If you live in a small space you need a way to heat and cool the space one way is through efficient space heaters. Todd Erend contacted me about his company called Climate Right and they have recently developed a heating/cooling unit made specifically for small spaces. I am going to let Todd tell you more about it.
There is now a solution for heating and cooling small enclosures economically and easily. A company called Tacom Limited in Columbus, Ohio, manufactures and distributes this unit, which they call Climate Right.
The unit runs on standard wall socket (extension cord) power and pulls so little energy that they say you can let it run 24/7 for a cost of about $10/month. Climate Right both heats and cools, and also dehumidifies any small indoor or outdoor enclosure up to 9′ by 9′.
You set it down, turn it on, set the temperature and that is about it. The unit recycles the room air, and heats or cools it to about the temperature you want it.
The unique thing about Climate Right is that it is made specially for small spaces, and both heats and cools. It can be set automatically keep steady the environment. You do not need to oversee it, or constantly adjust it. Other heaters or air conditioners either overpower the space, or are not reliable to leave alone.
This unit is safe (no risk of getting too hot) and eco-friendly (no flourocarbon emissions). The company says it can operate continuosuly for less than $10/month, so it is economical. The manufacuturer offers a one-year warranty on all parts and replacement if anything goes wrong.
To get the full details and learn if this is the right heater/cooler for you go to the Climate Right website.
do you know of a good front loading small washing machine??
This is really nice. I’m thinking about getting a small storage unit, insulating it, and then turning it into a guest house. This could be a handy way to keep the thing comfortable for the guests.
What is the amp draw of this unit? Also it goes to say that with a efficient home design you can keep your home cool enough for comfort without the use of grid power unless this is so energy efficient that it validates the use off grid.
9’X9′ is very small and what about cubic feet? Not all ceilings are 8′. Would the heat then rise and be useless below?
10’x10’x10 is max size room (well insulated at not extreme hot or cold). The smaller the room the better. The unit is a gradual heat or cooling. Let it run for 48 hours at least to get near the desired temp.
Amp draw is 3.6a. It pulls so little current that yo can leave it on 24/7 for less than $10/mo. (Normal wall socket)
Is that 3.6 amps per hour from a 110 volt socket? Off-grid that would be a lot more, since it would be running off a battery, and inverter to get it from 12 volt to 110 volt.
That is some cheep power.
For me, I pay ~$0.10 per kWH. 3.6A * 115V = 414W. For simplicity, let’s round that to 400W, making it $0.04 per hour to run. Multiply that by 24 hour and again by 28 days, and you have ~$27 per month.
The web site also says 720W, which is just shy of twice the 3.6A claim, and would almost double the above calculated running cost. The numbers do not make sense, and in either case are no where near <$10/mo unless you are paying about $0.02 kWH which does not seem possible.
And with the 48 hour wait, it seems like a mini-split would be a better way to go. Similar price, similar power consumption. The one I was looking at was 16 SEER, $700 delivered to my door, and 730W (cooling) / 800W (heating).
The only real advantage I see with the Climate Right is the weight is about half of a mini-split.
Michael I have asked our engineer to clarify. I will post when he gets back to me. Thanks for your comments.
I have a portable AC/heater that is 16,000 BTU of cooling and 10,000 of heating. Certainly made for a much larger area, and the cost was just under $500. It is only 10 seer, so not very efficient.
But there are mini-split heating/cooling systems are various sizes that have seer ratings from 12 to 23. Cost/size/quality factors and goes from about $350 all the way up to $2000+.
There are a lot of good options out there. But few would cost under $10 a month in electricity.
Worth a look.
Hey Todd,
How do you think it would do here on the coast of nc? Our avg lows are around 35-50 in winter and range upwards to mid 90’s with high humidity in summer.
what’s your best quess on how warm it would be and how cool with our avg’s
Thanks
Do you need to empty water out of it for the AC or dehumidifier while cooling if it is sitting on the floor inside the house?
I like the idea, but it is a little pricy. I’m hoping it comes down in price a little.
Was also wondering about having to empty it when using the air conditioner.
48 hours to get “near” the desired temp seems like an eternity. No matter how cheap it is to run I don’t like the idea of something like this running if I am not there. There would be no choice though because of the time it takes to heat or cool.
Might work well for a really tiny, well-insulated home. In any case, I’m sure Fido would love one of these.
But it’s so ugly! Can you build some kind of nicer looking cover over it? I guess you could banish it to the outside, but that seems like it might be wasting heat somehow. I’m sitting in my little 13′ Boler trailer right now, -4C outside and about +18C inside thanks to a little oil filled radiator electric heater. One good thing about small spaces, they heat up fast! Of course if we get a storm and the power goes out I’ll be stuck with one of those Black Cat propane heaters that I can’t leave on overnight. Sure could use a real tiny house with a wood stove . . .
I call shenanigans. I understand how an electric heater works, but how does this unit cool an area with no connection to the outside? An air conditioner is basically a heat pump which pulls heat from the interior and radiates it outside. This can only be a fan or evaporative cooler or something like that.
Shenanigans indeed.
Also, the cost of operation has a huge amount to do with how much heat you need to pump into whatever space you are looking at.
$10/month is like leaving a 100W lightbulb on all the time.
If this unit pulls 3.6 amps at 120 volts that equals 432 watts….x 24 hours in a day = 10,368 or about 10kw per day… or about 311 kwh a month. Even a good sized PV system would take a pretty big hit with this unit.
last month I used 624 kwh in my home and it cost me $66…so even at my lowish cost per kw…this thing would cost me over $30 a month…people in my area that used more power are charged at near twice my rate…so this could add up quickly.
As for cooling…it would need to have the exhaust port directed outside if the unit was inside…or have the unit outside and direct the cool air in.
Opps…just checked the mfg web site they say it uses .72kw….or 720 watts…twice what I calculated…then the cost is even more!
Did this company go under? Websites gone.
Wonderful info Appreciate it!
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These are very cheap and handy portable HVA. This concept is very nice. Thank you for sharing it, I really like it.