# Using an AC inside the house. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 1, 2006, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-an-ac-inside-the-house/350884 "2006-04-01T21:18:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-an-ac-inside-the-house/350884/1 "2006-04-01T21:18:09Z")
Something I’ve wondered about for a while. Say you buy an Air Conditioner, and, for whatever reason, whether it won’t fit in the window, or you live in apartment and the landlord won’t let you install it, or, whatever, you can’t set it up properly, why couldn’t you just set it on a table and run it inside the house? I’ve asked a couple people their opinion, and although they say it won’t work, they don’t know why. So, what would be the problem? ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-an-ac-inside-the-house/350884/2 "2006-04-01T21:27:50Z")
An air conditioner is basically a heat pump - to make the air in a room cooler it must make the air outside warmer. Being less than 100% efficient, it actually does a better job of heating than of cooling. So if you run it in one room, it will put out some cool air and measurably more hot air. The net effect will be to heat the room, not to cool it. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-an-ac-inside-the-house/350884/3 "2006-04-01T21:32:42Z")
**Xema** is correct. The same thing would happen if you removed the door fom your refrigerator… it would not cool room. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-an-ac-inside-the-house/350884/4 "2006-04-01T21:32:56Z")
> [@Master Control](#): > > Something I’ve wondered about for a while. Say you buy an Air Conditioner, and, for whatever reason, whether it won’t fit in the window, or you live in apartment and the landlord won’t let you install it, or, whatever, you can’t set it up properly, why couldn’t you just set it on a table and run it inside the house? I’ve asked a couple people their opinion, and although they say it won’t work, they don’t know why. > So, what would be the problem? It will gradually heat your house. The airconditioner blows air from inside the house through heat exchanger #1 that is cooled by a refrigerant. How the refrigerant works is not germane to your question. The refrigerant takes heat out of the air and in doing so is warmed. The refrigerant then passes through heat exchanger #2 through which air ifrom outside the house is blown to cool it. Efectively the heat from the air inside the house is transfered to air that is outside the house. If you blow air from inside the house through heat exchanger #2 you have transferred heat from air inside the house to air inside the house. And besides that you have added the heat from the inefficiency of the system to the air inside the house. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-an-ac-inside-the-house/350884/5 "2006-04-01T21:34:03Z")
I’ve seen pleanty of indoor air conditioners, especially in Korea. The only issue seems to be condensation I think. There’s always a hose or something that runs the water outside. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-an-ac-inside-the-house/350884/6 "2006-04-01T21:38:17Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > I’ve seen pleanty of indoor air conditioners, especially in Korea. The only issue seems to be condensation I think. There’s always a hose or something that runs the water outside. I believe those hoses are to vent the hot air produced to the outside, thus allowing cooling to take place inside. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-an-ac-inside-the-house/350884/7 "2006-04-01T21:38:35Z")
What you need is a [swamp cooler](http://froogle.google.com/froogle?q=swamp+cooler&btnG=Search+Froogle). Fill with water, place in room you want cooled, fire 'er up, and Bob’s yer uncle. I use one to cool off my bedroom in the summertime; they have a sort of “cone of cold” area of effect, so be sure to aim it properly. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-an-ac-inside-the-house/350884/8 "2006-04-01T21:42:28Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > There’s always a hose or something that runs the water outside. It’s possible for an AC to exchange its heat to water rather than air. In that case you’d need a souce of cool water and a means of getting rid of warmed water. The amount of water you’d need would be a \*lot[\i] greater than what could be condensed out of indoor air. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-an-ac-inside-the-house/350884/9 "2006-04-01T22:37:57Z")
In _theory_ you could run a window AC unit in this manner, but you’d need a large exhaust hose to carry the hot air our a window. Something like the flexible, insulation-wrapped ducts used above drop ceilings. Then you’d have to make some sort of shroud, perhaps out of cardboard, to tape to the back of the thing in order to ensure all the exhaust air is carried away by the flexible duct. In fact, they make portable air conditioners that do exactly that. Probably way more trouble than it’s worth, though. You’d also have drainage issues to deal with if the humidity is high, and it probably won’t run at maximal efficiency under these conditions. It would be easier to just get a big saw, a couple buddies and install a through-wall mounting kit for it. Basically, you cut an air-conditioner-sized hole in an outside wall and install a chassis which accepts the air conditioner. ---
**Author:** ![raindog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@raindog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raindog)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-an-ac-inside-the-house/350884/10 "2006-04-01T23:34:46Z")
> [@Xema](#): > > An air conditioner is basically a heat pump - to make the air in a room cooler it must make the air outside warmer. Being less than 100% efficient, it actually does a better job of heating than of cooling. So if you run it in one room, it will put out some cool air and measurably more hot air. The net effect will be to heat the room, not to cool it. This is _basically_ true, but it is misleading because the term “heat pump” is a commonly used term to designate a piece of equipment that can both heat and cool. (by reversing the flow of refrigerant;–in heating it is actually taking from the heat from _outside_ and bringing it _inside_, and, of course, in cooling taking heat from _inside_ and moving it _outside_.) An air conditioner essentially moves heat, but because the industry and consumers use the term “heat pump” to describe the equipmet above, using the term “heat pump” can be very confusing. An air conditioner (whether it is heating or cooling) is more accurately a _vapor pump._ Heat/Btus are transferred to the refrigerant and the refrigerant is carried outside where it is discharged. But based on the common use of the term, **not all air conditioners are heat pumps.** ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/using-an-ac-inside-the-house/350884/11 "2006-04-01T23:35:16Z")
Thanks to everybody for your responces. Sometimes I like knowing things, just for the sake of knowing, even if the information doesn’t pertain to me. Oh, and Roland, before my wife and I got a couple of air conditioners a few years ago (both properly installed, may I add), I had an old water cooler from my aunt. Not quiet a swap cooler, but it ran indoors and you constantly had to add water to it, and the range sucked. I don’t miss that thing at all.