I picked up an 8000 BTU in-wall (14.5" wide) air conditioner and I'm wondering if anyone has HVAC experience. I understand there will be condensation however I don't know if the back end of an air conditioner is a simple heatsink (passive) or if there is air blowing over it. The AC will be mounted in a room adjacent to empty/dead space so the back end of the AC will be inside that dead space area. I've sorted out the plumbing for the condensation drip - but I'm not sure if I need to install an exhaust fan or if it can just be passively cooled by the empty space. The empty space is about equal to the size of the room I'm cooling if that matters. Thx for any feedback and replies.
How many sq ft are you going to cool? I installed 3 window air conditioners in my house several years ago and have never had any condensate drips. In the old days there was always condensate to deal with. Your unit should have a squirrel cage blower for the evaporator and a blade type fan for the condenser. Since you are exchanging heat with an adjacent area of about the same size as the cooled area, the temperature of the heat dump area will increase by about the amount the temp is lowered in the cooled area assuming both areas have similar insulating properties. Monitor the temperature in the dump area and if it gets above 100 degrees F you may want to see if you can exhaust some of the heat out of the dump area. I think your installation will work OK.
You will have to have fresh air exchanged in your room receiving the heat. It is mandatory if you pull head out of a room and send it to an adjacent room along with the heat energy required to cause this movement that you will need to get rid of this heat. Make sure the outside air flow in the receiving room doesn't by pass the air conditioner coils. If this is a problem perhaps a standing fan directed at the air conditioner will help.
I noticed this thread was moved from "Hardware" to "Chit Chat". It would seem to me the starter of this thread was needing to install a window air conditioner to cool his room full of trading machines as I have had to do. Central air does not keep up with the heat load of my computer hardware. We could move all post on ET to the "Community Lounge" "Chit Chat" because every post on ET is nothing more than chit chat.