Portable Air Conditioners

One of the more economical ways of cooling rooms in the home at the entry-level is with portable air conditioners.

While they may not actually be the most efficient type of air conditioning equipment, they absolutely do represent the cheaper purchase amount of all equipment.

The low cost price of buying a small portable air conditioning unit can make the difference between being cool and comfortable this summer and not!

Why Buy a Portable Air Conditioner?

First, I want to look at why you would want to buy a portable, free standing AC unit in the first place.

There can often be an overriding reason why this type of cooler is your first choice and sometimes the only choice in some circumstances.

You only have enough money to buy a portable AC
You live in a rental apartment with no central air where the rules say no fixed AC or window units allowed
You actually want or need the portability these units offer
Your tenure is temporary and you want the option to take your AC unit with you when you move

That last point is often a big deciding factor for anyone buying a new AC unit because it's pretty easy to detach the hose, unplug the unit and wheel it away!

That's something you can't so easily do with a window unit because they're so heavy or a mini-split because it's, well, fixed to the wall and the very thought of trying to take it all down is a nightmare in the making!

There are other reasons why you might decide that a portable cooler is the right choice for your needs.

I will take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of these great, portable cooling appliances so you can see them at a glance.

Advantages of a Portable Air Conditioner

There are some pretty compelling advantages that come with ownership of a portable AC unit. Let's look at them here:

Lower purchase price than most other AC equipment
Lower running cost than central AC
Portability!
Easy to put where you want it in a room for the best cooling
Can use in a rental when other forms of AC not available or permitted
Easy to take with you if or when you decide to move house

Aside from the above obvious advantages, there are also other plus points to owning one or more of these portable coolers. They come in a range of power output models from 8,000 BTU for smaller rooms up to 14.000 BTU for larger rooms.

Self Evaporating AC

You can now get self evaporating portable AC units that don't even need periodical draining like older models. These use advanced technology to re-evaporate the condensed moisture inside the unit and re-use it to improve the cooling efficiency for better economy and then exhaust the moisture out through the vent hose to the outside.

Smart AC

You can also now get "smart" portable AC units that are WiFi ready and easily hook up to your home's network, smart device like Alexa or Google Home Assistant so you can control and program it remotely via your phone.

Disadvantages of a Portable Air Conditioner

OK, in a perfect world all things would be, um, perfect. However, portable ACs are not perfect and they do have their disadvantages over other forms of cooling devices.

I'll take you through some of the more obvious ones so you can see what you might be letting yourself in for if you choose to buy one or more of these machines:

Must be vented to the outside through an unsightly plastic hose connected to a window fixing kit or wall vent
Non-self evaporating models (most of them) need to be periodically drained of excess water that collects in a tray near the bottom of the unit
Not as powerful as fixed AC equipment like modern mini-split units or central air
Not as energy efficient as fixed AC equipment like modern zone mini-split units or window units
Take up some valuable floor space that may be limited in a smaller dwelling
Can be noisier when running, especially on full power, than mini-split units or central air

While these minus points may appear to detract from the appeal of owning a portable cooler, they are not really so bad when you consider that in many cases, a portable AC may be your only viable choice of cooler depending on where you live.

Conclusion

In the end, it's your choice about which type of cooling solution you choose to purchase. That choice will be influenced by some factors such as where you live, what restrictions are in place concerning what cooling equipment you're allowed to use and ultimately what you can afford to buy.

When all things point to a portable air conditioning unit, you are left with deciding how powerful the unit needs to be and what size of model your finances will permit you to go to.

Resources

The following resources were sourced to assist in creating this article: