Hi, Does anyone know how much electricity a portable air con unit uses?

Can it be run from a cheap 2kw genny?

Cheers,
Bill

It depends on the size of the unit. It should have the power (as opposed to the cooling) rating in the manual or on the unit.

Also remember that you need almost twice as much power to start it than you need to run it - that could be a problem

The only way you will find out is to try it.

Thanks Fred, but I can't try it unless I buy it, and living in the campo without mains leccy means that if it uses more than say 1.5 KW then it's an expensive doorstop.

Would that depend on whether it was a new inverter type?

With an "inverter" unit you still have to start the motor and as I understand it, all types of motors require a high startup load, some more than others.

All the inverter does is allow you to control the speed of the motor by varying the frequency of the supply.

Also I doubt that these small portable units could justify the extra cost of using inverter motors.

As an example this one uses 1010 watts so would be ok.

This one however uses 1800 watts and therefore might not.