Recommendations for auxiliary AC for blackouts

[WSE51]

We live in a large home without ideal orientation for solar. Therefore our Tesla solar/powerwall system was not designed to operate our air conditioners during a blackout. There simply wasn't enough power to drive them along with other house loads, so the entire AC circuit was excluded.

In an extended summer blackout it would be helpful to have at least one room cool, so I'm thinking about buying a semi-portable AC which I'd store until needed. Some of you have written about issues starting up an AC when running from PW, so if you have a recommendation for the electrical qualities I should look for in an AC unit that would be really helpful.

Thanks.

 

[cwied]

In my experience with portable units, the units with two hoses that run to the window are the best (most efficient). I don't think anything you plug into a regular outlet is likely to overtax your Powerwall, although if you only have one you may find that it will run you out of energy more quickly.

 

[P3D+]

Mini splits can be the most effectively efficient. Get a quality unit with a high Ser rating. In my experience Id stay far away from floor units.

 

[Mike Swift]

I would look into mini-splits. My brother put in one in his bedroom so he could shut down his central AC at night. After one year he put in two more mini-splits and removed the old central system. His air conditioning cost has dropped by more than 50%

 

[WSE51]

Thank you all for your suggestions. I don't want to permanently install anything, so seems mini-splits won't work. My vision is to leave a portable unit boxed up in the garage, and pull it out if there is an extended blackout in the summer.

The floor mounted portable unit by Whynter (8000 BTU) was measured by an independent reviewer as the most energy efficient of about 20 sampled, looks like about 6 kWh per day in their summer test. My solar/4 PW system generates about 12x that on a good day, so it ought to work in a long blackout situation. Only costs about $360 on Amazon. At least we could sleep in a cool room.

 

[david_42]

I'd agree a floor unit is the way to go. I put a mini-split in my master bedroom when I was renovating my house. The rest of the house gets by with an evaporative cooler, which is fine up to about 40C and <30% RH. When I lived in Fullerton, CA I had an evaporative cooler in addition to the central air. Rarely used the A/C