Should I Buy a Portable Air Conditioner/Heat Pump? Top Pro's & Con's & Dual vs Single Hose
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มิ.ย. 2024
- Cooper & Hunter Dual Hose Portable AC/Heat Pump: amzn.to/3EuK2GD
↓↓↓ My Favorite Tool ↓↓↓
amzn.to/3NIFJuO
PTAC Units: amzn.to/3lFhMIC
Window AC's: amzn.to/2XDi8rl
Mini Split Units: amzn.to/2Z9NbLU
In this video we discuss whether or not a portable AC is a good option for your situation and why you should choose one that has dual hoses.
Thanks for watching and subscribing! As an Amazon affiliate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thank you for your support!
0:00 - Portable AC/Heat Pump Intro
1:45 - Higher Efficiency Options
2:28 - This C&H Unit's Features
3:03 - Cooper & Hunter Portable AC/HP
3:28 - Portable Air Conditioner Accessories
4:59 - Portable AC Operating Modes
6:31 - Portable AC Inner Components
9:07 - Condensation Management
11:52 - Operating Without The Cover
13:22 - Temperature Range
13:41 - Dehumidification Mode
14:48 - SUBSCRIBE!!!
Blessings from Minnesota,
Ben
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*Works so well **Fastly.Cool** that it only requires daytime operation until high temp and humidity are overnight. It is difficult to get to side filters, but back is easily accessible.*
Why do people keep injecting that link everywhere?
@@REXXSEVEN_II to give us viruses.
this guy keep spamming his trash product under every air cooler video
I'm from Porto Alegre south of Brazil. I needed it for a while while I was living in a makeshift home. It was the salvation and my family didn't get hot. Even though it had a very limited capacity, I helped by placing fans and the thermal sensation was pleasant enough. My unit did not have two hoses, but there were instructions on you tube on how to adapt one more to the air intake. I liked this video so much it's worth a thousand likes
It’s such a in-depth and useful review!
Thank you for that video. I have one of these units at my cottage for the really hot days. Have wondered how it gets rid of the water. I also did not know what the top drain fitting was for. Now I do. These units work really good for when you only need them for a short time.
That's definitely the right application for one of these!
This was the best portable AC videos I've ever watched.
Just in time when I'm considering buying a portable ac! Thanks!
Fascinating and informative as usual. 👍
Good to see a new one from you
Hopefully will be cranking videos out a bit faster going forward... HOPEFULLY... Ha
Brother you are the best teacher I have ever seen. You explain things so wonderfully. Thank you brother.
A very interesting and informative program, THANKS FOR THE GREAT VIDEO.
Very well spoken and knowledgeable. Thank you
Good video. One comment on gfci wiring. It is not necessary to ground a gfci in order for it to protect users from shock. A gfci is monitoring the current flow in the hot and neutral legs and will trip if there is an imbalance with having a ground connected. Generally an imbalance is caused by leakage current to personnel or objects. In fact, it is acceptable by code to use a gfci in a bath or kitchen outlet originally wired with two wires and no ground. As before it still provides protection by ensuring the hot and neutral currents are the same. Code does require a tag on the groundless use of a gfci indicating it is wired without a ground, similar to the tag required when you operate a standard receptacle off a gfci's output. Finally, a gfci is not a surge suppressor that does require a ground for maximum benefit.
I got two of the Wynter dual hose portables, they pretty much do the same thing except that they have a mini water pump that will actually remove the water into a small tapped hose that you feed through the exhaust pipe and out the window sill. You pretty much never have to drain it, ever.
I had a single hose ac for decades it cool my room down like an ice box put a insulator sleeves over your exhaust hose to save energy, heat temp coming off ofthose are 114-118 degrees sleeves cost you about 45.00 or DIY with hot water tank blanket or bubble wrap.
Oh man,,I'd love a video like this over 70 pint dehumidifiers....great video thanks
Very good job with the video everything is well explained 👏🙌
Great explanation as usual ... Thx for sharing ... Seems like a nice product ...
Finally I know where that small motor & wheel at the bottom of the condensor is for: to sling the condens up into the condensor and get rid of it. I transformed at least 4 of these units already and found the wheel always. I try to find other applications for these heat pumps, like water/air heat pumps.
Thank you for the information on this
Thanks for sharing your knowledge 🤩🇲🇽
Excellent educational video! Thanks a lot!
