Whats the best portable air conditioner?

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gjm

808 posts

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#71373 9-Nov-2010 16:25

Muggy Auckland summer is rolling round so am looking for a portable air conditioning unit so that I dont have to go sit in the car with the AC on when I get to hot. Does anyone know anything about these i.e what to look for, where to get a good one without breaking the bank e.t.c. It only needs to cool down either my puter room or my bedroom at night so doesnt need epic cooling abilities.

Any ideas?

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kyhwana2

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#402218 9-Nov-2010 16:28

A proper portable AC will start at ~$500-600+
I'm not sure what the cheaper ones that cool the air by making it more moist (basically a fan that blows through something soaked with water) are, but they only work if humidity is slow and not as well as proper AC units :P

gehenna

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#402231 9-Nov-2010 16:45

400kw + or you're only cooling a small space and need to be directly in front of the unit. Actually, even with the 400kw+ you'll still need to be reasonably close to the unit to get the effect.

I looked into this last year when I lived in Melbourne. Had to get one, couldn't live with out it, but outside of line of sight it was useless - and I spent big bucks on a very powerful one.

Mitsubishi is a good brand to look at....but regardless of brand you will need to get the power output right....

Oh and try going for one that doesn't need to be emptied of water every other day. That can get frustrating. Also decide if you're going to properly duct it outside or not - the slider kits that come with them aren't always that good.

gjm

808 posts

Ultimate Geek

#402235 9-Nov-2010 16:48

Ok, thanks for that guys.......even with the door to the room closed will it still not cool an entire room? Also, how did you find the power costs? Are they pretty heavy on the electricity.....similar to a clothes dryer or something?

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gehenna

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#402240 9-Nov-2010 16:55

It'll chew through the power, but power was cheap as chips in Melbourne anyway so I didn't really notice and can't compare to NZ charges.

In a small room, if left on long enough it will definitely cool it, but you might find that being in front of the air flow will be more effective. It won't cool the walls which is where the heat is stored, so as soon as it's turned off your room will warm up within a few minutes.

nate

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#402248 9-Nov-2010 17:20

gehenna: I looked into this last year when I lived in Melbourne. Had to get one, couldn't live with out it, but outside of line of sight it was useless - and I spent big bucks on a very powerful one.

Mitsubishi is a good brand to look at....but regardless of brand you will need to get the power output right....

Oh and try going for one that doesn't need to be emptied of water every other day. That can get frustrating. Also decide if you're going to properly duct it outside or not - the slider kits that come with them aren't always that good.

+1 to everything you mentioned.

We had one in our office, cooled down the room alittle, but was generally useless.

In the end we had airconditioning properly installed, best money we ever spent. It keeps the room cool, plus no more emptying the damn water reservoir thing (nothing like coming in on a Monday to a wet floor because someone left the unit going all weekend and it overflows) :/

Byrned

455 posts

Ultimate Geek

#402265 9-Nov-2010 17:51

Got a Delonghi one myself and works well to cool a medium sized room (4m x 5m).

When we had it going all summer was costing about $30 a month to run. Looked at this is cheap compared with loosing my sanity!

Things to note that you need to have a convenient window to vent it out of, and it's noisy, really really noisy!

Kraven

729 posts

Ultimate Geek

#402285 9-Nov-2010 18:43

+1 on the noise, probably not the best for a bedroom.

I've seen new models that expell the moisture through the exhaust, try and get one of those if possible, so you don't have the hassle of emptying a water container.

Brand - we used some no-name ones at work for a couple of years, basically working them 24/7 in summer and never had any problems...

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gehenna

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#402290 9-Nov-2010 19:08

Ahhh yes, the noise, I totally forgot about the noise. There's much to be said about having a properly ducted air conditioner with the motor OUTSIDE :)

My aircon was in the corner of my apartment living room and was ducted out the window. Don't get me wrong, in an insane climate like Melbourne in summer it's a life saver. But you trade off a few things for that comfort - like the ability to hear your TV under 60% volume, and the ability to use it late at night without waking up the whole building :)

Personally I think for the type of heat we get in NZ, a portable air-con isn't really an effective solution.....especially given the ups and downs of using one.

gjm

808 posts

Ultimate Geek

#402358 9-Nov-2010 21:14

Hmmm...noise you say. Thats not ideal...starting to reconsider the whole idea after what you guys are saying. Maybe I should just stick with the bottle of frozen water in front of a fan for a while...

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Stan

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#411318 30-Nov-2010 18:34

Just saw this thread. Best price for performance/reliability/performance Dimplex cant go wrong delonghis are good but can be abit on the pricey side

EDIT: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Heating-cooling/Other/auction-334826581.htm

snowkiwi

160 posts

Master Geek

#411336 30-Nov-2010 19:44

Another thing to think about is how much air they suck in - Heaps! They need enough for the cooled air that cools your room plus the hot air they expel outside. That extra hot air that goes outside comes from your room and must be replaced - from outside the room... where its hot.
I put one in my outside office with ducted exhaust outside. Turned it on and the door slammed shut and the room was at about negative 50Pascals pressure (thats alot). It was sucking hot air in through the high-wall heat escape vents. My solution was to install a small make-up air supply fan sucking cool air in from under the floorboards, then surround this fan and the unit in a plywood housing which also cut the noise.
I still need to aim at me for a 30 minutes or so at the start. Slowly cools the room - and the office is fully insulated!
So they are definitely a compromise of price, noise, effectiveness.
Mine was a warehouse no-name 4 years ago for $400 - $10 extra a month using it 2 hour a day in afternoon.
If I did it again on the cheap id do a through-the-wall/window variety. Still noisy but better performance and ease of use.

snowkiwi

160 posts

Master Geek

#411339 30-Nov-2010 19:57

Oh and gjm that bottle of frozen water thing - Aint nothing wrong with that. Though try oil or alcohol in the freezer - cools lower than water. 2 years ago I was stuck in Christchurch during a good old northwesterly. I had 4 bottles of IPA (alcohol) in the car which I threw in the freezer that night. next afternoon whey went a treat in front of the motel room fan and lasted a few hours. Its cheep - and if you use 120 proof whiskey as the alcohol, you can drink it too :)

gjm

808 posts

Ultimate Geek

#411418 30-Nov-2010 22:12

ohhh whiskey...I like that idea. A nice glenfidich would go down a treat. Might end up costing more then the airconditioner after a while though

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