Extra Efficiency with a Portable Air Conditioner

The days of big, clunky, air conditioning units that never stop whirring and rattling and chew up endless electricity may be numbered. People are finding that a smaller, portable air conditioner can often do the job of cooling a room more efficiently than one of the old fixed models. Here we take a look at some of the factors you may like to consider before making your choice of cooling unit to buy, so that you don't end up spending more money that you need to initially and don't end up with higher bills in the long run.

The idea of cooling the temperature of our rooms with mechanical devices has been around for eighteen hundred years, when a Chinese inventor first created a rotary fan. The first modern A/C unit emerged in around 1902 and, ever since that day, manufacturers have been advancing the science of how to cool our living spaces more effectively.

So we can see that the appearance of portable air conditioners on the market in recent years is the next step in a series of progressions that increase our choices in this area.

Firstly let's make sure that the reader knows exactly what these machines are, what they can do and who might consider buying one.

The rather dull design of the traditional air conditioner has been superseded by more innovative and modern forms with the portable air conditioner. Different casings in various colors are available and, whilst this may not be the main factor to consider, some people are attracted by the variety of shapes and sizes now available.

The older units also usually sat as window-mounted devices so their weight and size was not always an important consideration. Obviously portable units are designed to move around, from room to room, so this has necessarily made them lighter and more convenient. Increasingly smarter design additions are being made to increase the ease of movement.

Also, the older type of device required a visit by a technician to install it. These ones can be unpacked from the carton, plugged in to the electricity supply and they are ready to go, without any prior technical knowledge required.

Probably the main choice to be made when looking at your preferred options is to evaluate how much capacity your portable air conditioner needs. Do you need the most powerful unit or will a smaller one suffice? The standard measure used is the BTU or British Thermal Unit and this measures how much heat is removed per hour, usually ranging from 10,000 BTU to 14,000 BTU. Your decision needs to be based not only on the size of the room to be cooled but also how that room is used and how quickly it naturally heats up. For example, a room that generates a lot of heat either from other devices (like in a kitchen) or from people (a busy room will generate more body heat) will require a higher capacity air conditioner. Also, if the room is positioned so that it receives a lot of strong sunshine then it will take more power to cool it than a more shaded room.

As a general yardstick to use, 10,000 BTU would usually be sufficient to cool down a small room of 100-200 square feet, providing it was not usually a crowded room and didn't receive much warm sunshine through the windows.

Similarly, do you need a single hose air conditioner or a dual hose model? The latter design has two air intake hoses and one outtake hose and usually provides a more efficient operation in larger rooms.

Both of these decisions will impact the total costs of installing and operating the chosen unit you buy. You can surely make savings if you are converting from an older air conditioning system to a more modern portable system. Often the older machines were very energy inefficient and, like new cars being more efficient with gas than the older ones, you can expect the same rise in performance from portable air conditioners.

If you know the old saying "using a sledgehammer to crack a nut" you might see that many smaller rooms do not need a large bulky machine to cool them. In general the initial costs of portable models are lower than the older ones so you make an initial cost saving here, but perhaps more important is the impact on your monthly electricity bills. More efficiency means less power being used and this translates to lower monthly costs. Make sure you opt for a unit that has a high EER rating. This will ensure you are buying a unit that performs at optimum levels of energy usage and not wasting power.

Virtually all portable air conditioners incorporate smart settings that allow you to change the level of cooling as required and so make your use of energy smarter.

It is very worthwhile checking online portable air conditioner reviews because the best ones will evaluate performance factors like energy efficiency, noise levels, cost etc and provide accurate independent data to back up their recommendations. Most should include the experiences of people who have purchased the same models that you are considering. These will help guide you in your selection.

For example if you are considering a unit to be placed in a study or home office then you need one that is nice and quiet. You don't want an annoying rattle and hum disturbing your work. Reading such reviews should narrow your shortlist down. As with most products we should never rely solely on the word of the manufacturer.

If your budget only stretches to buying a cheap portable air conditioner then reading reviews is even more critical. At the top end of the range you can usually be sure that the quality brands will provide what you expect. At the lower end there are certainly bargains to be had but you will need to ensure you know your exact requirements and that you have done your research, or you may end up with one that simply can't do what it was intended for.