Air conditioner question

[The Griffin]

Hi,

A fellow CP enthusiast I ran into at reptile show last weekend(non PTF member) had an interesting idea.
Putting a window AC unit on a divider spitting a grow chamber. We were discussing a chamber I plant to build in a basement. Anway, the AC unit would disperse warm air out the back, and cool air out the front (If I understand them right). Would this be workable to have a split lowland/highland growchamber? The first snag I thought of was that the lowland might need to be having it's day cycle during the highland's night cycle(while the AC is on).
Anyway, most of you are more knowledgable than I in things like this. What do you think?

Cheers,

Joe

 

[nepgrower]

Joe, that is what I did in my greenhouse between the highland and lowland sections. I had the refrigerated air conditioner run 4-6 am (our coolest part of the morning) so that it would pull our cool nights even lower. I ran it like this for 2 years, but now have it running through another wall with the heat exhausted outdoors. The problem is that it really creates a lot of heat and the section I was heating (only about 250 cubic feet) would overheat, especially very near the unit. I had to add a humidifier on both sides. If you cannot remove the heat from the coils, it will not cool as much and defeats the purpose of running the machine. If my vents on the hot side would work rapidly enough it might have been a better design.

 

[Phyrex]

Nepgrower, could you tell me how many degree your airconditioner cools when it's switched on at night?

Thanks.

 

[nepenthes gracilis]

The main greenhouse in mine is all highland/intermediate plants. People still laugh at me when they see a mature N. truncata growing wonderfully next to N. villosa and N. macrophylla! I then got down to business and constructed a growchamber that is heated at a minimum temperature of 72F (23C?). Of course, me living in a cold-temperate area can get away with growing difficult species "sitting on the benches" with no real special treatments. If I lived in Tennessee or Florida, I would probably not have the rare highland species I have now.

 

[nepgrower]

Phyrex, I get about 10 degrees F drop from it. Of course it comes on when the room temperature is already in the 60's so I get it down to 50 depending on how warm the night stays. Our days are hot in the summer, generally 80-90 F outside. During the day, I run an evaporative cooler and only use the refrigerated airconditioner at night during the summer. It is interesting to note that to get that 10 degree drop, 20-30 degrees of heat are generated on the other end. My unit is older so maybe it would be more efficient if I had more refrigerant added.