Our office has an enclosed meeting room (approx 12ft x 8ft) with no option to vent outside (sealed unit windows). The rest of the office is air conditioned but if we want a private meeting (ie with the door closed) it gets very hot as the windows are floor to ceiling and it's south facing.
Is there such a thing as a self contained (portable) air con unit that doesn't require ice blocks (we don't have a freezer, just a fridge).
Cheers
In short - No.
Basic laws of physics require the heat energy to go "somewhere".
AC works by putting the compressor outside - this is the hot bit - the compressed refrigerant is then piped inside and allowed to expand, which drops it's temperature allowing it to absorb heat from the room.
As you have no option for natural ventilation (opening windows) you should also have a means of mechanical ventilation. Without this you can cool that air with the AC - but you're still left with stale air with high CO2 levels in the meeting room. As it is your meeting room doesn't comply with Building Regulations.
Jeff
couldn't you just put a fan (and some ducting) in the ceiling between the room and the rest of the office - thus circulating the air and keeping you the same temperature?
As it is your meeting room doesn’t comply with Building Regulations.
Yeah kinda aware of that, however it was built very recently (ie 2 months ago) and the works were signed off - and quite a few other offices in the building have exactly the same set up. We couldn't possibly have stomached the vast charge (around £25,000) that would have been made to alter the building's integral air con system.
Whack a few of these in for the classy option...
Is an option a wall mounted split AC unit - about £2k fitted or less if you know a mate?
Something like this which can cool air via evaporation of water might be ok.
can cool air via evaporation of water
But with no venting, that's only a solution until it starts raining inside...
In short, you'll have to find a way to vent outside even if it's separate to the existing A/C, or wear shorts.
You could vent a regular aircon unit into a large cardboard box. Someone would have to go and empty the hot air out into the rest of the office if the meeting goes on too long, though.
I've tried air coolers with water tanks. Waste of money and just bulky.
Slightly cooler air out of it for about half an hour until the water warms up (had ice packs you can stick in it also, but melt in no time).
Also, worked with an evaporation belt that circulates "cool" water past the fan. I worried that nasty things will grow in the water or on the belt and might be breathing that in, so decided to get rid (on top of the reason that it was just crap).
Bunch of large diameter fans shift decent amount of air and not too noisy.
Just put a ginormous fridge in the corner and take the doors off.
So the answer appears to be 'no'? LOL
Put an extractor fan in one internal wall of the meeting room to pull air in from the a/c'd office and another on the opposite wall to push warm air out of the meetign room into the a/c'd office?
Have you got suspended ceilings?
So the answer appears to be ‘no’? LOL
Do you have a Portal?
vent the mobile AC unit into the main office ......
Unless you do have a suspended ceiling that you could vent into then no there is no answer (not involving holes in walls anyway). Just get a fan or two for when you have a closed door meeting and keep the door open between meetings.
As it is your meeting room doesn’t comply with Building Regulations.
Yeah kinda aware of that, however it was built very recently (ie 2 months ago) and the works were signed off
So that's fraud, by somebody, and your employer condones it.
If it was done as an alteration then I can see why building regs wasn't sourced. It's not a permanently habitted room either.
Blinds. And leave the door open.
Anyhow, you don't want meetings to drag on and on, and creating an atmosphere like the Black Hole of Calcutta within is probably the best way to ensure that.