Portable Air Conditioners

They don't work very well. Some of them can be made to work better with the addition of more tubing, carboard and duct tape...

B&Q probably have the best range. Good prices too.

(imo, avoid buying an 'Evaporative cooler', which are often mis-sold as air conditioners)

sponix

What he said.

You can get mobile split unit systems as well that work much better (and quieter).

For example:

Get a two unit one, so you can put the hot part outside. The flexible air hose ones aren't so good.

Yes, evaporative coolers do work, but nothing like as well as ac. They are very cheap to make, very cheap to run, can knock 4-6C off a room, but next to nothing in damp weather, need a bit of ventilation to avoid causing damp, and can be made yourself from a fan + a wet towel. No point paying for one.

NT

We have some large ones at work - they wheel them from set to set. Somewhat larger than a free standing gas cooker.

They work ok, but of course the vent pipe needs to go to the outside. Which is always too far away. So they cool the bit of set in use and roast everyone else. ;-)

They do seem reliable though. Other parts of the building with 'proper' AC as individual two part devices seem to have them not working as often as working.

And increase the humidity in direct proportion. The wet-bulb temperature doesn't change at all, which is what counts for human comfort.

They work better in hot and very dry climates, which we never get in the UK.

I bought a split system from them recently, great next-day service, good after-sales advice etc.

Alan.

I've used them here and they do help, but the results are undramatic, just a few C. That leaves some questions unanswered.

NT

That depends on type. I have a split unit portable air conditioner that will drop a room to 18C with ambient at 35C.

Colin Bignell

I have found that they increase humidity and make the house more uncomfortable than without.

sponix

Split ones work fine - monoblocs suck in so much external air that they cannot cool the room effectively.

Yes. I was refering to the type with a single hose you dangle out of the window. That chucks out loads of hot air, but that air was stolen from inside the house and has to be replaced with air from outside. This very rapid air changing inside the house severely limits the ability of the unit to actually cool it down.

I have a unit which is like this. However, it has separate air intake grills for the air dumped outside, and the air recirculated in the room. By sealing the former using cardboard and duct tape to a second thick hose and dangling this outside, the unit suddenly starts working extremely well, as it's not doing a rapid air change in the house anymore.

The airforce units from B&Q are ok.

We have been using the 10,000 BTU version in a large office at work. It drops the temp from 27 down to around 19 in half an hour.

Just a pain that you have to stick the hose out of the window.

Graham

I couldn't see from the web site....Do you know if the external unit can be mounted at a higher level that the internal unit?

Many of these systems require the external unit to be at the same height or lower than the internal unit.

Graham

They will still de-humidify in the process though... even if they are raising the nett temperature of the building.