Portable air conditioners look pretty, but don’t let looks fool you. There are some negatives.
Portable air conditioners reside inside your room instead of resting half in and half out, as do window-mounted and built-in models. Generally, they come with casters or wheels, hence their name.
While portable air conditioners have been around for decades, they are getting more attention in recent years - and not always for the right reasons.
Dr. Energy Saver can help you pick the best air conditioning system for your home. Contact your local dealer today to find our more about all of our proven products.
In theory, portable air conditioners have several advantages over window-mounted units. First off, they don’t block the view outside your window. The panel that secures the exhaust duct at the window is much smaller than the area of a window-mounted air conditioner.
When a cool day comes along, you can open the window without having to pull out a heavy, bulky air conditioner first. Portable units can be moved about the room (although travel is limited by the flexible duct), rolled to another room, or rolled to a closet for storage during the off-season.
Disadvantages include noise, loss of floor space, inefficiency, and the inconvenience of sometimes having to empty a condensate reservoir. With the entire unit inside the room, noise levels tend to be greater for equivalent units. Many homeowners are also surprised to find that the unit and the hose or hoses that connect it to a window can easily gobble up 4 to 6 sq. ft. of living space.
Manufacturers’ claims for the BTU-capacity (ability to remove heat) of portable air conditioners are overstated. Many homeowner reviews claim the performance of their 12,000 BTU portable can’t measure up to an 8,000 BTU window unit. This makes sense. Portables use conditioned air from inside your home to carry heat from the condenser coils to the outdoors. This not only wastes conditioned air you just paid to cool but also creates a negative pressure in the room that draws in warm (and sometimes humid air) in from the outside. Dual-hose portable units draw in outdoor air and use it for expelling heat. Consequently, they are more energy efficient than single-hose units. Nevertheless, no portable air conditioners have qualified for an Energy Star rating.
If you want to be able to use your windows, a ductless or central AC system is your best bet. Contact your local Dr. Energy Saver to install one of these proven systems today.
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