Mobile Air Con

[Soir]

Had one of these for a few years (cheapo £250 from B&Q - hose out of the window type things)

-only get's used couple time a year & noisy as hell !

The manual only refers to servicing by washing the filter on it (easily done) but my partner insists we get it serviced properly as we have a newborn in the house.

Do these need servicing? (doesn't say so on manual)

[ThatPhilBrettGuy]

You could try blowing it though with an air line, but that's the some total of what you can do in reality. A 'service' (read, do not a lot but say there's lots to do) would cost more than a new unit I bet.

[hman]

wash the filter, and maybe remove the rear cover and clean the gubbins inside + check the drain holes (below the things which look like radiators) arent blocked as this allows water to sit and fester rather than drain to the catch tank.


I think you can buy disinfectant spray for aircon units as well if you want to be really anal about it.

[Simpo Two]

I'm not one to be overly finnicky about germs, but Legionnaire's Disease (Legionnella) likes living in badly maintained commercial aircon systems.

[Bigfatnath]

Simpo Two said:

I'm not one to be overly finnicky about germs, but Legionnaire's Disease (Legionnella) likes living in badly maintained commercial aircon systems.

Tis true mate......It forms around stagnent water.....But wont effect a B&Q domestic jobbie..


Just take the covers off it, wipe the water tray out, clean the filter...all done.....

Dont worry about getting it serviced mate, as long as it gets cold and doesn`t stink its fine.......



Had a customer of ours get a fleet of 15 of these `serviced`..... Easiest 3 hours labour ive done !

[hman]

but keep the drain holes clear, my b&q one had two, one which i could see and one which I couldnt, guess which one was blocked.

exactly the one you couldnt see, hence water everywhere every time it was moved, I have literally just finished putting the bloody thing back together for the 2nd time this week.

a quick check is to pour water onto the radiator thing at the back with the covers removed, if it pours back out the drain hole at the base then fine, if it all starts pouring into the unit the the drain is blocked.

I had to wiggle the fins to one side to find the drain which is under the radiator things (Condensors?).

[Scraggles]

actually know a lot about legionella,used to be a microbioligist ? into r+d

comes in mains water, u can't get rid of it, it is best spread in the humid vapour like what you get in shower rooms after 10 mins, sort of a mist, if the air con is a water vapouriser, then it is well worth cleaning the reservoir with a cloth pad and disinfectant, as for servicing, it is just money for old rope, but as you have a baby, suspect other cash priorities

not really need air con in the uk, if you are cooling a room and open the window for the exhaust heat, it leaks back quikly

[hman]

Scraggles said:

actually know a lot about legionella,used to be a microbioligist ? into r+d

comes in mains water, u can't get rid of it, it is best spread in the humid vapour like what you get in shower rooms after 10 mins, sort of a mist, if the air con is a water vapouriser, then it is well worth cleaning the reservoir with a cloth pad and disinfectant, as for servicing, it is just money for old rope, but as you have a baby, suspect other cash priorities

not really need air con in the uk, if you are cooling a room and open the window for the exhaust heat, it leaks back quikly

Then you'll know that the whole reason its called legionella is because of the case in the states where many old people died at a "Legionaires" convention when an ac unit was not maintained and emitted bacteria into the air as an aerosol type vapour.

Mist droplets (10-200 microns) dont get far enough into the respiratory tract to cause problems (as an independent study carried out by the US Military concluded), so if you can see the fog then, as a rule of thumb, you'll be ok. Air con emits much finer vapour droplets than 10-200 microns which is how you can injest them.

Showers and other humid places allow the legionella to thrive but you wont be injesting enough of those size droplets to catch it. However Scraggles, you may already know that.

Anyway, mobile AC units work fine, but only if you stuff the gap (you create by poking the hose out the window) with rolled up jackets and other nylon shelled clothing, this prevents a lot (not all though) of the warm outside air from getting back inside. So your room cools down very quickly if you pay a little bit of thought to the temporary installation of the system and hose.

Also using a small fan on lowish setting mounted at 90degrees to the direction of air travel somewhere on the other side of the room to where the air con unit is blowing helps to circulate the air back round to the unit which in turn makes sure there are less hot spots in the room, this allows a more uniform cooling effect which lasts longer once you've turned the unit off.

And keep all other doors and windows within the room shut (Obviously)

[Scraggles]

cooling towers are a great place to pick them up as are hospitals, the shower mist is generally small enough to inhale, even been cases of spray from Wash hand basins being enough in susceptible people.

clean water in a clean holding tank will suffice, having the exhaust hot air thru a window that does not let the hot air back in again also helps

had one of these units and found them to be a waste of time, decent rotary fan cooled me much better, even more so when dunked water over head and face and sat in the air stream

[hman]

Scraggles said:

cooling towers are a great place to pick them up as are hospitals, the shower mist is generally small enough to inhale, even been cases of spray from Wash hand basins being enough in susceptible people.

clean water in a clean holding tank will suffice, having the exhaust hot air thru a window that does not let the hot air back in again also helps



had one of these units and found them to be a waste of time, decent rotary fan cooled me much better, even more so when dunked water over head and face and sat in the air stream

I'd like to see some proof of the water splashing back from a basin, liek I say, shower mist isnt likely to cause an infection, the droplets are too large, thems the facts. Like I say, the US military carried out a study on this, I should know, the industry I work in asked for it ;-)

The hot air vent hose wont give you legionella either, thats the wrong end of the unit....

If you've been using a unit where you add water/ice to it then thats not proper air con, thats a fan with cold water behind it, thats why it was about as effective as putting water over your head and sitting in front of a fan.

You'll need a unit of about 9,000 btu for an average smallish size bedroom, seal up the gap in the window, keep the unit clean,then you'll feel the benefit and you'll be safe.

All this talk of legionella, jeez....

[mfmman]

hman said:

Scraggles said:

cooling towers are a great place to pick them up as are hospitals, the shower mist is generally small enough to inhale, even been cases of spray from Wash hand basins being enough in susceptible people.

clean water in a clean holding tank will suffice, having the exhaust hot air thru a window that does not let the hot air back in again also helps



had one of these units and found them to be a waste of time, decent rotary fan cooled me much better, even more so when dunked water over head and face and sat in the air stream

I'd like to see some proof of the water splashing back from a basin, liek I say, shower mist isnt likely to cause an infection, the droplets are too large, thems the facts. Like I say, the US military carried out a study on this, I should know, the industry I work in asked for it ;-)

The hot air vent hose wont give you legionella either, thats the wrong end of the unit....

If you've been using a unit where you add water/ice to it then thats not proper air con, thats a fan with cold water behind it, thats why it was about as effective as putting water over your head and sitting in front of a fan.

You'll need a unit of about 9,000 btu for an average smallish size bedroom, seal up the gap in the window, keep the unit clean,then you'll feel the benefit and you'll be safe.

All this talk of legionella, jeez....

Hman, I'm surprised you dismiss showers, try searching Royal United hospital, Bath and Legionalla. Risks from spray taps would be similar

[Scraggles]

without mentioning who I work for or clients, regualary find legionella in shower heads, so they are generally sampled as a routine

try and get a copy of L8 if really worried, £8 from the HSE