Cooling enclosed lanai
 

We are wanting to cool our lanai and some folks have been telling me about split systems that are running about $4500.

We would just like to have cooling but not for $4500. Any other ideas out there?

It depends on the size of your lanai and the direction it faces and what you have for insulation in the roof of your lanai.

On our street quite a few have added AC splits to the lanai and the prices ran $3500 to $4500, so the number you have heard sounds like it is in the ballpark.

We purchased a portable air conditioner and vent it through the door window. Works well for us. Not perfect, but $500 or so.

I had a good portable ac that vented thru the window that did a good job except during the hottest part of the day. but my lanai faced west. Had it faced north, I think it would have been fine. I finally gave in and enclosed with low E glass and insulation...and got the mini split.

We are in a gardenia with a lanai that could not be enlarged, standard size. We have the slider off the bedroom and stackable sliders from living area. We put the fans on in the lanai turning one way and then the ones in the bedroom and living rotate in opposite direction from ones in lanai. That works pretty well. Then what I ended up doing (because our lanai faces west, I bought light blue sheers online that are insulating curtains believe it or not they work great and are still sheer. Just a suggestion you might want to try. This will not work well if you have a big lanai. Ours is 9x28? I think.

You can add a vent from the hvac system to your lanai. It is not perfect but it is cheaper. The ceiling above the lanai is not insulated, you need to correct that.

Whatever you end up doing, ceiling fans will help --
even if you do nothing.

I wanted to offer a couple of comments, stuff I learned just recently after I spoke with the building permit/code folks our at the Sumter county annex.

Any of what has been suggested here requires a building permit and inspection.

Running a duct work from your existing AC is considered an illegal hook up. It would not pass inspection. If you did it on your own if would cause a problem when you try to sell your home or pass the home on to your heirs.

The code for cooling your lanai changed on 1/1/2015. You must use class 4/5 “low E” windows, acrylic will not pass , it is considered class 2 windows . You must have a energy efficient class 4/5 door going outside. You must bring the floor in the lanai up 4” above grade on a block house and 6” on frame, the floor need a waterproof barrier, you must supplement your A/C with either a bigger unit outside or the split unit mounted on the wall. All of the newly cooled/heated space becomes taxable, where it was not before.

I was told by someone other the building permit/code folks that the Villages deed restriction consider the floor AC a “dehumidifier” . I would check with the proper authority before you do so.

There are a bunch of other threads on here that discuss this subject in more detail if you want to search for more info. Hopefully this info spares someone some grief.

I believe you are mistaken about it increasing your taxes by adding air conditioning. If you leave the slider from the house in it does not increase your taxes. If you remove the slider the number of sq feet goes up as does your taxes.

If you have enclosed your lanai, make sure you have insulation in the ceiling. A neighbor recently glassed in their lanai, and the contractor didn't offer to insulate the ceiling, and they had no idea that the ceiling was not insulated.

My neighbor is enclosing his lanai and had his a/c unit was tested and his unit is the correct size to cool his lanai. I dont know if they are running a new duct or splitting from another duct. This work is being done with building permits.

I don't know if Mr. Grampy II is correct: Running a duct work from your existing AC is considered an illegal hook up. It would not pass inspection. If you did it on your own if would cause a problem when you try to sell your home or pass the home on to your heirs.

I had a radiant barrier installed last year and they insulated the lanai for free. The barrier its self will lower the temperature by 10 to 15 degrees.

Even on the hottest days I can work in the garage and even go up into the attic storage above the garage, could not do this before installing the radiant barrier. Had Munns do mine.

Did it affect cell reception at all?

I never looked at that until you asked and i can't tell. 2 to 4 bars inside and 2-4 bars outside depending on where I am. It is an aluminum foil type product. In the living room now with 4 bars. May be a good question for the contractor or search the web.