anyone have, or used, a portable aircon unit (not an evaporative cooler)?

did it work, do they cool whole rooms? i've heard varying opinions, although mostly that they aren't that good.

i need an aircon unit, and a fixed system is NOT an option.

cheers, brisnick

Theyre not very good, but if the reason why a fixed unit isnt an option is that youre in a rental, why not get a window unit ?

i would, but i don't have a suitable window, they are all sliding doors.

i only need one for at night anyway, so even a 3°C reduction in heat will be better than nothing!

Do you mean you dont have any windows at all, just glass doors ?
Ask Arkon if the portable he bought is any good but the one I have here isnt at all good except to cool yourself off sitting directly in front of it, plus it still has to be vented somewhere through the flexi tube exhaust which means a window open, letting warm air back in.

I reckon if you are renting and worried about having something physically installed, and given your lack of windows, the following:
buy an air con for a window and sit it on the floor where your door is,measure the open space you have left from top of a/c to top of door frame and get a piece of perspex cut for that space.
Obviously its gonna be a pain if the door is in use every day but if you have a door thats not used, thats the door to put the a/c in.

Cant think of anything else with you having no windows

If an air con isn't viable, how about trying 4 or 5 of the floor standing Fans, all pointing at you.
They should move the air about sufficient to cool you, and both the buying costs and the running costs are cheaper than an air con

I've just bought one a Dimplex 9000btu model for the babies room, the room is about 4 meters x 4 meters and without it the room was getting up to 28 to 31 degrees, The dimplex gets it down to about 24 when the room is 30 and outside is about 34-35. It came with a window kit so you can put the exhaust fan out through the window. Our window is a sliding one and the window kit worked fine. It cost $699 here in rednecksville and for keeping the baby out of a SID's danger temperature zone it works a treat.

Our one could probably knock a few degrees off a small to medium sized bedroom or study but would be no good for a large living room etc.

I tried 2 fans plus a ceiling fan for the bubs room to start with and although it "felt" cooler it was still 30 degrees. You only feel colder with a fan blowing on you because your sweat evaporates quicker, its still a hot room regardless unless you employ some active cooling by pumping the hot air outside.

For my 2 bobs worth I'd buy one and give it a go, you can always resell it on ebay if your not happy with it.

thanks arkon. that's a big room for a baby!!!

i have ceiling fans, standing fans, and it makes no difference. there really isn't any airflow at all through the unit.

but i only need it aircon night, so the vent can go outside the door, and i'll just buy a piece of perspex to fill the gap.

i might get the next one up though.

cheers

I got a dimplex one, it is 800W but can shift 2.5kW of heat. In a 3mx3m room it kept the room to 25~28C when it was 42C in the rest of the house. You need to seal the room quite well, or the heat just pours in through the cracks. The heat coming out the exhaust is quite a lot (2.5Kw, or a 2 and a haf bar fire) so it will make the rest of your house extremely hot. I wouldn't do that in my own house (actually tried it once though) because it is so hot in the room you vent into that I felt it could damage the house (wood dries out to the extreme and warps etc)

The unit is not great a cooling but the trick is to give it a head start by having it cool the room overnight before the big heat (watch the forecast) If you try to cool an already hot room, the poor wee thing has to cool the walls and furniture as well, and that takes a lot longer than just the air.

We have a Arctic air portable air-con unit and we have found it to be good. We use standing fans at the same time and it cools us right down. So from our point of view we think they do a fairly decent job.

yeah I have a 12000 btu portable unit which has a flexible tube for the window, It brings a large bedroom down to a nice 24c (from 37c ).

The problem is you need to seal the whole room and it doesnt help having the tube outside the window, I've noticed in my apartment that it retains the heat even when there is a nice cool wind outside so maybe a extractor fan is next on the shopping list.

You need to take into account electric items as well which give off heat, its probably easier to warm a room than cool a room!!!!


Basically if your looking to cool a small apartment you need to think about 3-4 units (12000btu).

Hiya Brisnick,
although we are still in the UK we had to have one last summer for the baby (just tooo hot in the house )

It works better if you don't wait untill it's boiling to run it, but it will bring the room down to 17C from 32C and keep it their
(it also heats and is remote control )

It will definately be going to Oz, with maybe a brother or two
I think it will be ideal for a rental and alay the wife's fears of it being toooooo hot

Bye
Mar