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Our apartment doesn't have A/C, but we do have wall ports for a portable A/C unit. Unfortunately, I can't really fathom how I'm supposed to hook the hoses up to the wall vents.

Wall vents

As you can see, the vents are just smooth metal. One is for intake and one is for exhaust.

Each vent has a radius of about 4 3/4". The hoses themselves are almost exactly 6" in diameter, and the hoses have an "attachment" that brings them down to 5" but the attachment has plastic bits for screws on it.

Hose Trying to shove the hose into the wall vent

Any ideas on how to get the hose into the wall outlets? Is there some magic standard attachment that I don't know about?

Last year, we used gorilla tape to secure the hoses to the wall. However, the hoses get extremely hot (my laser thermometer put them at a little over 120° F) and the adhesive in the tape melted and the hoses kept coming off.

I have a thought that if I cut a slit in the tip of the hose, I could kind of shrink it and maybe get it to fit in the hole (but even then, it wouldn't be secure so I'd probably have to tape it in anyway...)

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    Have you looked into hose reducers?
    – chx
    Commented Jun 25, 2021 at 0:00

2 Answers 2

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You could investigate the rectangular panel that holds the two holes in the wall. Perhaps it can be removed, then you can replace it with a new panel with a suitable hole cut out.

You could search for a "dryer vent reducer", they are available in various sizes and materials.

EDIT: Ideally buy a reducer where your hose fits well (doesn't have to be perfect) on the OUTSIDE of the fitting, then use a 6" hose clamp to tie it down, avoiding the heated-tape problem you describe. The small end will need to fit snugly in the hole, maybe you could screw it to the sides though it will be annoying to use a screwdriver inside the hole.

enter image description here

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    Thank you! "Vent reducer" ended up getting me exactly what I needed. With a 6" to 4" reducer the hose fits snugly over the top and I was able to get a pretty good seal with duct tape around the port.
    – TranquilMarmot
    Commented Jun 25, 2021 at 20:53
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Make or get a plumber to make a pair of fittings to connect.

First thing to try:

Measure the inside diameter of these ports. Get PVC piping that will fit inside. The length should be long enough to fit well inside and project out about 6 inches.

Slip the PVC inside the flexible hose and tape with gorilla tape.

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