Special Topic - Portable Air Conditioner

How to choose a Portable Air Conditioner

Choosing a portable air conditioner which is the right for you can be a bit confusing due to their different features and specifications. However, most portable air conditioners share the same underlying technologies.

Pick the proper BTU rating

Portable air conditioners are rated in BTU (British Thermal Units). The greater the BTU, the more cooling power portable air conditioner has. The following are general guidelines for maximum room size that we recommend for portable air conditioners:

7500 BTU: 150 square feet
9000 BTU: 250 square feet
10000 BTU: 300 square feet
12000 BTU: 400 square feet

The guidelines can sometimes differ from the manufacturer's maximum suggested room size due to varying factors which can reduce the effectiveness of mobile air conditioners.

Here are a few factors that might increase or decrease the BTU capacity that you require:

Reduce your required capacity by 10% if your room is heavily shaded.
Increase your capacity by 10% if your room is very sunny.
Add 600 BTU to your capacity each additional person (beyond two people) that regularly occupies the room.
Add 4,000 BTU if the room is a kitchen.

Source: www.Energystar.gov

If trying to cool several rooms with one unit, please bear in mind that an air conditioner with too little cooling power will not cool your space adequately. On the other hand, a portable air conditioner with too much power will cool the room faster but due to short cycling, it will not dehumidify the space properly, leaving the room with a damp, clammy feeling.

Compare water removal methods

All portable air conditioner dehumidify the air as it passes through them. The water dehumidified from the air is called condensate. This condensate can be removed from the air conditioner using different methods.

Some Soleus portable air conditioners have dual exhaust hoses. One exhaust hose expels warm air while the other hose expels all of the condensate. Other Soleus portable air conditoners have removable buckets that fill up every 2-8 hours, (depending on humidity conditions) and must be emptied by hand, or a hose may be attached which provides continuous drainage.

Most Sunpentown portable air conditioners evaporate most of the condensate and vent it out the exhaust hose. The remainder must be manually emptied into a water bucket from a non-removable internal water tank about once every 12 hours - several days. Or, a hose may be attached for continuous drainage.

There are advantages and disadvantages associated with all the methods. If emptying an internal bucket frequently would be inconvenient, we would recommend a model that exhausts most or all condensate. However, if you will be exhausting the hot air into an attic or drop ceiling, you would not want any moisture to be exhausted along with the hot air.

What modes of operation do you require

All portable air conditioners cool and dehumidify the air. They can all also be used as fans. Some portable air conditioner models have additional functions. They can be used as dehumidifiers (independent of the air conditioning function) and/or heaters. It may be worthwhile to choose an air conditioner that offers enough different modes to be used year-round.

Pick the control style that fits your need

Some portable air conditioners have electronic controls while others have manual controls. Electronic controls generally offer more features, such as remote control, louvers that can be set to auto-swing, and more advanced programmable timers. Manually controlled portable room air conditioners tend to be simpler to operate and can restart cooling after a power outage without your intervention. The only portable air conditioner with electronic controls that can reset itself after a power outage is the Soleus MAC-12K.

A few other points to consider when choosing a portable air conditioner:

EER: The higher the EER, the more energy efficient a unit is.
Sound level: The lower the dB level, the less noise a portable air conditioner will create.

Airpure International offers what we believe to be a good selection of high quality portable air conditioners that include a range of features.

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Article Summary

Introduce something about portable airconditioner and teach you how to choose a portable air conditioner.

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Portable Air Conditioner

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