Greetings all!
Well, the Southern California, USA, temp is in the mid-90's where I live, and my wife and dog are passed out on the floor of the coolest room in the house like victims of some kind of gas leak, so it must be time for me to think about air conditioning again.
For reasons I won't go into here, suffice it to say that air conditioning our whole house is not advisable. Our plan instead is to cool at least a couple rooms and retreat into these sanctuaries when things get particularly oppressive. Ultimately we figure our best strategy is to go with a mini-split system, however we are presently already overloaded with other major home repairs projects that we are failing to get to in a timely fashion (been trying to get a couple decks on the house for over a year but keep getting stalled!) and installing a mini-split system seems too much to absorb right now (both in terms of cost...which appears to be substantial...and annoyance).
We have windows that slide sideways and have blinds on them, so window air conditioners won't work for us. So, I am thinking of getting a Sunpentown 12000 btu portable air conditioner for the bedroom (which appears to be about 320-400 sq. ft). Any thoughts about this unit? Do portable air conditioners of this variety work at all or are they complete garbage? I am sure it is not the best solution, but it is only around $500 and postpones the expense and hassle of dealing with mini-split installation until some future point when I am better able to deal with it.
Thanks!
Chuck