandescent bulbs, replace them. Ideally with LEDs, but compact fluorescents are cheaper up-front.
  • Turn off any appliances you aren't using. If you need to run a small fan to properly circulate air that's OK, but you should be aware that the fans are generating heating and in that way they work against the AC, so it's a tradeoff. Some larger fans can use 100 watts or more of electricity, which is turned into heat. 100 watts of electric consumption generates about 350 BTUs/hour of heat.
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