Portable Air Conditioners
If you find yourself needing some extra cooling power in your home or workshop this weekend and a traditional fan just isn't effective as you it to be, consider the technology behind stand alone air conditioning units. While most people are familiar with standard window air units, most people tend to think that if they don't have a window suitable to hold a unit in their room, or no window at all, that this is not an option. The option they do have, however, comes in the form of portable air conditioners.
What Are Portable Air Conditioners?
A portable air conditioner woks on the same basic principle as a window air unit. By pulling the warm air and humidity from the room and emitting cooler air, it is able to significantly decrease the temperature in a room. They typically resemble a rather large tower fan in appearance, though some models tend to be manufactured in basic boxier shapes. They are stand alone units than can be powered through a standard electrical outlet. They do have an exhaust hose that must be run to a window, however, the window can be in another room if necessary.
Benefits Of Portable Air Conditioners
The primary benefit of a portable air conditioner when compared to a traditional central home air conditioner is the upfront cost as well as the ongoing energy efficiency for usage. While a portable air conditioner is only designed to be used in a single room, unlike a central air system, there are times when only one or two rooms need to be cooled. For example, if you have a three bedroom house and two of those bedrooms belong to your children who are off to Summer camp for a month, it's not very cost effective to run the house's larger air conditioner when only one of the three bedrooms needs cooling.
Portable air conditioners are more than easy to install, simply requiring that you plug the power cord in and run the exhaust hose to a window to vent the warm air. This is not only convenient to get the unit going initially, it also makes it fairly easy to move the unit from room to room as needed. For example, if you work from home and only need to have your office cooled during the day, you can set up your portable unit there. Once you are done working for the day, it's simple to move the unit into your living room or bedroom, since you no longer need the office cooled.
Portable air conditioners are also ideal for rooms that cannot or have not been connected to your main air conditioner's ductwork. If you have a garage or workshop that you regularly spend time in during the warmer months, it is typically very costly and very difficult to connect these rooms to your main unit. A portable air conditioner is perfect for this situation and can provide the needed cooling without the hassle of redesigning ductwork.
Portable air conditioners are also multi-purpose units. While they can work as traditional window units, removing warm air and humidity and replacing it with cooler air, the unit can also be used as just a traditional fan or just a traditional dehumidifier. This means that it can essentially be used year round, instead of just in the warmer months, especially in southern states where humidity remains an issue regardless of the temperature outside.
Downsides Of Portable Air Conditioners
One of the primary downsides to portable air conditioners is their overall level of effectiveness. While they are much less costly than a standard central air conditioner, they cannot cool down a room to the lower temperatures that a central unit can achieve. Even though portable air conditioners are ideal for situations where normal window unit won't work, they are slightly most costly than regular window units and, again, less effective. In essence portable air conditioners are ideal for cooling a room down, not making it cold. They are more effective than standard room fans but less effective than other air conditioning methods, be it a window or central unit.
Portable air conditioners also require some amount of floorspace. While it may not be significant, in smaller rooms sometimes every square foot of open space counts. Since window units are mounted off the floor and central air units are run through the walls and ceilings, neither of them require any floorspace in the room itself.
Finally, unlike window units or central air units, portable air conditioners do require some maintenance. Since the unit works as a dehumidifier, the humidity it pulls from the air collects as water in a containment pan in the unit. This pan needs to be emptied on a regular basis to ensure operating efficiency.
Choosing The Correct Portable Air Conditioner
In order to determine the best fit for your room, you must first calculate the rooms square footage. You can do this by multiplying the width of the room by the length. For example, if your room measure 12 feet by 12 feet, the total square footage is 144 square feet. Since there are four basic strengths of portable air conditioners, manufacturers recommend buying the one closes to your rooms actual square footage recommendation. The strength of the units are measured in BTUs, or British Thermal Units. Portable air conditioners are primarily found in 7,5000 BTU models, designed for 150 square foot rooms, 9,000 BTU models, ideal for rooms that are 200 square feet, 10,000 BTU models, recommended for 250 square foot rooms. And 12,000 BTU models, meant for rooms up to 350 square feet. Unlike window units, portable air conditioners are not intended for rooms with a square footage larger than 350 square feet. While window units can handle a much larger area, the portable units are significantly less powerful and require more BTUs than a window unit to cool the same size room.
Portable air conditioners are a great way to either supplement your existing central air conditioner or use in rooms that are not connected to the main ductwork. They are affordable to purchase and cost effective to operate.
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