Where we live it gets hot, like 95 is normal 100+ is not uncommon. We don’t have AC in our house only fans. I want to get some ball pythons but I think they will need an AC unit in the room I keep them in.
I have a room/closet approximately 3×6 feet (there are no windows in it). I am thinking of installing an AC unit in there. I am trying to keep the electrical bill down, so I was thinking I could put about one inch thick Styrofoam sheets on the walls to insulate it more. The reason I want to add the insulation is because it gets direct sun from about 8 AM to about noonish, and the wall does get warm to the touch on the inside. my question is, is Styrofoam too toxic if I put that much in the room? I won’t be putting any animals in there for about a month, so it will have time to air out. I know that they do make Styrofoam backgrounds for reptile vivariums, and all I can find on Google is that Styrofoam is toxic in the context of animals eating it.
It is perfectly safe. I personally would use insulation boards (pretty much more dense styrofoam) instead as it tends to be a bit better at insulating and is much longer lasting. The biggest thing though is making sure to invest in a high quality AC unit. It will be expensive but it will be worth it in the long run.
^ This right here. AC units generate a lot of heat and if you don’t have it venting out a window, it’ll be counterproductive. Theoretically you could vent it into your house, but that’s just going to make the whole house warmer.
In addition, many portable AC units actually require a certain amount of space around the unit, usually 1.5-3ft. In a 3’x6’ space, that’s basically impossible. The closet is far too small for the AC & any animals to be kept safely.
I live in an old farmhouse, so I understand the no AC situation. It gets high 80s/low 90s inside at times in the summer. I ended up with a portable AC in my bedroom because sleep was all but impossible. Also where I keep my snakes, so two problems solved in one go.
If you have no windows, you can get internal air conditioners and swamp things that are inside the room and vent the hot air vent out of a hole in the wall with this stuff-
Its not as efficient as AC out of the room but it will cool, especially if you insulate the ducting or its close to the wall
If you are talking about ACs that use that kind of tubing, a hole in the wall is essentially the same thing as a window. You need to be able to vent outside of the space, and most have requirements for an exclusion area around the unit that would make them not suitable for a room as small as the OPs.
If you are referring to evaporative AC units (swamp coolers), they’re really only suited for dry climates, and quickly become ineffective as the relative humidity in the space rises. There would need to be adequate air circulation with new dry air regularly replacing the humid cooled air. They’re also only capable of 10-20ºF drop and the hotter it is, the less effective they are. Not only that, they require regular maintenance, a lot of water, and can cause issues with mold.
and @halfmoonlakeherps I agree with you both! Our a/c is set at 73 and I have a ceiling fan that I keep on year round. I cannot physically take heat or lack of air movement in my room. But I have small cell peripheral neuropathy as well as an overactive skin condition along with extreme skin sensitivity/sensory issues…….
and about temp that our house is, we live in Southeast Asia and it does get quite warm. i think the mane thing is, is that after living in it for five years with nothing but fans and the breeze to keep you cool we have gotten used to it to some extent at lest. For example when it get down to low 80’s we even will sleep with blankets.
I’m a general and insulation contractor. I specialize in a building science based approach to climate and occupant behavior. The situation you’re looking to create here is fairly complex despite the small scale.
The foam board thing will just cause mold between the foam and the wall unless you live in a specific desert climate zone.
There probably is a solution that would work I’m just going to have a lot of questions about your climate and the construction of your home.
The AC thing may be an option if you use a floor style unit with exhaust ducting but it’s going to involve cutting a hole in the ceiling the vent the AC into the attic. It’s also going to wear itself out every couple years due to short cycles (not running as long as it’s designed to before it shuts off).
Our 4-year-old air conditioning unit that cools the main level of our house decides to stop working probably 30% of the days we have it running (something freezes up, maybe a coil? but the heating never has failed us); it’s been 92° inside a few times last year. To sleep, we cover up with thin bedsheets that we soak with cold water on those days and the dogs live in our finished basement except for their potty breaks or trips to the river for swimming.
We just picked up a used window unit and portable floor unit Wednesday so we will be installing them soon. Maybe my husband will surprise us and install them this weekend while my daughter and I are out of town. We only have regular windows in my daughter’s room and the rest of the windows upstairs are casement crank-style ones. We figured out a way we can probably rig the living room crank window to work with the floor unit, albeit inefficiently, by taking some or all of the screen out so the hose vents outside and then covering and insulating the area around the exhaust hose.
I have a very tiny snake room like the OP but luckily the ambient temps remain perfect because the room is located near the basement stairs so we haven’t had to move them downstairs so far.