Good to see you again my friend
Awesome job thank you so much
Thank you for the video! Do you have any recommendations on how to prevent mold forming in/on drain pans?
Great video and details Benjamin.. this answered most of my questions. I wish if you do energy comsumption comparion of Heat pump of these portable unit vs Ceramic heaters. I bought Hisense one from Costco this year.
Thanks! Great video
I would think that cooling the condenser with cold air from the room would be more efficient than cooling it with hot outside air, even though they seems counter intuitive. I have been using portable units for over 20 years and I think they work great. Wrapping insulation around the exhaust hose helps with efficiency.
Thanks for the video!
Is that AC designed to work 24/7?
I'm looking for cooling part of garage with a few servers (like building some 'box' with drywall around rack). Portable AC looks promising, but it's not clear about durability
The metering device is magical, from liquid to vapor, for vapor back to liquid.
Great video. I live in Alabama and the two vent system seems like it would die quickly here. If it had to pull this incredibly humid and hot Alabama air in it just couldn't cut it for long I think. The only hope is trying to cool by recycling the already cooped air. I'm definitely no hvac person so it's just my thoughts lol
Well done! 👍👍
When you have a dual hose setup in the window, you have the intake and discharge hoses right next to each other. All that hot air from the condenser being sucked right back in! No no for me. I would install a dryer vent on the exhaust just my 2 cents great video
So hot air is expelled right next to the cooling inlet,so thereby pulling hot air back into the unit
Very nice sir..
Thanks for the video. Question on the 2 hose concept: assuming the outside air is 105+ like here in Texas right now is it good to be cooling off 105 or 85 inside temps? I understand the pressure concept but this is not for a home but a shop. Just trying to understand the problem hot outside temps will cause the air conditioner. Thanks again for your videos. You always explain the why behind things. Also I would love a transparent cover also.
I just watched this video. I see it is 2 years old. Do you still recommend this particular portable AC, or is there another brand/model that has improved on this? Thank you for the detailed videos.
Would it work well on a 10 x 14 three season room?
These portable units regardless single or double hose are great for a back up of your central AC until you get it fixed. I have a single hose one which I keep for a back up, use in my garage when working on cars (it wont cool the room but helps a lot) and run in an addition to my central unit in the office where I run servers and gets hot. They are also great when there is no power and you have to run a small generator and have AC in one room.
With all being said they are great units to have. Just dont waste more than $500 thinking they will do a better job. Just buy the cheapest and keep in storage.
just remember the between uses, the little reservoir dries out and the dust/fluff in the evaporated water will harden like cement and little moving pieces like floats will get stuck. So you have to do some maintenance. This is what kills carpet shampooers between uses.
Why have manufacturers not made a cold climate high seer inverter PTHP unit yet? Thanks for the video!
I have a Pioneer single exhaust hose and I'm looking for the proper way to clean it, or any of these units for that matter...thanks
Mine use to make 20 litres of water a day in 8 hours, the evaporator catch pan holes clogged up so I pulled it apart and drilled bigger holes in it, it never made water again because the condenser heat and fan blew it out the window, I think it work cooler after that, made me wonder why the factory didn't make it like that.
One type of portable AC I would like to see on the market would use water instead of air hoses. This way the waste heat could be used to heat a paddling pool, outdoor hot tub, etc. and would solve the issue with casement/swing windows (common in Europe) where hose panels don't fit. With two garden hoses running out the window for the feed/return, the window could be closed further and the AC placed further from the window. I have seen a video a while back where someone modded a portable AC to heat a hot tub, so it's certainly possible.
Do i still need to hook up the hose if im using it as a heater?
Great explanation. You should be a teacher. I'll check out the rest of your vids!
I got a Whytner 12,000 btu unit to cool and heat a space. But so far it hasn't been that great at heating. The air coming out is only in the mid to nigh 80°. Seems like the air is cold by the time it's a few feet from the unit. Not sure I'll be keeping it.
Hey Benjamin, great video!
I have a question. I have a portable unit similar to this (with heat pump function) but it is a single hose unit.
My question is, where does the energy to heat the room come from? It does indeed heat the room up so I assume that the energy comes from the air sucked into the room via the negative pressure. Is this correct?
How would this compare efficiency wise to just running a resistive heater?
The spec sheet seems to say 2x heat out for every unit of energy in, but I'm sceptical.
