Portable AC Wall Mount...Cutting Holes in Wall...Help.

My AC was just delivered yesterday and no one has given me any ideas. I've got my 5" hole saw blade ready to go, just thought you guys might have an idea or two. If not, I'll plow ahead myself and try to clean up the mess later. See below for more details..... Been surfing here for months, just now posting. I've read as much as I can about HVAC and such. For more background, I've just built a freestanding room outback for mainly rehearsals, but possibly some recording. So, for that reason, I decided on one of the portable AC units. I got the Soleus MAC-12K which has the two 4" hoses....this is the model that brings in fresh air which is greatly needed in my space. Before I just cut two holes in my new walls, I wanted to find out if anyone has any ideas on how best to keep the sound transmission to the outside at a minimum. It's basically one room with staggered wall construction. Double 5/8" drywall on all walls with pink stuff in between. Outside has the typical particleboard stuff (i forget the proper name) and then hardiboard as an exterior. So, once I get the position of the inside unit settled, I will need to have two 4" holes in the wall. One to bring in fresh air and the other is exhaust. My questions revolve around the following: 1. Isolation of hoses in the room...should I build some structure for them to sit in going into the wall. 2. What about the through-wall section. Should I cut a larger hole and box something off with insulation from the inside and then just have the two holes on the outside with an insulated box there with a vent? 3. Then the vent box on the outside...one 90 degree angle with insulation, etc? What's going to be the best route to cut down on the sound transmission to the outside? Here's a link to the unit I purchased: http://tinyurl.com/gdrmj All help is greatly appreciated. mwood

...location added....sorry, I thought I did that....... m

Welcome to the forum, mwood! :) I followed your link to the Soleus portable air conditioner. I'm sorry to say that I too had planned to use that thing at one time in the room I was planning to build (and am now building). However, I ultimately decided against it for a number of reasons. Bottom line, the "fresh air hose" does not supply the room with any measurable amount of fresh air. The fresh air is for the unit to run properly -- not the room itself. Here is the precise point in my project thread where I discover the product. Make sure you read through several pages after that to see my final air conditioning and fresh air ventilation plans. --Keith :mrgreen:

Yeah, it was your thread initially where I saw this unit. I also saw where you guys were questioning the "fresh" aspect later. I did a bit more research and decided to go for it. Even if it turns out to not provide enough fresh air, I'll deal with that later. The fact that it's going to be much cheaper than an equivalent mini-split, made me go this route. The mini-splits I found were going to be roughly the same price if not more for a 9K BTU unit (this one being 12K) and I'd have to get an HVAC person to install them. I discovered that the installation can run anywhere from $500-1000 depending on what is involved. That was just too much for me. I'm already WAY over budget on this room as is....imagine that..... So....any ideas on how to handle cutting holes in the wall and minimising the leakage? I know that I can't extend the hoses, so that's out of the question to do something goofy there. I'm thinking some sort of cover, or box built on the outside is a possiblilty, but I'm also not sure what to do through the wall. Thanks again for the help. m

sharward, the soleus mac DOES take in fresh air, you are thinking of a different product. we've been over this many times.

While I do stand corrected (again), I disagree that "we've been over this many times." ;-) It was just once as I recall (now). I'll be interested in seeing if this solution works well for you. It may work out OK for someone who is on a very limited budget. I do still have concerns about the amount of compromise you'll have to end up making to make it work for you. Perhaps a "chiller room" concept would do the trick... :roll: --Keith :mrgreen:

Actually, I'm reopening this "fresh air or not" case... See my post in the "HVAC - What to use? Is DIY an option?" thread and say tuned to it for updates. :-) --Keith :mrgreen:

Got my unit installed today. It seems to be doing a great job. I've got a bit more tidying up on the job though. I need to wrap the exhause tubes inside the room as they're very hot and release a fair amount of heat themselves. I'm thinking about building something that attaches to the wall the fits down over both hoses to knock some of the sound loss. Again, mine's just a practice room, but we do get fairly loud, so we'll have to see if I can get it back to playable in here. As far as the fresh air goes...it totally brings it in. The dehumidifier is great too. Since it's been over a hundred here the past few weeks, this room was like a sauna. I've been running this unit for half the day and it's much more tolerable in there now. I think it'll even be better tomorrow once I get the hoses wrapped better. later, m