On Aug 19, 5:57 pm, Smitty Two wrote:
In article om,



mg wrote:
I have a shed with extremely small windows that I use mostly for
storage, but I do have a small area with a work-bench, etc. I also
have a window-mount air-conditioner that I received from a friend
basically free (on a trade). The unit is probably old, but my friend
said it hadn't been used much. This is not an evaporative cooler, by
the way. It's a regular, 220-Volt air conditioner.

I'm planning on building a stand for it (out of treated lumber) next
to an outside wall of the shed and even putting a little roof over it.
Then I'll route the air through the wall of the shed using a round air
duct(s) -- Maybe use an 8 or 10-inch duct(s), I guess.

I'm a complete novice with A/C and the front bezel is missing from the
air-conditioner, so I'm not sure exactly how it works. I assume that
the top area of the unit intakes air and the bottom outputs air. So,
I'm wondering if I need two separate ducts or if I can simply run
everything through one duct? If I use two separate ducts, does it
matter if the ducts are physically close together inside the shed?
Could I simply set it up to suck air from outside the shed and then
open a window?

The air conditioner is much, much larger than what I actually need.
It's rated at 28000 BTU and the shed is about 300 square feet with
open rafters and very little insulation and 4 small air vents in the
roof. I don't use the shed a lot, maybe 20 or 30 hours a year. So, the
electric bill isn't an issue. In the hot weather, like we're having
now though, the shed gets close to 100 degrees, So, I would like to be
able to cool it and cool it off fast when I do need to do a small
project, etc.

I'm guessing I'll have to go down to the local sheet-metal shop and
have something fabricated, but I'm wondering if I might be able to
simply make something out of canvas and PVC pipe, for instance. The A/
C unit will be behind the shed where it doesn't show, so it doesn't
matter if the setup looks a little bit kludgy.

Let's see, you use the shed an average of 2 hrs. per month. It's hot in
there about three months? So you're going to go to all this trouble so
you'll be a little more comfortable for six hours per year? At any rate,
I'd make sure it works (and learn how it works) before you start in with
the custom mounting.

That's good advice on checking it. As it turnrd out it didn't work.
The worst part was getting the damned thing into my utility trailer
and hauling it off to the dump. I don't know what that old thing
weighed, but I'd guess a couple hundred pounds or more. I wound up
putting two, 12000 BTU portables in there that were on sale at Circuit
City. I put one right next to a work table and the other one right
next to my work bench. They work pretty well.

I'm sure the resident AC experts on here will fill you in on the details
of how to do the 9000 hours of calculations and measurements that are
required before you use an air conditioner. If you skip those, your shed
will blow up, and your balls will shrivel up and fall off.