A portable room air conditioner is becoming more and more in demand nowadays. One can find them being used anywhere – in homes, offices, shops, and restaurants. For the longest time before, homes and offices have been using the typical window air conditioner which goes through a section in the wall. This way, it releases the moisture or the heat outside of the home or office. It also means that it is fixed on just one specific place.
Clearly, with a portable room air conditioner, placing and using an air conditioner is easy and maximized. Being portable, it can be stationed anywhere and is more flexible in terms of moving it around. To exhaust heat from the home or office, it comes with a hose that directs it through a window or small section of the wall. There is also another kind which comes with a container beneath it, which collects the moisture. It just needs to be emptied weekly. If one finds it too much of a hassle to take out the accumulated water, there are also types with a feature that causes the moisture to evaporate.
This type of air conditioner comes in smaller and bigger sizes so one can choose which ones would be better, given the space in a house or office. However, more importantly, one has to be able to choose the right BTU, or British Thermal Units, rating that is appropriate for its size. BTU is basically the measure or amount of heat that an air conditioner unit can take away from a given space. To maximize an air conditioner, its BTU should match the size of the room. The bigger the room, the higher the BTU should be.
Portable air conditioner units also come in various designs. Once the appropriate BTU has been identified, one chooses a unit that will suit the area it will be placed in. There are designs which are meant for very small space, so they come in a very compact packaging and design. There also units that are perfect for placing in the bedroom or small office; these designs are often highlighted as very quiet units, as they are intended for areas where one should not be distracted or disturbed by the hum of the unit.
Cooling a room no longer requires the installation of a permanent air conditioning on a permanent spot on the wall. With a portable room air conditioner, one can experience the comfort of a nice, cool temperature, with the convenience of an easily movable unit.
Top Five Reasons to Purchase a Portable Room Air Conditioner
Minimal Installation – One of the main benefits of a portable air conditioner is the fact that it can be moved from room to room and does not need to be permanently installed.
Fully Portable – Almost all portable air conditioners include rolling casters. Therefore, you can provide cooling comfort to any area with ease.
Versatile – Portable room air conditioners do more than just cool. The refrigeration cycle utilized by these types of units naturally produces a dehumidification effect, making them ideal for use in a humid climate. Moreover, many portable air conditioners also feature built-in heaters and air purifiers to provide year-round use and cleaner air.
Energy-Efficient – Overall, portable air conditioners are small and more economical to operate than central air conditioners because they are usually only used to cool a specific area. With that said, if you need a portable cooler that will maximize energy-use, a portable air conditioners is a great choice.
Affordable – Portable ACs can be more affordable to purchase than traditional air conditioning units and will usually not incur installation costs. However, keep in mind that a portable AC with a larger cooling capacity can cost more, as will one with a higher energy efficiency rating.
Watch the beginners guide to portable air conditioners video:
Best Portable Air Conditioner Reviews
1) Sharp CV-2P10SX 10,500 BTU Portable Air Conditioner With Automatic Louvers
More and more households and offices are now choosing a portable room air conditioner over the usual window type air conditioner. Mainly, it is because of its mobility which allows it to provide maximum cooling comfort to an enclosed space. Many people who decide to get this type of air conditioner, especially for the warmer seasons, buy one in Sharp CV-2P10SX.
A Sharp CV-2P10SX portable room air conditioner is powered by 10,500 BTU (British Thermal Units) which means it has a high capacity to adjust the temperature of a room, specifically by cooling it down through heat reduction. It is also designed for quiet rooms such as bedrooms, reading rooms, study rooms, or small libraries. This means it does not release the sort of noise a typical window type air conditioner does.
Even if this air conditioner is portable, it still comes with a remote control, with which people can control the fan speed and coolness level. This particular model by Sharp also has a 4-way air direction which really allows people to maximize what this air conditioner can do. While it has the capability to cool down a big space, it can be moved around, plus the air can be directed into four areas.
People who choose this product love it for its modern and stylishly simple design, because it always works with how a place looks. They also find it very easy to install and to use. Moreover, they love having it for the summer since its cooling effect can be really maximized because of its features. They also like the fact that it hardly creates any noise when turned on. They love the convenience of it and the comfort it provides.
As for those who want to be able to sleep well at night, they love how this Sharp air conditioning unit exceeded their expectations. One of the highlights of the product is that they can place it and use it in the bedroom, and they marvel at how quiet it is. For them, the very low hum that it makes drowns out any other noise, especially those from outside, but in a very subtle way.
