Portable Dual Hose Air Conditioners and CO2 Depletion

I want to get feedback from growers that have purchased the Dual Hose portable air conditioners, And supplementing with CO2, either by Tanks of CO2 or Generators.
Sealed rooms. I find nearly all dealers selling these units do not really know how they operate. everyone I have called state there is minimal loss of CO2 during operation of Air conditioner. The manufacturer is Sunleaves SAC600.these are my findings.
I also have read many posts here that have stated the Dual hose units do not remove CO2. I have performed tests with brand new equipment.


I purchased a Sentinel CPPM-4 controller, And the HydoGen Pro generator.
And the Sunleaves dual hose portable 12,000 btu Air conditioner.
I first set it up using a large 50lb CO2 tank that I leased, I setup Fuzzy logic controller on the Sentinel to 1000 ppm, Lights on 18 hrs, The tank was empty in 3 days? Guy at my local Hydroponics store said it there would be minimum loss of CO2.
So I decided to go with the Generator option, Great product water cooled CO2 generator. Set PPM to 900 as a test, set to generator mode. I started the CO2 generator, it never rose above 450PPM> I thought it was not starting? well it was. I turned off the dual hose unit, and started again to 900ppm, Monitor showed 875 ppm and rising, So I started the dual hose ac unit. It dropped to 625ppm in 5 minutes and dropping, So it definitely is sucking CO2 out of the room. I'm so pissed now after seeing this.
And try and reach someone at Sunleaves the manufacturer. No response.
Anyone with similar problem, please post!

Update: I have a contact now at Sunleaves that I have sent this data to and waiting response.
My reason for this post is to alert everyone to this fact. they are great if you do not use CO2~! Dealers should conduct their own tests to verify my findings.
So another customer does not have to go through this before making a purchase.
I know there are many manufacturers of Dual Hose AC units, so need feedback with actual data.

all portable type a/c are gonna suck out your c02, that's why I use a ductless a/c, there is no exhaust. just transfer freon thru copper pipes.

Thanks for your feedback! I am now going to use Mini Split system, However not everyone knows this fact including the dealers!

I've been combing the net for info specific to twin duct AC & co2 for months and found
nada. Mini splits are supposed to be effective, but there's some major drawbacks. 1st and foremost is cost. An Edge Star 14K BTU twin duct prtable is $500 post paid. Cheapest mini split I've found is well over $1K.

Beyond that the compressor needing to be outside is bound to raise suspicion from my landlord- why I'd pay so much to upgrade his property. I'm not sure if the compressor can be placed outside the room but still indoors? Anyone know?

I'm not sure but it could be that some models have a tighter seal on the connections for the air intake, whereas others may leak in co2 rich air.

I'm about to enclose my 1200 cu ft room and getting a portable would make life significantly easier. Would love to hear if others had similar results (esp if the test was done w/similar thoroughness).

Hey,

Just wanted to let you know that if you read the ad for the Sunleaves Air Conditioner it states that it circulates the air from out side to inside, Check the Sunpentown WA-9040DE 9,000 BTU Dual Hose Portable Air Conditioner, I have had great success with this one. My Co2 ppms do not change at all because Sunpentown uses it's dual hose design to cool the condenser only, this air conditioner only circulates and cools the existing air in a room. If you look for another brand make sure that it says this, "With one hose for air intake and the other for air exhaust, there is no negative pressure created inside the room".

Hope this helps.

SMKn420 said:

Hey,

Just wanted to let you know that if you read the ad for the Sunleaves Air Conditioner it states that it circulates the air from out side to inside, Check the Sunpentown WA-9040DE 9,000 BTU Dual Hose Portable Air Conditioner, I have had great success with this one. My Co2 ppms do not change at all because Sunpentown uses it's dual hose design to cool the condenser only, this air conditioner only circulates and cools the existing air in a room. If you look for another brand make sure that it says this, "With one hose for air intake and the other for air exhaust, there is no negative pressure created inside the room".

Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Sorry to open an old thread but I am researching a portable ac to use for a sealed room that I am building. I'm researching ac options that I can use with my co2 gen. I dont have an option to purchase a mini split and cant use a window ac.

Are you still using your spt ac?

Im looking into a dual hose ac for my new room that will be sealed. I'm worried that I may have an heat issue so I'd like to go with a dual hose option but it seems like dual hose ac's could suck some of the co2 out. SMKn420 pointed out to look for a dual hose unit that creates negative pressure like the Supentown wa-904de model.

Can anyone vouch for this?

Thanks.

Dual hose air conditioner will not suck the co2 out because it exchanges and heats the external air. Single hose portable air conditioner, however, will suck the co2 out because it takes the air from the room and exhausts it through the window.

Now to the degree that there are loses or gaps or holes in the hoses, you might lose some co2, but this should not be major.

hey, I know this is an older thread but I recently had the same problem. the thing is most if not all dual hose a/c units have a secondary intake (use smoke from a joint or anything, you will find it), to maintain efficiency I assume. they either have slits on the back around the air intake pipe or they are built into the unit around the bottom edge (perfect place for sucking up co2 ). my haire 14000btu unit has both, to solve this I simply duct taped the slit intakes and around the entire bottom, that worked perfect, but to increase the efficiency a bit I also added a 6" inline fan on the intake to push more air through the condenser (push cold, don't suck hot, it will kill the fan) and I would think that these modifications could be done to all dual hose units, just thought I would through this out there incase anyone was still stuck, tman