Question:
I'm looking to get a portable air conditioner - I'll need one with
12,000 BTU (minumum) since the room is quite large, south facing and
1/2 of the wall made from glass!
There's obviously no shortage of places trying to sell these kind of
things, but I don't know what to look out for. Most of them are brands
I've never heard of - does anyone know the brands to look out for (or
keep away from)? What kind of questions should I be asking when buying
one of these?
Argos seem to have very cheap ones ("Challenge" brand) - but maybe too
cheap to be any good?
Answer:
you may be better worrying about running noise and size of the condensate container and ease of use. Most
12k units and above use a 5" hose - ones with 4" hoses tend to be
noisier for the same output.
Don't even think of sticking the hose out the window. If you do, you
need to double the size of the unit. A hole through the wall, with the
appropriate kit fitted to it, is essential.
All air con is noisy - basically a lot of air has to be moved around to
transfer even a small amount of heat.
Cheap portable units tend to be noisier than more expensive units but
are near enough the same electrical efficiency.
Reliability is only going to be an issue if the thing is in use for many
hours a day, many days a year. The noise they make makes that unlikely