This Sharp portable room air conditioner combines exactly what people are looking for in an air conditioning unit – one that is not limiting in terms of space, easy to install and use, conveniently movable, quiet, flexible in terms of its fan speeds and directional features, and able to cool space so effectively.
2) Whynter Eco-Friendly 12,000 BTU Dual Hose Portable Air Conditioner
Who knew that a portable room air conditioner can have a feature that makes it friendly to the environment? Whynter has released an eco-friendly model of portable air conditioners – one that is CFC free and lead free. By being CFC free, or free of chlorofluorocarbons, it means it does not use CFC as a refrigerant, which is the substance often used for equipment that utilize heat cycles. Instead, Whynter uses R-410A as a refrigerant. The difference between CFC and R-410A is that CFC contributes to ozone depletion, which means it is harmful to the environment.
This portable room air conditioner is also lead-free; it is commonly known now that lead is potentially hazardous to the environment and to one’s health when exposed to it for prolonged periods of time. Then, apart from using eco-friendly substances, this air conditioning unit is also designed in such a way that energy consumption is done efficiently instead of wastefully.
It has a high BTU (British Thermal Unit – measure of its ability to reduce heat in order to cool the air) of 12,000 and has an auto drain function. During the cooling process, the unit collects the moisture and reuses it to produce cool air. Apart from air conditioning, it can also be used simply as a fan, or as a dehumidifier. This air conditioning unit comes with a remote control.
People who chose a Whynter air conditioner find it to be a very good choice when it comes to cooling the room temperature. Even those who live in apartments that are quite warm say that it is very effective in cooling down the environment. They also find it very convenient because it comes with a remote control through which they can change the temperature, the fan speed, and when needed, the timer. If they need to move the whole unit to another room or to concentrate on a particular space, the air conditioner, having wheels, is easy to transfer.
In a nutshell, users of this unit describe it as the best portable air conditioning unit they have used so far, and even if some of them find it too large or the attached hose a bit unattractive, they would still highly recommend it. It is still easy to move around despite its size and it does cool really effectively. For them, this portable room air conditioner is really worth it, and is worth choosing over other air conditioning units.
Do You Really Need a Portable Air Conditioner?
When you need to efficiently cool a small space such as a bedroom or office, a portable air conditioner is a great choice because it can solve the cooling challenge by lowering the temperature in a given environment. Below are some common questions consumers have about portable air conditioners:
What is a portable air conditioner and how is it different from a window or central AC?
Generally speaking, air conditioners fall into four different categories: window air conditioners, through-the-wall air conditioners, central air conditioners, and lastly, portable air conditioners. Window air conditioners are installed into the window of a room and designed to cool that room. Through-the-wall air conditioners are mounted into a wall and provide a cooling effect by exchanging inside air with outside air, while central air conditioners cool entire homes and buildings. Portable air conditioners, on the other hand, do not require permanent installation such as reconfiguring a window or breaking into a wall and can be moved from one room to the next.
Because of their easy maneuverability, relatively small size, and portability, portable ACs are ideal for a variety of settings, including apartments, rooms, workplaces, computer server rooms, or anywhere else where installing a traditional AC may not be feasible. Although easy to maintain, portable air conditioners do need to be vented out a window, but this is easily performed by positioning a flexible hose from the unit to the outside. Nonetheless, portable air conditioners are still great for supplemental or spot cooling, and many of today’s models such as the NewAir ACP-1400H also come with built-in heaters and/or air purifiers. Moreover, because portable room air conditioners utilize a refrigeration cycle to lower temperatures, humidity levels are reduced, therefore making them especially useful for humid climates.
Does a portable air conditioner work just like a standard AC unit?
Most portable air conditioners work similarly to traditional air conditioners in that they produce a cooling effect utilizing the refrigeration cycle and a coolant such as Freon. The unit itself consists of a boxed frame that holds the cold and hot sides of the AC, and an exhaust hose expels the air. Once a portable air conditioner cools the air, water is removed, and most of the water is thus used to cool the actual unit.
When it comes to removing this water, there are two methods: a bucket or tray located within the unit collects the condensate, and this needs to be emptied periodically. The second method, called “auto-evaporative,” actually involves evaporating the water and exhausting it through a main venting hose and through a window, drop ceiling, or wall. Therefore, while it’s true that portable air conditioners do not require permanent installation, they still need to be vented, and this is done with a window adapter kit (included with all portable AC units) which keeps the hose in place and provides insulation to the partially opened window, drop ceiling, or wall.
What do you need to run a portable AC?
A portable room air conditioner has three main requirements: sufficient space for the unit, an electrical outlet, and an opening for the exhausted hot air.