Thanks!
With a heat pump, the energy comes out of the air. In A/C mode, shoot cooled air into the room and hot air out the exhaust. In heating mode, shoot the cooled air out the exhaust and heated air into the room. They take air and split it into hot and cold portions, using energy to do that, and give you the hot or cold air you want, exhaust the other.
My RV AC has a condensate slinger to get rid of the water.
What about the condensation during heat mode?
Only problem I see with there hose setup is how close the intake and discharge hoses are away from each other to me there to close but I’m sure they work better than the single hose contraption that’s why I don’t use mine bought mine 15 yrs ago and it just sits surprisingly it still works good
Thank you
I want to know if the heat pump actually pushes heat out just as efficiently as in a/c mode
I’ve been looking for something like this for a tiny house on an off grid lot. I can have a friend bury some corrugated pipe as an earth tube for cheap to feed its outside inlet.
That is a great idea for both heating and also cooling! Yud need like 75 feet id imagine, snaking back and forth, or more. The only problem with pipes like this, is when the intention is for the fresh air to enter the house. The pipes attract vermin, disease, rat and mouse poop, mould, bacteria and dust. Think legionnaires disease in moist ventilation systems. Not so much a problem when the ground air is just being used in the unit internally and being exhausted, such as in a two pipe system.
@@mikemotorbike4283 Yeah, that follows with what I was thinking - Sort of a poor man's ground source heat pump, but wouldn't have to be super careful about earth tube air.
Excellent
is there a 5000 Btu portable a/c WITH two hoses AND small form factor 12"x13"x26" ?
I think that would work in my van conversion camper. thanks
I turned my single hose portable into a dual hose by using a second hose and the box it came in. I taped the box to where it pulls air in and put the hose in there and ran it out the window and i noticed that the compressor actually shuts off more often since the room keeps the cool air in. I also noticed that my exhaust hose has a piece that makes the exhaust hole smaller and when removing it the water builds up and causes the ac to shut off until i drain the water but reattaching the piece to restrict some of the hot air leaving helps to evaporate the water and i never have to drain it
More info pleasd
@@conradpaul6100 you can youtube converting portable single hose ac in to dual hose but basically u want a hose covering the back where it pulls air in and run that hose outside the window so it sucks air from outside rather than sucking air from inside the room causing a vacuum suction in your room to pull hot air from under the doors or window creases causing the room to be filled with hot air. Instead your ac will just suck air from outside through the hose to be use to cool the condensor leaving the cool air in the room to cool the room
Cool video
Very interesting. Dehumidifier mode still need to deal with the (water) as it does not evaporate to the outside? Thank you.
Correct. In dehumidification mode you need to connect a drain hose to the upper drain pan location.
@@BenjaminSahlstrom but the condensate drain hose can be routed into a condensate pump whose output can be sent to a floor drain, slop sink, or any other connection that would take the water either out in the sewer or to a drain that exits the house. These devices are available at Walmart, Amazon, and any number of other commercial sources.
The past yea for so has been rather traumatic with working in healthcare and being laid off and having to make major moves a home that, to say the least, was in complete dures. Your videos have helped me macgyver this place into a decent working condition with your AC and breaker panel instructionals 👍👍
Awesome! Glad I was able to be of some assistance.
Need some hacks to this setup. Like insulating the hoses and the window.
How does it remove the condensate when it’s in heating mode 🤔
Do they make a outlet to run in thru my wall instead of window?
Thanks
Would it work ok if it is 40 Celsius and over outside ?
5:50 WOWW!!!!! So that explains the reason why inside of my apartment there is an air draft is coming through the electrical outlets and through the cracks and spaces near radiator pipes, and around the hinges of the front door to my apartment. I thought that it was because of the fans I had running but I thought it made no sense that they would cause this.
It's because of the portable air conditioner pulling air into itself and then pushing it outside, causing depressurization in the apartment. I had no idea.This is the reason why cigarette (and marijuana )smoke is entering from an upstairs apartment into my bathroom and also from the hallway and from an apartment next door to me. A real nuisance when it happens.
I only have one portable AC unit and it is affecting the entire apartment in this way. Unbelievable, I didn't know this was the cause.
I also like the part where you mention humid and unconditional are entering the apartment because of the one duct portable air conditioner set up.
