Portable Room Air Conditioners – How to Buy Portable Air Conditioners

Dehumidification and cooling are the main functions that portable air conditioners have. You can cool down your attic or room on the spot, or you can use them as space heaters or fans. The problem with them is their price.

They’re mobile, trouble free and much easier to install than it would be if you would put in a window unit. Still, a window is still needed in the vicinity to vent the hot air outside. They come with a foam insert and an exhaust tube, with the water being drained out the window or inside a bucket. They’re pretty heavy, even if they’re portable, with a weight between 50 and 90 pounds.

Usually, their height is around 30 inches and they take between 12 and 18 inches of space. Like most other electronics, they have energy efficiency ratings, and choosing one that is higher will insure a smaller electrical bill in time.

Sizes of Portable room air conditioners

Some of the available portable air conditioners can cool down a room with a size between 150 and 200 square feet. These are usually of the 7500-8000 BTU power.

They’re the most economical and small units you can find. In some cases, they will come with separate dehumidifier and cooling functions for you to choose from. An air filter, a timer, three cooling fan speeds and a temperature display are some of the functions you can choose from.

If the room is bigger than 200 square feet, you should go with a 9000 BTU unit instead. Some of them come with an ion generator and come in two different sizes, 9500 and 11500 BTU. Both these types of models have remote controls and multiple speeds to choose from.

The most recent ones even come with self-evaporating technology. There are even 10000 BTU units available, which can take care of a 250 square feet room, and they also come with a washable activated carbon filter, two speed fans, 8 hour timer and a remote control.

To make a choice of a portable air conditioner, the rooms required to be conditioned and the cumulative square footage of these have to be considered. This data can be used at the US Department of Energy's air conditioner size calculator to finalize what strength is required.

Further, the style has to be selected. When portability is the prime requirement, a free standing air conditioner is the ideal choice. The different types in these are:

In order to be able to choose a portable air conditioner, you need to know how much square feet a room has first. You can use this data together with the US Department of Energy site, which offers a size calculator, and find out how much strength you need.