| Everything you want to learn and more about portable Air Conditioners... Portable air conditioners have been around for less then 10 years and like a lot of things that are "new" they have made a lot of technological changes in the last 2-3 three years, just look at the cell phone from 1998 to 2008... Portable AC unit are still not as efficient or price competitive as a window air conditioner and may not be for a long time...The reason we buy a portable unit is because a window unit can be very cumbersome to install; you have to provide support for them; make sure you seal them properly; and not to mention a very weak area that allows for break ins. When selecting a Portable Air Conditioner, there are several Factors to consider when making a purchase - the first three on the list are major or primary in your decision - the last seven are important aspects, but can't be jumped in importance over the first three - Room Size / BTU Requirement
- Can you Vent the exhaust hose
- Water Removal
- Sound
- Energy
- Manual Vs Electronic Controls
- Timer and Sleep Function
- Filtration
- Physical Size
- Dehumidification
- One hose or two hose systems
- Heat function
- Remote Control
- Air Distribution
Room Size / BTU requirements: This is probably the first and most important consideration. Unlike other air conditioners, portable air conditioners are designed so that they can be moved from room to room easily. You should still try to get the most appropriately sized air conditioner for room or rooms in your house, the most common is living room during the day and wheel it into the bedroom at night. The size of a portable air conditioner you're considering buying is dependent on many factors. The first is the Square Foot Rule: Are you trying to cool one room or two rooms at one time; What is the size of the room(s) you are trying to cool. The second part is the room you're trying cool: can it be closed off from the rest of the house or is it an open concept, for example the living room and dinning room are connected. If a scenario like that is the case the total square footage of the area needed to cool is to be considered. If you get a unit that doesn't have enough capacity to properly cool your room, it will probably run all the time and not lower the temperature as much as you would like. On the other hand, if you get a unit that is substantially too powerful, it will run for too short a time, quickly bringing the room to the desired temperature and the compressor will shut off. Under this scenario, the compressor may not run long enough to properly dehumidify your room, and your room will be the desired temperature, but you may have a higher humidity which will make the room feel cold and clammy. Also please note that the room sizes that each machine is rated for are approximations and high levels of sun, high ceilings, or the presence of people, computers, machinery, and the like will increase the cooling burden in the room. Also, most portable air conditioners have different fan settings to help alleviate the problem of too much cooling power. Water Removal All A/C units produce water and all portable A/C unit collect water in there "sump pans"; there are 4 (four) different methods for evacuation,....This is again is a very important part of the decision process, because if you are in a hot and humid climate you could be drain water a lot. The four styles are as follows - Water bucket stored in the bottom, it must be emptied by you. Based on the heat and humidity in your area you could drain the water bucket every 2-3 hours.
- Evaporation: This technology recycles the water condensation to cool off the cooling coils then evaporates the water out with the exhaust air. This results in increased energy efficiency, cooling performance and reduces the need to empty the water tank. CAUTION: Under extreme humid conditions, the water condensation may collect faster than the unit can recycle. Should the built-in water tank becomes full, the compressor will automatically shut-off and water full indicator will blink. At this time, water should be emptied, which is, water vapor is exhausted along with the hot air outside
- Condensate Pump w/ water hose: Some Portable A/C models come with a water pump and a small rubber hose that is factory installed in the back or front of the portable A/C unit depending on manufacture. The hose then runs inside the exhaust hose and goes into the window trim kit and is draped outside the window where the hose will drain extra water. It's a very convenient feature to have because you never have to drain a water bucket no mater how humid it is.
- Amcor Namomist Technology...... Has a condensate pump with built in water hose too, but takes the technology one step further, it sprays the water into a fine mist to eliminate water dripping out your window.
Your Venting Needs There is a lot of information about venting a portable a/c unit....All portable A/C (air conditioner), must have an outside wall to exhaust the warm moist air produced by the A/C unit, you can use a ,Single or Double Hung or Sliding window that can close ¾ of the way...Sorry: Casement windows will not work, Please Note :, exhausting into Drop Ceilings, Basements, Attics will not work....If you do not have a window to exhaust you will have to look at a another system like a ductless split system, Central air or a ducted system.... All portable air conditioner come with one or two flexible hoses ranging in size of 3 ½" -5" diameter exhaust hoses, and can extend 4- 5' long ...All units come with a window kit and all window kits, no mater which manufacture, all do the same job: they are a "filler kit" designed to allow you to vent the exhaust hose out of a window without hot air from outside rushing in. The window kits differ in their material of construction and their maximum widths... EER (Energy Efficiency Rating) A higher EER is better, and a higher EER air conditioner often costs less in the long run than a less efficient unit. For room units, EERs of 11 or higher are considered high-efficiency. Air conditioner physical size and appearance This is a big one that tends to get forgotten or over looked in the browsing / pre purchase stage, but in our opinion a very important...While all of them come with wheels to move, they range in different heights and weights with some weighting over 80 pounds. You have to ask yourself: is this unit going to be moved from one room to the next or will you be bring it upstairs or downstairs and if so will you be able to carry it? Filtration All units have a simple filter to protect the refrigeration coil (from blocking up). For people with allergies or respiratory problems you might want to consider using higher efficiency or UV lights or Ionizers along with your air purifiers that you already own to keep the air cleaner. Please note: a Portable A/C unit with high end filters and or UV light will not take the place of an air purifier, it will just help. Remote control Remote Controls is a nice accessories some units can be controlled from across the room.
Manual vs. electronic controls Manual models can be simpler to use and they often offer simple timers to electronic models, but electronic models usually offer more advanced features.
Noise level All portable air conditioners are getting quieter than older models, but they are still in the noise range of 50- 60 Decibels or DB's for short.... The higher the Decibel level, the louder the unit is. Timer and sleep function A timer allows you to save energy by only running the air conditioner at set times. For example, you might set the air conditioner to only run when you anticipate being at home- and not wasting energy by cooling your room when no one is in the room. Sleep timers also help save energy by cooling less after the air conditioner has been running for a set time. This way, you set the air conditioner to run while you are going to sleep and it continues running while you sleep, but at a lower level (i.e., the temperature in the room is allowed to rise a bit) while you sleep.
Heating options Some portable A/C models come with a heater option and there are two kinds of heaters: - 1. Electric Strip Heat: it uses a heating element. As the heating element gets hot it heats up the surrounding air. A fan is used to push the hot air into the room.
A hair dryer works the same way. - 2. Heat pump
- Electric Heater Strip: The portable air conditioner uses a coil called a heating element. As the heating element gets hot it heats up the surrounding air. A fan is used to push the hot air into the room. A hair dryer works the same way. " on a much smaller scale....Please note: the most you can heat is 150 sq feet and its recommended you drain any water in the system before you turn on the heater
A Heat Pump works like a normal portable air conditioner except to provide heat, the refrigerant flow is reversed. Which means you still have to open your window and still have to connect the exhaust hose...We recommend this system more of a 3 season system where you are looking for morning warm up in environments where is not too cold and you are just trying to raise the temp a few degrees.
Dehumidification
All portable AC are dehumidifiers - they all Remove humidity (moisture) from the air. It usually does this by moving the air over a surface that is colder than the air's temperature, which allows moisture to condense out into a tray or bucket. |