You could try to modify your unit and attach a second hose to the area where the unit pulls in air to cool the condense. I might make a video demonstrating this at some point. Glad that the video helped you get a better idea of what is happening!
or open a window a crack. People like fresh air too.
Another problem with the one pipe system is that its taking the new expensively conditioned air hovering close by to evacuate the heat, before that new air gets a chance to get further into the house. Its basically sucking out what it just made. It'd be good if you cud vent that cooled air farther away from the unit, or through a wall, so it takes in only uncondtioned air. But this negates the purpose of these, to cool the room they are in. This inefficiency applies to the heat pump made hot air air too.
RVs also have this problem. The air grill is so poorly designed that half the air is recirculated through the unit repeatedly before it gets a chance to get into the room, and on the roof the same problem, poor design means the heat circulates around and around inside the unit until a bit gets to leave. There are Styrofoam baffles you can buy(or make) to retrofit your RV aircon so you can achieve the rated cooling power.
One thing about fans creating a vacuum in the house: there are several fans in your home that create a vacuum already: the bathroom fan, stove fan, dryer fan, wood stoves, and gas furnace fans all do this. Although, the gas/oil furnace by code has to have a hole by it to draw in air to balance the vacuum effect.
A potentially dangerous situation exists when the other fans are on is that they will draw the combustion gasses back down the furnace flue back and into the living area, killing people with carbon monoxide. An especially bad danger with powerful dryers while the other fans are also on simultaneously, its too much for the cracks in the building envelope to supply, as some of your viewers mentioned.
The apartment/condo dweller smelling hall odours shouldn't be. Code requires the hall to be positively ventilated(a highly pressurized hallway pushes air into the apartments under their doors). Perhaps there is someone smoking in the hallway, but most probably the building superintendent, under management orders to increase efficiency, has been encouraged to find ways to save money. So the super, "under pressure" has turned off the fresh air fan which pressurizes outside air into the hallway. This should be addressed with the manager. This is a fire safety issue- a legal and insurance liability, to keep hallways clear of smoke in the event of a fire. If there's a fire, firemen could die, and you don't get insurance.
Do most dual hose inverter ac units use a similar design?
How do you clean the condenser coils if it has no filter or anything.
How does it deal with condensation in heating mode?
I had just taken apart my portable unit as the bottom tray was filling up with water and throwing an error code. It was nasty and filled with wet clumped up dust. But I got to learn all about the "slinger" as they call them. I had to separate the 2 coils and vacuum out the dust. Mine is only a single tube and you're definitely right, it creates a negative pressure. I didn't know about the two duct units, good to know for next time. Fortunately my house has some inlet ducts in the basement, as it's a newer house, so it's never been a huge deal.
Same issue here! Single hose unit, filling up about 1-2 buckets a day. Thank you for this little write up. So I basically have to deassemble, and clean out the evaporator coil at the bottom. Is that all? Would you know if lightly spraying the coil with water in the shower or using a water spray bottle is okay?
Wish these were available in Europe, for some reason there's effectively one model that has bad design as it has both intake and exhaust through one split hose of non-standard oval form
The air in my crawlspace is unheated and colder than the rest of the room - would this work in heat pump mode if I ran both hoses into the crawlspace instead of outside? Amazon replies talk about heat pump mode not needing any hoses but that doesn't make any sense. Any advice?>
I like the transparent cover idea but I don’t think my wife and guests would approve 😆
Sadly two hose units aren't sold in Australia.
Would love to see a video where you've modified a single unit into a dual hose unit!
Loads of these on TH-cam just search for convert single hose to dual hose portable air conditioner
Is there such a thing called a portable mini split that heats and cools like a regular mini split?
There is a nasty catch when it comes to condensate management. When you turn on heating mode, the condenser becomes evaporator and vice versa - the whole idea of dissipating water fails as in heating mode the lower coil plays the part of condenser and water just collects in the tray - is not being moved to the evaporator which, in heating mode, is the upper coil. A simple solution would be to employ a simple pump + sort of a spraying nozzle (as used in humidifiers) that would do the job of transporting the water from the bottom coil to the upper one but the manufacturers will have to catch up before that happens. Now it's draining the tray every week in winter months and the upper condensate spout for obvious reasons won't work. 🙁
This is so interesting! Indeed, running my portable unit in heat mode causes the water tray to fill up fast!
