Portable Air Conditioners

They are generally about the company, not the products it sells. More about items being unavailable, missing from the order...

which

The video shows that clearly, but its shown in a small room, with a low ceiling and the Screwfix web site (I think this is the one)

.. the Which best buy manages to cool a similar room by 10 degrees in 30 minutes, but it is over twice the price, as are all the which best buys...

... for the budget concious they recommend the "Homcom 9000 BTU" which managed to cool Which's test room by 10C in an hour, is priced at only a small amount more, but of course its out of stock everywhere:-

If you really want one perhaps this, form the which article would be usefull :-

"Multiply the dimensions (in feet) of the room by five. So for a room measuring 15ft x 10ft x 8ft, you would calculate 15 x 10 x 8 x 5 = an air conditioner of 6,000 BTUs."

so the above is 10% short...

Dave

Where does the ductwork go? Unless it's insulated you're pumping 50-60C air into say the loft, which will conduct through the ductwork walls and raise the temperature of the loft and eventually come back inside.

I expect you will overwhelm the heat exhangers in the MVHR which were expecting 20C room air and are now getting 50C. Most are designed as heat recovery units, where you retain the heat while exchanging the air: here you want to exhaust the heat (and you pull in fresh air via leaks as there is no inlet hose). The a/c already contains a heat exchanger for room air (the evaporator); the exhaust is its 'working fluid' which needs to be kept separate.

Theo

Are you sure you weren't watching an advert before the video? YT is full of 'miracle personal air conditioner via this one trick they don't want you to know' scammy ads - at best it's just an overpriced Temu swamp cooler.

Just block ads, it's better for the blood pressure.

Theo

If you have the time, this is quite an interesting history:

Like this one:

What are the Roads like where you live? UK ones in the countryside like where I live are fast becoming third world standard as Potholes and Ruts leave a surface more akin to a farm track. Vehicles get jarred so much I’m surprised more components don’t get damaged or dislodged by the shaking . IF you can prove a tyre / Wheel ,suspension component was damaged you may get some compensation but I would think trying to get the authorities to acknowledge that your aircon piping has developed a leak because of a Pothole induced jolt might be difficult.

GH

Watching a friend of mine's experience, there are two types of portable air-con.

The one he used to have was cheaper and was a single unit in the room. A large hose vented hot air outside. It wasn't very efficient and was noisy.

He's just bought a 2-box system, with the 2 parts permanently connected via a thickish but quite flexile umbilical. The smaller box lives outside and the larger inside. This was more expensive, but still only

nib

While we're on about cars, I assume that the air-con/heat-pump in an EV, and some hybrids, with its electric compressor, is more like a domestic fridge-freezer in that there is no shaft input. Does that mean that they are less likely to develop leaks around moving seals?

(That's not a part you want to fail, looks like around 1k£ for nearly-new used ones!)

nib

You are right. I stupidly thought that what appeared on my screen was what you were pointing to, especially as it was a fake air conditioner.

I have just gone past the advert, and what followed was genuinely interesting.

My bad!

Avpx

I prefer this one (Technology Connections, covers the refrigeration cycle and humidity)

I bought my fan after watching that :) The revelation was that there's such a thing as 'hugger' fans designed for low ceilings: everywhere I've had a ceiling fan had a high ceiling so I assumed they weren't an option in the UK. Turns out they are.

He also points out that (in the US anyway) in the 1970s there was a big revival of Edwardian decor, which is why a lot of ceiling fans even today are made to look kitschy, with dark wood blades, rattan, brass and chains. For many this kitschyness is their purpose: the 'old look'. They have a cheap motor inside and some non-aerodynamic blades which are made for looks not moving air, and then are turned out in lighting shops to sell as novelty lampshades.

The one I bought is white, modern DC motor and shaped like a propeller, so actually designed for the job. (I later realise that Signify is what used to be Philips Lighting before they were spun out.)

Theo

They do degas like any other vehicle. On a fridge all the pipes are brazed, but cars have the pipes in sections, with flexible pipes in some places. So still chances to leak.

I did my Prius: £120 from a scrapyard for a compressor with 100k miles on it (typical Prius life 300k miles, so that's nearly new :). More annoying was buying all the other tools for doing an aircon job.

Theo

Eh? Are you thinking of the (obvious) scam product recently reviewed on Proper DIY? If you even glimpsed at this video you would have seen the flexible duct going out the window. I'm sure Screwfix would refund if it were a scam. It gets good reviews on their own site (4.4/5) and it certainly worked well for AndyMac.

Please give a link to the Trustpilot reviews.

Ah never mind - I caught up with the rest of the thread.

Thanks for pointing me at that review. It look extremely similar to a Chinese one that we got from Amazon a couple of summers ago, except that the instruction manual was slightly less crazy.

It was probably the same as this one:

The main snag is that it is rather heavy, around 25 kg, so not at all easy to get it up and down stairs. If I'd thought in time of the current hot spell I might have got another one to use in the living room downstairs. Of course all stores are sold out of all a/c units now.

WE should employ all illegal immigrants as punkah-wallahs

-- “It is hard to imagine a more stupid decision or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.”

Thomas Sowell

I would in fact hope so.

That is relative bollocks. Fuel cars a lot cheaper

I have just got round to watching it. It was interesting to see the progress towards what we have today.