Air con vent through a wall

jdpjamesp · 13 Aug 2020

I have a section of my garage as an office. Works very well, except it gets unbearably hot when the sun hits the roof of the garage. So I've bought a small "portable" air con unit. The office has no windows so I'll need to vent through the wall. Shouldn't be too hard as the wall to the garage itself is a stud with MDF inside, OSB outside and a great big chunk of Cellotex in the middle. I'll just use a hole saw.
The question is, what's the best way of venting the hose through the wall? I gather just sticking the hose through isn't ideal. Wall is probably 10cm thick.

bernardgreen · 13 Aug 2020

A cat flap fitted into the wall does the job.

Closed for normal weather and open with the hose being the cat stuck in the flap when it gets hot.

pete50 · 13 Aug 2020

When I bought my portable air conditioner a few years ago it came with all the bits and pieces to frame and line a suitable hole in the wall to "plug" the exhaust hose into. The resulting fitting could be sealed off when the unit wasn't in use and stored away. If your airconditioner didn't come with all those bits I'm sure that something suitable would be available either from the manufacturer or a builder's merchant.

jdpjamesp · 13 Aug 2020

bernardgreen said:
A cat flap fitted into the wall does the job.

Closed for normal weather and open with the hose being the cat stuck in the flap when it gets hot.

Brilliant bit of lateral thinking!

jdpjamesp · 13 Aug 2020

pete50 said:
When I bought my portable air conditioner a few years ago it came with all the bits and pieces to frame and line a suitable hole in the wall to "plug" the exhaust hose into. The resulting fitting could be sealed off when the unit wasn't in use and stored away. If your airconditioner didn't come with all those bits I'm sure that something suitable would be available either from the manufacturer or a builder's merchant.

I doubt mine will come with that as it's a cheapo model (not much choice when you have to buy something when the weather is already hot!)

jdpjamesp · 13 Aug 2020

bernardgreen said:
A cat flap fitted into the wall does the job.

Closed for normal weather and open with the hose being the cat stuck in the flap when it gets hot.

Does this provide enough seal around the hose for the warm air to not be drawn back through though?

foxhole · 13 Aug 2020

Tumble dryer vent kit, designed for the job.

Harry Bloomfield · 13 Aug 2020

jdpjamesp said:
I have a section of my garage as an office. Works very well, except it gets unbearably hot when the sun hits the roof of the garage. So I've bought a small "portable" air con unit. The office has no windows so I'll need to vent through the wall. Shouldn't be too hard as the wall to the garage itself is a stud with MDF inside, OSB outside and a great big chunk of Cellotex in the middle. I'll just use a hole saw.
The question is, what's the best way of venting the hose through the wall? I gather just sticking the hose through isn't ideal. Wall is probably 10cm thick.

Insulation and a window makes more sense as a first step, then a/c if it is still too hot.

jdpjamesp · 13 Aug 2020

Harry Bloomfield said:
Insulation and a window makes more sense as a first step, then a/c if it is still too hot.

Window is a no-go due to the fact that the "exterior" walls of the office are either next door's garage, soil, or next door's garden. A skylight is also not an option due to the positioning of the garage. More insulation won't make much difference.

Harry Bloomfield · 13 Aug 2020

jdpjamesp said:
More insulation won't make much difference.

I only use my garage for the car along with a workshop. Even with doors open, it used to get unbearably hot. Adding insulation under the flat roof made a lot of difference compared to having none.

bernardgreen · 13 Aug 2020

jdpjamesp said:
Brilliant bit of lateral thinking!

Not my idea, the shop next door used it for their windowless stock/work room

Donkmeister · 18 Aug 2020

foxhole said:
Tumble dryer vent kit, designed for the job.

I second that - I used to have a portable air-conditioner and the hose came with the connector to use a tumble dryer vent as the exhaust outlet. This will provide a better seal than poking it through a cat-flap, and you can pop a round piece of polystyrene into the tube when the colder weather comes for a bit of insulation.

Gasguru · 19 Aug 2020

These cheap air con units should be banned for wasting energy and conning the public...they operate by drawing hot air back into the room which is why their efficiencies are so low.
If you can find one with twin hoses (that operate more like a proper split unit) then go for it.

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Air con vent through a wall

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