But i have a problem.... The drain hose outlet (middle of the back of the unit) doesn't seem to work - the lower tray keeps filling up! The manual says to use the drain when in heat mode. Is my unit faulty, or, is it as you say, the water will always fall to the bottom in heat mode (thus the manual is wrong)
NB today I've created a workaround where I've managed to attach a house to the water tray outlet (located at the very bottom). Let's see if this solves my problem!
@@JT-bb9di yes the heat mode drain port is the one at the bottom. But unless _the entire hose is below the drain_ the water can't flow out. Ug! I added an aquarium pump to mine but I have to manually turn it on when the pan is full. Better than nothing!
So I got a unit that has a hose-in-hose design which is somewhat similar in that it doesn’t pull conditioned air out of the living space
Seems like that would be a cleaner looking setup.
@@BenjaminSahlstrom - But then you need bigger holes in the wall and you have to separate the heat-flow outside.
How come I missed this one? Just found it. Awesome video.
I wish it existed a few years ago.
I did work for a millionaire couple, and they had 5 of these in the house. I kept them running the best I could, but the touch pad controls were below the air vent and they were wet most of the time, so finally they became useless. I don't remember if they had 2 hoses. They ended up having split a/c installed
Clear housing FTW!!!! 13:30 your hands turned black for awhile.
We use to have these on a commercial scale but they had drain pans we had to empty a couple times a day.
Now that would get old FAST!
@@BenjaminSahlstrom it did we’d have to go back twice a day to empty them till the parts came in for the chiller
What's the wattage of this air conditioner please m
So it’s pulling in that sweltering outside air to cool itself off? Doesn’t make sense to me. Plus the hose exits are so close to each other. Isn’t the intake just going to suck in the hot outtake? This thing appears to be fighting itself lol.
Evaporating the water via the condenser and not needing a drain hose is actually a secondary benefit, the primary reason they do it is actually because of the efficiency boost you get to the condenser because the water has to absorb energy in order to evaporate. Thus the unit can be made a little smaller and get the same BTU rating as a larger unit that drains its condensate overboard. A very nasty side effect however is the condenser slowly rots itself to death from corrosive attack. If you don’t care how long one of these machines lasts, don’t connect the drain. If however you need it for more than a season or two (they aren’t cheap), you need the drain hose or it will eat itself alive.
That's hocus pocus. My 14 year old portable with condensate slinger has a condenser wich looks like new, even though you can hear the water splashing when it operates on humid days. Ordinary water dont destroy condensers...😂
@@danielsoderstedt1941
Ok boomer
Corrosive attack? It's just humidity from the air that the top cooling coil removed and sent down to the bottom. Why would it now be corrosive and rot the coil as it drained through into the bottom. Sorry but this is BS.
@@richardc1983 you’ve clearly never taken a failed one apart, when you have you’ll understand WHY it failed
@@nickolaswilliams935 No I've just worked in A/C for 20+ years, I know nothing... Do explain though which you still haven't explained.
SACC is the most important thing to consider
Just what I was looking for*! I love your enthusiasm and passion for your profession - you're probably the only one who wants to curl up in front of a glass front heat pump instead of a fireplace. Lol
(*Except I was hoping to see where the clips are to open this bad boy up... I have an aquarium pump hooked to the drain hose, and I want to mount the little pump inside add a circuit to run it automagically. Glad to find that float switch! Looks promising!)
I hope eventually to install a permanent minisplit, but until the divorce is final, this is what makes sense.
cool interesting video
I will either buy a window unit and enjoy its affordable price, or I will buy a mini split and enjoy its quietness. Portables are marginal at best, even for the dual hose ones.
🤣🤣 you say even though it’s later and almost at the end of air conditioning season, it won’t be long and it’ll be air conditioning season again!😁
🤣😁 I wish that were true, but here in Michigan with about eight months of cold weather I mean you’re talking October through May! I just thought I would throw that in there😁🤣🤣
*Technology Connections has entered the chat*
Looks like you could fit a drain hose to the bottom of it too.
Ben, Which of the four methods that you mentioned is the most efficient (as well as economical) for perhaps a small apartment or mother-in-law detached space of 500-800 sq ft. In the western states where they experience hot dry summers and cold winters?
