Portable air conditioning units.

[Manks]

We have a small bedroom about 12ft square that becomes too hot in summer and we are contemplating getting a portable air con unit. Has anyone any experience of these please and if so any recommendations?

Many thanks.

[cqueen]

Should do the job but they are quite noisey. Make sure to make arrangements for the hot air hose going out the window.

[Manks]

cqueen said:

Should do the job but they are quite noisey. Make sure to make arrangements for the hot air hose going out the window.

Problem is that this would need to be an open window. Coring out a hole would be too messy.

[RedLeicester]

Manks said:

cqueen said:

Should do the job but they are quite noisey. Make sure to make arrangements for the hot air hose going out the window.

Problem is that this would need to be an open window. Coring out a hole would be too messy.

Some of the portable units come with foam window inserts so the window is open, but "blocked up".

[FamilyGuy]

As said above - they are quite noisy, about four times as noisy as our deep freeze but on all the time. I wouldn't want to sleep with it on. Ours did manage to lower the temp by a few degrees in a bedroom about the same size as yours. The critical factor, as mentioned, is sealing where the exhaust hose exists - just dropping it out the window is pointless unless you can seal it so no warm air can get back in.

[Zeemax_Mini]

My bedroom is an attic room which gets mega hot in the summer. I bought a £99 unit from Homebase around 3 years ago and it's fantastic - it is pretty noisy, but cools the room from roasting to 18 degrees in about 20 minutes (makes a huge difference after 30 seconds!). I just position it under the window, throw the hose out of it (with the window fixed half open on its stay) and close the curtain around it to stop all the hot air coming straight back in...works great!

Dom

[freecar]

Not all portable units have a hose.

Mine has a second unit you place outside and a semi rigid pipe joining the two, this means the unit is more efficient and quieter as one fan is outside! I've cut a piece of celotex to the window shape with a small hose cut out and it blocks the winter wind in the cold and the summer breeze when using the cooler. This also means that I can site my unit 8' or so from the window which helps with room layout.

Mine is a DeLonghi Penguino I got from Ebay a few years ago, could probably do with a regas as it takes half an hour or so to get cold the first time I turn it on each year.

[Jonboy_t]

I got an end of line one from Argos about 3 years ago (about £35 I think) and it rates as one of the best things I have ever bought!

If you go for a dehumidifier/fan one instead of a full air con, they are cheaper (generally) and you don't need the hose - muine certainly hasn't got one anyway.

As has been said, thay're not quiet, but I actually quite like the humming it makes and I'd rather be cool and just asleep than sweating and awake!!

[Deva Link]

Jonboy_t said:

If you go for a dehumidifier/fan one instead of a full air con,

I wondered about that as it's very rarely that hot, it's the humidity that's the killer. But don't dehumidifiers tend to heat up the air - indeed some of them are designed to reheat the air as it's passing through them?

[JM]

Deva Link said:

Jonboy_t said:

If you go for a dehumidifier/fan one instead of a full air con,

I wondered about that as it's very rarely that hot, it's the humidity that's the killer. But don't dehumidifiers tend to heat up the air - indeed some of them are designed to reheat the air as it's passing through them?

I think Jonboy is refering to an evaporative cooler, which is basically a fan blowing over a wet piece of fabric. You need to fill the unit with cold or iced water.

These don't have a pipe coming of them, but they humidify rather than de-humidify, but they do cool the air, usually only 3 or 4 deg C, a refrigeration based air conditioning unit should cool the air 7 deg C at least.
(That is the difference between the air going into the unit and the air coming out at the front.)

[mattdaniels]

Have had one of the portable air con units for 3 or 4 years now. Works very well, but very noisy. I put it on a couple of hours before bed time so the room is cold then either switch it to fan only or off to go to sleep. Hose goes out of the window. Angle the hose up so the hot air rises away and together with the bit of foam and blinds/curtains shut, the hot air does not come back in to the room. Have to remember to empty the water out of it every week or so and vaccuum the filter now and again.

[Simpo Two]

Find an old freezer the size of your window, take the door off, stuff it in the hole...

[Manks]

Simpo Two said:

Find an old freezer the size of your window, take the door off, stuff it in the hole...

Twit.

Why go to that trouble when a large chest freezer without a lid could be installed in place of my bed.

[Simpo Two]

Manks said:

Twit.

Why go to that trouble when a large chest freezer without a lid could be installed in place of my bed.

Because the heat would radiate into the room and not outside.

I'll raise you a twit

[StevieBee]

Simpo Two said:

I'll raise you a twit

To who?




Sorry, couldn't resist.

[Jonboy_t]

JM said:

Deva Link said:

Jonboy_t said:

If you go for a dehumidifier/fan one instead of a full air con,

I wondered about that as it's very rarely that hot, it's the humidity that's the killer. But don't dehumidifiers tend to heat up the air - indeed some of them are designed to reheat the air as it's passing through them?

I think Jonboy is refering to an evaporative cooler, which is basically a fan blowing over a wet piece of fabric. You need to fill the unit with cold or iced water.

These don't have a pipe coming of them, but they humidify rather than de-humidify, but they do cool the air, usually only 3 or 4 deg C, a refrigeration based air conditioning unit should cool the air 7 deg C at least.
(That is the difference between the air going into the unit and the air coming out at the front.)

Yup, that's the one! There's a tray that you can fill with tap water and it cools pretty well or you can fill it with ice cube blocks (just freeze an old ice cream tub) and it cools it to just slightly lower than minus Kelvin!