Portable air con
- Thread starter bobuk
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Soldato
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i bought one from Lidl about 5 years ago, it's branded as Comfee and is only 7000btu, it's very similar to This one on amazon but that's 9000 so would be better.
It's a bit noisy but it works really well, i tend to run it on the lower fan speed if you want to sleep with it on and not wear earplugs
It's a bit noisy but it works really well, i tend to run it on the lower fan speed if you want to sleep with it on and not wear earplugs
Soldato
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They're all noisy and really heavy but do help to provide sufficient cooling for the room.
This.
On hot days if we want a cool bedroom, we leave it on in the afternoon and turn off as we go to bed, seems to be the best way.
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I'll copy my post from the split thread:
This is the one i have:
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www.inventorappliances.com
It's a bit better than having nothing at all and not bad to stand in front of when hot, but nowhere near as effective as a proper split system.
This is the one i have:
Chilly Portable Air Conditioner 9000BTU With R290 refrigerant
This is the new Chilly Portable Air Conditioner 9000BTU With R290 refrigerant for a cool home, by Inventor Appliances for summer 2022.
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This is what we do. We have a 7000BTU one which cost maybe £250? Nothing special, but it certainly does the trick. We use it to cool the rooms down but then use a fan throughout the night
It's not an exact science as it depends on current room temperature, how efficient the unit is, space it's cooling and how long you leave it running for etc but these things aren't cheap to run on current energy tarrifs.
You're talking £5-10 a day for some of these portable ones on average on 30c+ days which is pretty nuts.
You're talking £5-10 a day for some of these portable ones on average on 30c+ days which is pretty nuts.
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I don't think they're that much, our electricity increased around £1-2 per day when the weather was really hot and the AC was on a good 6-8 hours. Perhaps if it's on 24/7 but there isn't a requirement for that really on a portable.
Seems to vary quite a bit. I'm not using one but a bloke at work uses one every night once it starts getting warm between 10pm and 8am and he worked it out as £4 in electricity cost.
Soldato
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Yeah i can't see them being that much, our 7000btu unit doesn't draw much at all, like 800watts while cooling with the compressor working and goes down to like 400w when recirculating i think when i measured it last year.
Luckily we've got solar panels so we can run it in while the sun shines for free essentially, so get your bedroom down to 18c before the sun goes down and it's fine overnight.
Looks like an 9000BTU unit draws about 1000w so you're looking at less than £3 for 8 hours of cooling. My 7000BTU one is more like max £2.30 for the same time but probably less as it'll cycle off and on once it reaches the right temp so it's probably more like £1.50 for 8 hours which i think is pretty damn good value to be nice and cool.
Luckily we've got solar panels so we can run it in while the sun shines for free essentially, so get your bedroom down to 18c before the sun goes down and it's fine overnight.
Looks like an 9000BTU unit draws about 1000w so you're looking at less than £3 for 8 hours of cooling. My 7000BTU one is more like max £2.30 for the same time but probably less as it'll cycle off and on once it reaches the right temp so it's probably more like £1.50 for 8 hours which i think is pretty damn good value to be nice and cool.
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Depends what temp you set it to and how big the room(s) are you're trying to cool. If you have it on 16c or something it'll most likely never get a room down to that temp so it'll be running flat out. I'd rather have it set to 22-23c so it just ticks on and off and makes the rooms more comfortable without costing the earth. Mine is one which extracts straight out through the wall (https://www.olimpiasplendid.com/airconditioning/without-outdoor-unit) rather than portable but same principle. At the moment if I have mine on from midday to late evening its £1-2 a day. I find by 9-10pm its cool enough outside to open the windows and let a breeze in.
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I don't know where folks are getting these wild electricity consumption figures from. I monitor the consumption of mine and it's below £3.25 for whole of June to date, run at 21C 10 hours a day overnight. Admitted that's a mini split, but a portable would need to be outrageously inefficient to consume more than 20 times as much!
Bought a cheapish £200 unit at the start of the summer and its not done what I'd hoped. Was hoping to be able to turn it on for an hour when I got in from work when the house had been shut up/before bed to cool a room but as soon as you switch it off the temp rises again within 10-15mins. I probably expected to much but its certainly too loud to have continuously running and use the room imo so wasted money.
Soldato
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Around one unit per hour to run on average 
Soldato
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I have a Delonghi 9500 BTU one and it isn’t quiet when the compressor cuts in.
Things I learned from having one:
1. You need a proper exhaust vent - those fabric “tent” things to fit around windows are gash.
2. Leave another window slightly open to get some fresh air into the room or the room air will get very dry.
3. Get a vibration damping pad (basically a large, 30mm thick foam pad) to sit the A/C unit on as this makes it significantly quieter on bare wood floors.
4. Don’t set the desired room temperature too low. If it’s 26°C outside and you set the A/C to 18°C, it’s going to be running flat out all night. Setting the temp 1-2°C below outside night ambient temp makes the bedroom feel very cool while keeping A/C noise to a minimum.
Things I learned from having one:
1. You need a proper exhaust vent - those fabric “tent” things to fit around windows are gash.
2. Leave another window slightly open to get some fresh air into the room or the room air will get very dry.
3. Get a vibration damping pad (basically a large, 30mm thick foam pad) to sit the A/C unit on as this makes it significantly quieter on bare wood floors.
4. Don’t set the desired room temperature too low. If it’s 26°C outside and you set the A/C to 18°C, it’s going to be running flat out all night. Setting the temp 1-2°C below outside night ambient temp makes the bedroom feel very cool while keeping A/C noise to a minimum.
Soldato
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My portable one is listed at being roughly 250% efficient (2.1kw of cooling for 800w of input), i know proper splits will be better but only up to around 500% at best, so realistically it'll only be twice as efficient.
You're only cooling the air in the room not all the surface, so when you turn it off all the surfaces in your house are still at say 25c so the air will equalise to that temp after a few minutes. You need to run aircon to cool not just the air but the surfaces in your house to stay cool which will take quite a bit longer.
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Soldato
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Bought a 10,000BTU unit for £234 brand new recently. Works well and only costs 30p an hour to run.
Make sure you check the BTU calculator for your desired room before buying. Anything less than 9000BTU isn't worth buying.
These units generate negative air pressure so will draw air in from wherever it can, therefore if the air outside is hotter than inside your house, it's best to leave the internal door open a couple of mm.
Make sure you check the BTU calculator for your desired room before buying. Anything less than 9000BTU isn't worth buying.
These units generate negative air pressure so will draw air in from wherever it can, therefore if the air outside is hotter than inside your house, it's best to leave the internal door open a couple of mm.
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