I'd probably go with a mini split heat pump. Depending on how cold it gets you might want to go with one that has "hyper heat" that can heat down to -22 f. The mini split is usually the best from a comfort and quite operation standpoint however if you want to get by a bit cheaper I would go with a PTAC heat pump with integrated backup electric resistance heat. The mini split and PTAC are fairly similar with their efficiency as far as I know.
@@BenjaminSahlstrom thanks for the reply. I really enjoy content producers like yourself who take the time to give substantive information as well as reply to viewers. I always get something of value out of your videos, keep up the great work!
@@BenjaminSahlstrom yeah I agree, mini split hyper heat, i.e.: super efficient for cold weather, with a heat strip. She might want one with two inside fans, (one for the bedroom) because the aged like it warmer.
The Packaged Terminal Air Conditioners (PTAC) such as motels and hotels use require a big hole be made, and they are noisy and less efficient. Also, it wouldn't condition the bedroom.
Just found your channel... some very useful knowledge .
Is it just me or does Ben kinda looks like. "the Beaver".... We found him...he grew up well eh?
I have a Whynter dual hose unit. I find that the unit is creating a vacuum in the room to the point of being able to feel a breeze coming in from under the bedroom door. Did you find that the compressor plenum area was well sealed by the outer shell of the unit, or were there loose tolerances and a lack of seals to prevent vacuum leakage? Anyone else experience this? Any fixes found?
As far as I saw it seemed to be pretty well sealed on my unit.
The condenser coil evaporating the gathered condensate is just smart. As awful as portables are, this is the smartest feature any of them have and you don't see it replicated in other kinds of HVAC systems, which is a wasted opportunity.
I have one with a single hose and one of the things I don't like is there is no insulation on the hose, and the hose gets so hot it just radiates heat back into the room.
That's definitely another inefficiency of portable units.
Constantly wetting the aluminum fins on the condenser will corrode the fins rapidly.
Also, in very humid areas you will be constantly dumping the water tray.
I have an ancient Amana - 1967. It hasn't corroded. Never had to 'dump' the water, it drains out of the rear. Of course, that's a window unit. These portable ac/heat pumps either evaporate it or pump it out of one of the hoses.
When you look at the window fitment panel and you think who buys these there is a big disconnect. If you live in a house your best bet is a window a/c because is so much more efficient compared to portables. The right sized window unit will turn your room into a meat locker whereas the most portable units will take ten degrees off the outside temp. (present device may be the exemption). So the people who buy these are generally not people who live in houses but apartments. The common placement for these panel/hoses is through a sliding door which means that this panel is about 6ft too short and the hoser are probably the same. Windows in most apartments are not double sashed which is what this seems to be built for. I have had twin hosed units before and except for the noise, they were helpful but they are far from perfect.
The biggest negative I see here is they want $1500 for this in January so for that, I could get a mini-split
Anything that pumps air out a window is sucking hot air back in all over the house. Single hose sucks..lol
@2:29 - those are poor ratings. My 50 pound unit (14"x14") is rated at 6500 sacc btu and consumes ~1000 watts. The 76 pound one (18"x16") in the video will likely consume ~1250 watts to get 7000 sacc btu. For some people, that can mean an extra $100 for electricity per year.
4:55 ....So long as it's connected to a properly grounded supply.
No. GFCIs work on earth leakage current via any route - that's the whole point of them.
You said something about a different type of ac
Benjamin how many amps does this unit pull? Thinking of running off an inverter in my RV.
About 1,500 watts so assuming 120v then you'd be pulling about 12.5amps. The consumption will vary based on ambient conditions though.
@@BenjaminSahlstrom Ouch! That's higher than I was hoping. Is that in AC mode and heat mode or just AC mode? A small window unit can pull as little as 400-500W. A resistive space heater I have pulls about 1300W and heats a whole room.
Looking at something like this for emergency prep in case central air or heat goes out or we lose grid power. Would hook this up to a solar generator that holds about 5100W (Bluetti EP500). Live in Texas so AC is usually the focus during hurricane season but after Feb winter apocalypse we now have to worry about both. :(
An small 8-12,000 mini split uses about 500w after the initial inrush motor startup current draw. And there's capacitor devices you can buy for reducing the spike so it doesn't blow a fuse. Newer models have a capacitor built in. One can also buy a DC12v (and DC12v/AC120v dual mode models I believe) electrical solar panel assisted mini split, with automatic blending of input power, on alibaba for instance.