do window ac units leak smell?

J

jonjon777

Active Member
well I googled this and spent over an hour reading, it definitely a very mixed opinions subject, the problem is I need a for sure answer lol.

theoretically if you put the AC on recirculating it should not be leaking smell outside, but theoretically is not good enough...

I'd like an answer from somebody with experience

as I need to figure out this cooling kink in my room in the near future, and I have to choose between AC or air cooled, but there's so many given takes but this is definitely the deal breaker...

any suggestions are appreciated, but I need a past experience for sure answer...

Thanks guys!
 
J

jonjon777

Active Member
That's what I thought, but some people claim that you can simpily switch to recirculating, meaning it stops air from traveling outside in recirculates the air in your room. Thus no smell, ever hear of this?
 
Noob2grwn

Noob2grwn

Well-Known Member
Window units don't exhaust hot inside air to the outside. Inside air is sucked into the unit, passes over the cold evap coil where heat is taken out of it, then blown back into the room. Outside air is sucked in, passes over the hot condenser coils then blown back out. The two coils are completely seperate. I'm not saying they are "scent proof". I'm just saying that inside air stays inside.

This isn't to say that some window units (especially a cheaper or very old model) don't leak a little air.
 
mo841

mo841

Well-Known Member
had a neighbor that had some stinky ass dogs. when you walked by the window ac, you could smell it bad from the air coming out the back of the ac unit.
 
J

jonjon777

Active Member
theoretically it shouldn't really smell but I think it's safe to say it does and it may just be a slight modification that you have to do but I'm not willing to bet it'll work.

I think its time to cough up the cash for a split unit...

Gosh...
 
alcohol

alcohol

Active Member
deadgro said:
Yes it will smell, hot air from inside the unit exhausts outside.
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FALSE. dead grow has no idea what he is talking about. Don't listen to him.

Why do you even think this? Window units dont EXHAUST hot air. If you look at a window unit. The condensor sits outside. The condensor is what gets hot. The condensor is cooled by outside air. The air handler sits inside the window and doesn't exchange air outside. If you put the unit in and seal the edges up, there will not be stinkiy air leaking.


This is my experience running window units before purchasing a mini split. I've built over a dozen grow rooms and have been doing this for over a decade.
 
D

deadgro

Well-Known Member
alcohol said:
FALSE.

Why do you even think this? Window units dont EXHAUST hot air. If you look at a window unit. The condensor sits outside. The condensor is what gets hot. The condensor is cooled by outside air. The air handler sits inside the window and doesn't exchange air outside. If you put the unit in and seal the edges up, there will not be stinkiy air leaking.
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In an ideal world, yes the 2 areas are sealed inside. Unfortunately, these units are made to the lowest standards in china and are rarely air tight.

The op hadn't confirmed if it was a box window unit or a portable venting out a window. Either way, they both blow hot air out as per their design.
 
alcohol

alcohol

Active Member
he asked about a WINDOW unit. This implies a window shaker. Of course it's not 100 percent air tight. Nothing is 100 percent air tight.

You claimed it exhausts hot inside air to outside which it does not. This is what I s aid is false.
 
D

deadgro

Well-Known Member
alcohol said:
he asked about a WINDOW unit. This implies a window shaker. Of course it's not 100 percent air tight. Nothing is 100 percent air tight.

You claimed it exhausts hot inside air to outside which it does not. This is what I s aid is false.
Click to expand...
If its not 100% airtight, odorous air being pulled into the unit from the room will find its way into the area of the condenser coil and be pushed outside.
 
D

deadgro

Well-Known Member
alcohol said:
he asked about a WINDOW unit. This implies a window shaker. Of course it's not 100 percent air tight. Nothing is 100 percent air tight.

You claimed it exhausts hot inside air to outside which it does not. This is what I s aid is false.
Click to expand...
I said air INSIDE THE UNIT exhausts out.
 
alcohol

alcohol

Active Member
But it's not "hot air from inside" It's a warm coil of freon which is cooled by a fan. The condensor fan blows outside air across this coil back outside. There is no "exhausting" of hot air. I'm not trying to argue with you about this but the way you worded it sounds like it will exhaust hot air from inside the room which is not the case. Furthermore, what AC unit does not cool the "hot air from inside(the unit) by blowing it past the condensor???

I know a guy running a 12k barn with 3 window units. He uses a lot of insulation and calk around them. There is no smell outside because the unit does not 'exhaust' inside air.
 
Noob2grwn

Noob2grwn

Well-Known Member
Caulk and foil tape are your friend, for both light and air sealing. Mastic sealant is the way to go for anything permanent. It's messy to work with, and a beeotch to remove...but that stuff is a true permanent seal barring physical damage. If in doubt, a simple smoke test will let you know if a unit/structure/or anything is reasonably air tight. My experience is not cannabis related, but I've done lots of smoke testing for air tightness. Using copious amounts of cannabis smoke to smoke test would give you the extra element of smell to judge by.

A layer of foil tape covered in mastic makes one hell of an air/light barrier.
 
D

deadgro

Well-Known Member
alcohol said:
But it's not "hot air from inside" It's a warm coil of freon which is cooled by a fan. The condensor fan blows outside air across this coil back outside. There is no "exhausting" of hot air. I'm not trying to argue with you about this but the way you worded it sounds like it will exhaust hot air from inside the room which is not the case. Furthermore, what AC unit does not cool the "hot air from inside(the unit) by blowing it past the condensor???

I know a guy running a 12k barn with 3 window units. He uses a lot of insulation and calk around them. There is no smell outside because the unit does not 'exhaust' inside air.
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You seem to be the only one who misconstrued what I said, but I'm sorry if I wasn't clear enough. Its pretty rude to say that I have no idea what im talking about, though.

The takeaway for anyone should be that a carbon scrubber is required when odor is a concern, no matter what style of cooling is used.
 
alcohol

alcohol

Active Member
Call me rude, though, i dont care. This is the internet and I hate the spread of misinformation.

I obviously didn't misconstrue what you said. You said something that was misleading and almost completely false. Other people thought the same thing. Maybe you should read it again.
deadgro said:
Yes it will smell, hot air from inside the unit exhausts outside.
Click to expand...
If you meant to say stinky air may leak outside, then just say that.

. Why do you think this post was made right after you said it exhausts air? Just admit, you didn't use the right words. It's not a big deal. I only chimed in to clarify.
Noob2grwn
Noob2grwn said:
Window units don't exhaust hot inside air to the outside. Inside air is sucked into the unit, passes over the cold evap coil where heat is taken out of it, then blown back into the room. Outside air is sucked in, passes over the hot condenser coils then blown back out. The two coils are completely seperate. I'm not saying they are "scent proof". I'm just saying that inside air stays inside.
Click to expand...
He made it a point to say that the two coils are COMPLETELY SEPARATE.
Noob2grwn said:
This isn't to say that some window units (especially a cheaper or very old model) don't leak a little air.
Click to expand...
 
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J

jonjon777

Active Member
first off I want to thank you guys because there is no clear information on this there is a lot of misinformation out there and I don't need an educated guess I want somebody who has done this before, because if I go into flower it starts to stink, I'm in trouble...

Now, there has to be ways to make the situation better, I'm thinking...

take the unit apart in use caulking and spray insulation to ensure its air tight

Run two carbon scrubbers

Maybe even put a can of ona gel in the damn thing!

ANY other ideas are appreciated silly or not...

Thanks guys!

(Alcohol, I just commented in the other thread asking if this was possible never mind that as we're discussing it here)
 
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