Question:
Have an Amana air conditioner. Probably 7 years old. It has a vent setting
that can be set at either 'Closed' or 'Exhaust'. I've always kept it on the
'Exhaust' setting. I would guess the Closed setting would prevent air from
re-circulating from outside. And, would probably keep the room cooler. But,
then you would have stagnant air. Is my logic off? When would you choose
one over other?
Answer:
With "exhaust" you're blowing the air you paid to cool outside. I
suspect that setting is best used if you are using the "fan only"
setting on the unit. Eg. if it's cooler outside than inside and you
want to draw in fresh air from outside through doors and windows.
With the closed setting, it won't be any more stale than if the doors
and windows were closed and the AC was off.
The couple AC I've worked on, I can't remember if the vent blows air from
inside to the outside, or from outside in.
"recirculating to the outside" is a built in contradiction. Recirc means
inside air goes inside. "vent to the outside" might be closer.
I candidly don't think it makes enough difference to care. If the air gets
stale, open the door more often
Different A/C units have different size exhaust vents. You can
tell how big yours is by simply noting the change in airflow from
the unit between its closed and exhaust settings. If there's little
or no change, the exhaust vent is indeed too small and isn't
making any difference.
We have a basic Frigidaire model and there's a major difference
in how fast our apartment cools down when we leave the A/C
on exhaust for several minutes when we first turn it on.
