Holy cow.
I haven’t researched this (which makes me the perfect person to comment on it :^), but I assumed that they kept the outside air, which cools the condenser, separate from the inside air, which is cooled by the evaporator (being the objective of this exercise).
That design would, of course, keep the outside air separate from the inside air, so the air it “pulled in” would go through the condenser and then right back out again, never exchanging with the inside air.
If this isn’t true, it’s just crazy.
There may be such a unit on the market. In fact, there are “split” types of portable ACs, where the compressor sits outside and the refrigerant lines are all that run through the window.
But most units work as I described. I know because I made the mistake of purchasing one.
Anybody want a cheap used GE portable AC?
Still, it was always better than "outside" and he could sit there at his PC doing homework while chilling under the cool breeze coming from the portable unit.
Still, it was always better than "outside" and he could sit there at his PC doing homework while chilling under the cool breeze coming from the portable unit.
The portable has the evap/condense coils in the same cabinet along with the fan, only a dryer-hose type pipe exits to the outside; the warm, moist air is drawn indoors through the myriad crevices always present in the walls and around windows.
They do make room sized split units but the condensor section is visible to the outside world.