PORTABLE room AIR CONDITIONERS

Portable air conditioners are becoming popular choices, due to their … portability, flexibility and small size. But overall they are far from being your best choice, except for small and very intermittent uses. Before you make any purchase learn the pros and cons about portable AC. They aren’t energy-efficient products.

Uses

The portability and small size of portable air conditioners are an advantage in some specific cases, namely to supplement cooling needs. Only consider them as a useful short-term solution for cooling and dehumidification in the cooling season.

Portable Air Conditioner For more extensive uses, and even as an intermittent cooling solution, there are alternatives you should consider, even within air conditioning products.

Portable air conditioners and ventilation

Portable air conditioners should have some type of ventilation. It’s crucial to vent the hot air outside of the room. Without a venting system the portable will cool one part of the room/house while heating another part...

Non-vented portables are particularly inefficient. Avoid them. And also consider alternatives to portable air conditioners (and to air conditioners in general).

See: Alternatives to Air Conditioners

Single and dual hose models

Many portables come with an installation venting kit (a hose system) for a sliding door, window or wall: portable units are either dual or single hose units.

Single hose units have only one hose to bring air from the outside and to vent the hot and humid air outside. In dual hose models these functions are performed by different hoses.

Hoses aren’t very practical when moving the unit to different rooms, and aren’t aesthetically pleasing. But they are crucial in any portable.

Performance and operative costs

Portable air conditioners do not perform as well as standard air conditioner window units. Dual hose portables perform better than single hose systems, but still not as well as air conditioner window units. Portables have high operative costs…

Prices

Typically, portable are much cheaper than a central or a split-ductless AC system, but some are more expensive than equivalent AC window units and use much more energy to operate.

Their advantages are on their portability and easy mounting.

Portable air conditioners prices vary hugely; prices between $100 and $1200 are common.

How to choose portable air conditioners

Like all air conditioners you should pay attention to the portable capacity (the BTUs you need to cool a room). Contrarily to what happen with other air conditioning products, portable room air conditioners are not labeled as qualified products by Energy Star (see: High rated air conditioners), making the choice more difficult.

Do not forget that there are alternatives you should consider, even within air conditioning products and even for intermittent cooling uses. And that dual hose portables are more efficient.

Drainage systems

The drainage system of portable air conditioners varies a lot. Some portables have a pan or bucket that needs to be regularly emptied; some disperse the condensation sub-products through a tube, etc.