Air conditioning and a new baby

[sortofsilver]

I have two portable air conditioning units. One a homebase home brand running for 4 years old and the other was a B&Q home brand 7 years old. Both are running fine and cold.

I clean these every week and empty the water every few days they are used and and they still do the job. My question is that i am due to become a parent within the next 3 weeks and would like to know if these units are ok to use with baby around?

I understand you cannot let babies become to cold but is there any other reasons not use these units with a newborn?

Thanks
Dave

[Clk320_Greg]

Might be worth having a profesional clean the coils to ensure they are not harbouring any nastys but other then that i see no reason they will cause any problems with a new born.

However this is only an opinion and not FACT

[Brian_UK]

There shouldn't be any reason not to use them apart from trying to cool the child directly.

The water side, I assume, is for cooling the condenser side which has the hot, moist, air directed outside. This is the risky side as far as contaminates are concerned.

Do you do an occasional coil clean using citric acid or similar ?

[The Viking]

Not until the baby get old enough to stand up and put toys inside the unit.
:D

All air-conditioners should be fully protected against toddlers!
:cool:

(Jokes aside, no as long as they are the type that got a compressor in them they will be OK. The "wet rag" type of units are a different matter)

[The Viking]

I do assume that the water mentioned is the cans that collect the condensate created by the indoor units??

[sortofsilver]

Both units have compressors in them.

When you say do the occasional coil clean using citric acid what do you mean? Can you explain in lay terms how to go about it?

To be honest i am not sure in i could even get into the units with breaking them. I may have ago if its not to complicated.

Thanks all

[sortofsilver]

The water is emptied has been collected from the air via humidifying. I thought that was the dodegy water. I empty even 2 or 3 days is this enough?

[The Viking]

The water is emptied has been collected from the air via humidifying. I thought that was the dodegy water. I empty even 2 or 3 days is this enough?

Ok,
Close enough, it's from the dehumidifying that occurs when air is cooled.
That water is actually really clean, the problem is when any water is left standing it goes stale and might even become infested with various types of bacteria.

BUT, don't worry about it, it will do your kid no harm.
If you are concerned then just add a cap full of thin bleach to the bucket after you emptied it.

Have you got carpets in your house/flat?
They will harbour more bacteria than your airconditioner and your kid is likely to treat them as a dining table...


The "dangerous" A/C systems you read black headlines about because someone have caught "Legionaries Disease" from them is something completely different and you would not find them in any domestic situation, at least not in UK.

[Brian_UK]

Forget the citric acid.

I thought that your units may have had water cooling of the condenser coil and they sometimes get scaled up.

As it is only moisture from the cooling coil ignore my comments.

[lowcool]

the viking mentions de humidifying,as well as moisture removal from the air the negative ions disappear also.negative ions are the effect you get walking in a forest and making you feel good.i prefer not to sleep under airconditioning as it sometimes gives a drawn out sensation.

[sortofsilver]

Thanks to all for your contributions! By the way i got a new car with aircon which works a treat.

I noticed on a website that the motor/compressor that powers it is 1HP so am i right in thinking if my car is 100BHP then i am using 1% of my of my fuel powering the aircon motor?

[Brian_UK]

^ at the very least.

It's great fro demisting though :D