Author Topic: Clothes dryer hose for a portable air conditioner?  (Read 26282 times)

okits

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Clothes dryer hose for a portable air conditioner?
« on: May 16, 2017, 08:59:15 PM »
The original hose from our portable AC unit has broken apart in a few places, and the manufacturer doesn't seem to make replacement parts for our model, anymore.  DH bought a length of clothes dryer hose at Home Depot that fits as a substitute, but he wonders if it's okay to use, as when he tried it out the hose seemed to get quite hot (I would guess a clothes dryer gets hotter than an AC unit so the vented air would be hotter from a dryer, but Googling hasn't turned up any relevant results for us).  Anyone know if it's okay to use the clothes dryer hose to vent the hot air from a portable AC?

sokoloff

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Re: Clothes dryer hose for a portable air conditioner?
« Reply #1 on: May 16, 2017, 09:40:08 PM »
Clothes dryer will indeed have hotter exhaust air than an AC unit.

I'd still be inclined to get the metal hose (because I think the plastic hose seems more than a little Mickey Mouse to me), but even the plastic hose will be safe for AC use, assuming it's in any way similar to my portable AC.

Jon Bon

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Re: Clothes dryer hose for a portable air conditioner?
« Reply #2 on: May 17, 2017, 05:39:15 AM »
I go with the more flexible hose. I know the aluminum hoses tend to be rather rigid. So if you move the AC around a little it might pop loose or kink.

YMMV

Enough

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Re: Clothes dryer hose for a portable air conditioner?
« Reply #3 on: May 18, 2017, 11:45:36 AM »
From an efficiency perspective, the plastic hose is probably better insulated.  That metal hose will radiate a bit more heat (that you just removed from the air, back into the room).  If you're going to be using it all summer, I'd recommend some insulation wrap to reduce the radiative and convective heat transfer.

okits

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Re: Clothes dryer hose for a portable air conditioner?
« Reply #4 on: May 23, 2017, 10:22:34 AM »
Thank you, sokoloff, Jon Bon, and Enough!  It's a plastic hose, and DH is thinking to rearrange some of the furniture so it vents as directly as possible outside.  The weather stopped being hot so we haven't had to use it yet (we have since installed a window unit in the main room, so the whole apartment should be comfortable when summer rolls around).  Hopefully this solution holds up, if not, I'm sure we'll tinker some more!

 

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