Vent in wall for portable air con unit

[CrazyBatLady66]

Hi, I’ve got a portable air conditioning unit which I’ve been using a lot obviously with the hot weather. The problem is the hose needs to go out of the window and I don’t have a small casement type window only a large one and due to ill health I sometimes go to bed in the afternoon but when I try using the unit for a while to cool the room down it’s struggling as bedroom is south facing and with this very hot weather the heat is coming in the window even with a curtain pulled round it. I’ve been thinking of getting a vent put in the wall for it, however I’m a bit worried about this in the winter! Has anyone done this and presumably there is some way of closing the vent in winter, Also how much did it cost ? Any advice welcome please. Oh and has anyone actually had a permanent unit put in their house ? When my husband bought this thing a few years ago I said it wasn’t worth it as we only have a few very hot days! I stand corrected now as it’s been very hot for what seems like ages here in South UK

Cant help with cost of the vent but we've just had quotes for a permanent air con unit in the loft conversion we are doing and they were around £2.5k + vat (SW London)

In east anglia you can get a single air con unit for £1300.

I have a fan in the kitchen which is basically just a hole in the wall with mesh and horizontal strips of plastic in front of a fan blade within the hole.

The wind whips through it and through the whole house in the winter. Sod that.

Im watching this thread with interest as I don’t use the fan in the winter so I just put a duster over the whole thing and then jam on a cardboard box cut down to the correct dimensions.

It works well but looks unsightly. My friend put clingfilm over theirs.

I’m hoping to find they make some kind of cover that can be jammed on when these things are not in use. That also keeps flies out lol!

Or perhaps rather than jam it on, it could be magnetic or whatever if the unit is metal. That would be great. Don’t want to start drilling holes or nails or anything in case I hit the electrics.

@findingsomeone Do you mean for the whole house ? Or a portable unit ? Obviously I’m guessing it depends on the size of the house/flat etc

@Elieza I’ve seen little net type covers to keep flies out but that wouldn’t help with cold coming through in winter 🥶

For one fitted unit that is plumbed in and ready to go. Most domestic air con is currently zero VAT too.

Google ‘adjustable air vent covers’. Is that what you mean?

We have an outlet in one room that the air con vent hose fits into - it has a plastic cover on the inside that seals it in Winter, probably not very tightly but no draughts. My husband made the hole in the brick wall so can’t help with the cost of that, but it is great - in other rooms we have to fashion a way to cover the gap where the hose pokes through.

@SlipperyLizard Thank you that’s helpful. My husband hates DIY but it’s looking like he might have to do this himself as we can’t get anyone to come and do it. I ring to ask for quotes and people either don’t get back to me at all or say they can’t do it. Im not sure if this is a local problem as I’m in a fairly affluent area with a lot of big houses( mines average 3 bedroom) and so they can’t be bothered to come and do a small job I guess when people are having a conservatory built.

I have the same issue but I have heavy thermal blackout blinds which see to do the job nicely. I got mine from Argos, they're Habitat ones. The keep the hose in place nicely.

On TikTok they had a piece of wood ( that thin stuff you can buy) cut a hole in it to fit the vent and used that. It was painted white to match the windows and looked ok.

It is quite a tricky DIY job I think (my husband is in the building trade), so may not be cost effective to buy the tools.

What sort of window do you have? We have velux windows upstairs & I bought a kit from here on Amazon www.amazon.co.uk/stores/hoomee/page/5A44DF92-5B16-42A3-83A4-2606146C962D?ref_=ast_bln

it isn’t perfect (we have a very awkward velux so had to use a kit that wasn’t made for our window) but does a good enough job if there’s one that would fit your window.

but when I try using the unit for a while to cool the room down it’s struggling

South facing windows won’t help, but a problem with portable air conditioners is that the hot air blown outside through the hose has to be replaced by something, and that something is usually more warm air drawn in from outside, entering through tricks vents or down chimneys etc.

A core drill will make a hole in the wall. They are expensive for a one-off but can be hired. As for covers, a cat flap sprang to mind when I read the OP.

I meant trickle vents, not trick.

We just stick a pillow in the window gap. It seems very effective. The Pillow is a key part of our air con kit😁

I think the issue with a permanent vent is how you secure the pipe to it. It needs to be a reasonable match or it's not solving the problem.

@SlipperyLizard Oh dear I’d best try and get someone in then ! lol my husband is very impatient as well doing DIY and tries to rush to get it done. I’ve got an ordinary outward opening sort of big traditional window I think, hard to describe and too dark now to take photo! It’s a 1960s house but double glazed.
@KangarooKenny yeah I get what you mean so the wood wedges in the window they sell plastic ones on Amazon I’m not sure it would work with ours but was hoping for something more permanent.

This is what my window looks like.
@SlipperyLizard thank you for the link !

@YorkshireTeaCup Wow that’s a lot however I think it’s a wise invested if we are going to get these really hot summers, I can’t imagine how bad it was in London as I’m in the South/Southwest ten miles from the sea and it was bad enough

Our window looks like your amazon picture, except the windows only open out, not in. My ac unit came with something which looks like that, but I can't work out how to fit it. We own the flat but it's a shared building so I don't think we are allowed to make any holes. We also don't want to stay here forever. But it would be great if I was able to just put the hose on an adapted wall hole.

@YorkshireTeaCup is that with an external fan system? Are you putting it in the garden or somewhere else?

@MicksMate can you post a pic? Would like to see how the pillow trick works. Thanks.

Just a word of warning if you decide to drill your own hole. Make sure you know what is outside first. Due to stupidity measuring issues, my idiot DP managed to drill through to the back of our gas meter box. Fortunately he managed to miss the actual meter 🙄

The external side of ours is covered by one of those flappy things you have over tumble dryer vents and the inside is permanently (so far) attached to the air conditioner.

Those of you who have the ‘proper’ non portable air conditioning units, do you have the air to air (correct term?) ones that can be used as air source heat pumps in winter?
DP has been trying to look into them and keeps talking at me about it. Just wondering if they are as super efficient as he thinks. Seem to be similar prices to what have been mentioned. (And no, I won’t be letting him fit it if we get one.)
Thank you!

@CrazyBatLady66 luckily we were not in London for the 40c days but its been bad enough the past few weeks. We have a 13month old and potentially would like more DC so i said to DH i wanted at least one room which is cool and we can all retreat to in the summer.

@LondonLovie its called a split system? So there is a box with a fan that goes on the outside of the wall and then a unit on the inside.

This is exactly what we use and it works perfectly fine. We attached the zippy sheet thing to the window with Velcro strips. The Velcro stays on the window all year round and we just get the sheet thing out when we need the air con on.