OT: Portable air conditioners

Anyone have one of these ?

I suffer badly from the heat and have been thinking of getting one of these for some time (looking at Delonghi).

Worth it or not ?

TIA.

Reply to
Hugh Jampton
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We have had one for a couple of years. Only use it occasionally. Works fine for one rooom. The heat is pumped out in the shape of hot air via a flexible pipe about

5 inches in diameter. You either need to open a window enough to push the pipe through it or to make a hole in an outside wall.
Reply to
Invisible Man

In message , Hugh Jampton writes

I bet you're one of those people who really need to lose some weight

Reply to
geoff

Thanks for that. I just want it for one room (bedroom mainly) and would, like you, only use it occasionally.

Thanks again - sounds like what I need :-)

Reply to
Hugh Jampton

I don't think so :-) I'm getting on a bit but .....

I walk a lot (several miles a day minimum). I have a massive garden which needs *lots* of work the whole year round (several hours most days). I don't overeat.

I hardly ever use the car - much prefer to walk :-)

I just suffer from hot and humid weather :-(

Thanks for the suggestion though :-)

Reply to
Hugh Jampton

My late mother had a bungalow with a patio and large french windows which made the living room very hot in high summer. I could never persuade her to let me put in an awning, but she gained a lot of benefit from one of these in her last couple of years. Rather noisy (but she was as deaf as a post). I still use it very occasionally.

Reply to
newshound

A portable HVAC unit uses a hose through a window or core-drilled vent. They work much better if you have no windows open, not south facing, blinds drawn re solar gain, and connect to a core-drilled vent which may be 4-inch or 5-inch. Argos are a good supplier for reviews, delivery & returns online. Most can only cool, a few can heat as well (not many).

They often end up at the tip.

A much better solution is a proper split-load unit. They use an internal wall mounted unit, with external fan unit, linked by two small pipes and a cable. You need a 38mm or so hole through the wall which is cheap to buy and well within the limits of any mains drill. Price wise they are about =A3299 from Ebay or even B&Q (price varies, check they are DIY install).

They by their nature can often heat, and are good in winter as a backup and through the year re dehumidification. They often end up being bought again when someone moves.

So up to you, the former are about =A399-199, the latter are =A3299-399.

Reply to
js.b1

Something to watch for as well would be whether a particular model accumulates condensate: We had some portable ones at work a while back and they filled up in no time, whereupon they cut out, rather defeating the object of the exercise.

My father, who's getting on a bit these days, also suffers from the heat (and isn't overweight). Last year, I bought him an evaporative air cooler. Basically, it's a fan with a water reservoir and the water is wicked into the path of the air flow. I didn't have great hopes for it, but it was a good deal so I picked it up. I've been pretty impressed: The air comes out of it noticeably cool and it can effectively cool a reasonable size room. The water doesn't need topping up very often and they supplied 2 ice packs to chill it more. Quiet, remote controlled etc. Anyway, he's very happy with it and, if I needed something, I would try one of these before working out how to vent an air-con.

Reply to
GMM

So *you* say !

Reply to
Tim Streater

I bought one several years ago.

The biggest problem is getting rid of the moist hot air that blows out. If you just throw the exhaust out of the window, the A/C unit just sucks most of it back inside.

By using the outlet vent in our sliding patio door, mounted on a piece of laminate wood, I can trap the wood in the door and the intake of air becomes less, as it has to come from other rooms.

Dave

Reply to
dave

A lot of them are a bit noisy to have on when sleeping. We usually turn ours off when we go to bed.

Reply to
Invisible Man

Be very nice to see what *you* said.

Dave

Reply to
dave

I got one about 15 years ago. Taken back by SWMBO the next day, too noisy.

Replaced by split unit one, still going strong (cost1500 then, much cheaper now) probably needs replacement soon as it can't be re-charged as the refrigerant is no longer available to be used.

Reply to
<me9

Or buy a portable split type, the external unit on mine just needs two screws in the wall to hang onto, and any condensate is pumped out the bottom of it too. Bought from TLC a few years ago.

If you buy a second hand one, make sure it does NOT use R22 gas.

Toby...

Reply to
Toby

They can be. They are a compromise compared to a split unit sinceu sually they need to expel hot air from the room to shift the heat - this in turn means the room must draw in new air from somewhere else - they can't just recirculate air in the room cooling and drying in the process like a split unit can. They can also be noisy.

That said, if your house is such that you can't get a cool anywhere, then they will give you one room that is dramatically cooler and less humid than elsewhere, which can make a huge difference.

Its worth getting one that can expel water vapour through the main hose (saves having to empty it).

A friend has one of these :

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I must admit it works very well, and is not too loud. It also uses its own condensate to aid cooling.

BTW, If you buy anything, steer well clear of aircondirect.co.uk. The most incompetent and useless company I have ever had the displeasure to deal with!

Reply to
John Rumm

They do cool the air but they also push up the humidity, without adequete ventilation of the room it'll end up dripping... A split unit or one that dumps the heat out through a large pipe (and may have to empty of condensate) would be money better spent IMHO. A split unit that can also run in reverse to heat teh room would be tops but probably the most expensive.

Has the OP considered a ceiling fan? Just having the whole volume of air in the room slowly moving does make things far more tolerable. Quieter and cheaper to run than an aircon unit. Ordinary fans just don't do the same job in getting the whole volume of air to move.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

I have a portable split-unit, bought from ebay last year for about £150. It's a bit of a handful to keep moving the external unit outside and keep the window/door almost closed on the stiff connecting pipe. As the pipe can be disconnected (self-sealing unions) yesterday I mounted the external unit outside and core-drilled a hole through the dwarf wall of the conservatory. Now much neater and easier to use when required.

Alan.

Reply to
AlanD

That's a big disadvantage IME. Someone gave me a large one which they'd bought, and found not to work. The reason is exactly as you describe - whilst chucking out the hot air, they have to draw in an equal amount, and the unit ends up fighting with itself. It ran continuously (never really managing to do much cooling), but it did achieve some humidity reduction, which meant the room felt a bit cooler.

Once I worked out why it didn't work, some investigation revealed that it had a separate air intake for the condensor (which chucks out the hot air) from the evaporator (which chucks out the cold air). This enabled me to cut up a cardboard box to block off the condensor inlet, and fit a second elephant truck to it, so the condensor airflow was isolated from the house. It must have got about 5 times more efficient. The room really did cool, and it started cycling on and off on its thermostat, which it never managed before. It would only last a day or so before the sticky tape gave out and the cardboard box fell off;-) Most of the portable units don't seem to have separate air intakes though, so you generally can't do this.

However, this convinced me to install a proper split unit one, which I've been very happy with. I actually use it much more for heating in winter than I do for cooling in the summer.

At the time, B&Q also did a single unit one which had two ducts to the outside to keep the condensor and evaporator air paths isolated, although it was not designed to be portable, but to fix on an external wall. I presume it would have been a bit noisier, having what would otherwise be the outside gubbins (compressor, condensor fan) on the inside though.

The condensate water can be useful for steam irons, and for watering some plants which can't take tap water. However, the units which re-evaporate it on the hot condensor should be more efficient.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Yes. They work well in hot dry climates, but we don't get that.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

What's the difference between a split load airconditioner (with heat mode) and an air source heat pump (with reverse option).

Reply to
chunkyoldcortina

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