Portable AC Units

[kmitchl]

I had the same thing happen to me last week. Capacitor is a $15-$25 part. I'm getting a pair to keep around. Not hard to do yourself with a little youtube work and common sense.

The ac supply houses I have dealt with will not sell electrical items, refrigerant, or complete systems unless you have a hvac license. For immediate needs I go to Grainger. Not the cheapest but usually available. For not so urgent needs Amazon or Ebay.

[Greenheadless]

The ac supply houses I have dealt with will not sell electrical items, refrigerant, or complete systems unless you have a hvac license. For immediate needs I go to Grainger. Not the cheapest but usually available. For not so urgent needs Amazon or Ebay.

That’s weird, I have bought capacitors and fan motors from places like Johnstone Supply in the past.

Might try to find another location.

[HoustonHunter94]

I got declined to buy a capacitor this morning at Johnson Supply here in San Antonio due to not being a HVAC technician. Ended up going to Grainger and they sold me one. I put it in this morning and no dice so must be something else. Outdoor units are both 20yrs old. I think I am getting ready to have a pretty big bill coming soon.

[kmitchl]

Can you tell if the outside unit is running? The small refrigerant line should be warm and the large line should be cold.

[Greenheadless]

I got declined to buy a capacitor this morning at Johnson Supply here in San Antonio due to not being a HVAC technician. Ended up going to Grainger and they sold me one.

I hate to hear this, I hope things haven’t changed. Shoulda just said you were an HVAC Tech, seeing technically you were working on an HVAC unit

[Chase4556]

My dad used a portable in their bedroom for a few years. They used it to keep their bedroom cooler for sleeping without having to cool the entire house. Worked great. He gave it to me and I used it for a few years to keep the garage halfway manageable when I was out there working on stuff.

[Chase4556]

I got declined to buy a capacitor this morning at Johnson Supply here in San Antonio due to not being a HVAC technician. Ended up going to Grainger and they sold me one. I put it in this morning and no dice so must be something else. Outdoor units are both 20yrs old. I think I am getting ready to have a pretty big bill coming soon.

I got declined here in Temple back when we first moved into this house. Went down the street and another supplier sold to me. They were $30 a pop though. Ouch.

If folks reading this thread don’t have one, it’s a smart thing to go ahead and purchase. Go get your size, hop on Amazon and order one for $10-$15 and keep it on hand. A neighbor hit me up about a month ago at 7pm asking if I had a spare(he saw I had mentioned it on our Facebook page). Got him back up and running that night and I had a new one in the mail box a day later. Contactor is a good one to have too if your system is older. Anything past those two exceeds my DIY HVAC knowledge and skill level.

[OTL91]

Go online and buy a Turbo 200. They are basically a universal sized capacitor. I keep one in my truck so if I happen to be somewhere and the capacitor fails on the unit... I am not without AC. They have a 5 year warranty.

[Phorizt]

our ac is out right now so we bought a 12 or 14,000 btu unit from Sams club to help as the part is back ordered for a month according to the AC guy. Just under $500 I think for the Midea unit we bought. It is a dual hose unit. The single hose units pull air from inside your house, cools it and then exhausts the hot air outside through the single hose. This creates negative pressure inside the house which sucks more hot air into the house from any gaps, cracks, doors etc you may have which is why they are less efficient than the dual hose units. Dual hose exhausts the same amount of air outside that they bring in so it isn't creating negative pressure in the house. There are videos of people testing the two types of units on youtube that I watched before making the purchase. I plan on using it in a cargo trailer camper conversion I'm doing later this year and everyone says dual hose is the best type to get. It's also much more difficult to find as Home Depot, Lowes etc have almost exclusively single hose units.

[justletmein]

I got declined to buy a capacitor this morning at Johnson Supply here in San Antonio due to not being a HVAC technician. Ended up going to Grainger and they sold me one. I put it in this morning and no dice so must be something else. Outdoor units are both 20yrs old. I think I am getting ready to have a pretty big bill coming soon.

Check the high/low pressure switches, you can bypass them to verify.

[RMW]

Just put a 12,000 btu window unit in from June-September, take it out when not needed. My wife likes it cold, but our central unit will only get down to 67 at night during these 100+ degree days, with the help of the window unit with bedroom door closed at night it’ll get down to 62. Sleep like a baby

[BigL]

Got 2 for my garage. They are next to my weight lifting setup. Blowing air across the setup is the only way I can workout in this heat.

Best one of my 2 is the black and decker 14,000 btu that i bought on amazon.

[DNTRanch]

I bought this one from Home Depot when our AC went out earlier this summer. I put it in our bedroom and kept the door closed so it was comfortable sleeping at night and was cool enough during the day while we waited for AC parts to come in. I work from home and popped in there every so often to cool down. It got to the mid 80s in the house when the AC was out but it was noticeably cooler in the bedroom with this thing going. It never got to 60 like I set it at, but it was significantly cooler than the rest of the house. Home AC is fixed so now it's going to the lease and getting installed out there.

I would buy one again in a heartbeat if put in the same situation. Simple set up with just a wall plug and hose to the window.

I have the same one, bought it for the wife, she uses it when she is painting in the garage. My neighbors AC has been doen and we loned them it and it keeps their bedroom nice so they can at least sleep. definetly worth the money....