Best air conditioners for bedrooms: quiet air con units for peaceful nights

A great all-rounder that offers excellent value for money, the Delonghi Pinguino 9000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner offers fast and efficient cooling for even the largest of bedrooms (up to 70m2). As well as making temperatures feel more comfortable in summer, it also doubles up as a fan and dehumidifier, keeping your house free of mould and damp during the colder, winter months.

We love the addition of a remote control, so there’s no additional effort required when you’re sweltering on top of your bed sheets. You can choose from three fan speeds, the lowest of which operates with white noise of just 47dB, ensuring a peaceful sleep when used overnight.

While some reviewers felt the hose provided could be longer, this portable air conditioner comes with everything you need to get started, including the window kit. The unit is quite heavy; however, with an integrated handle and castors, it’s still relatively easy to wheel between rooms as required. 

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If you’re seeking a more affordable option, the Daewoo air conditioner offers excellent value for money, retailing at less than £200. Despite its budget-friendly price tag, this 3-in-1 design includes a cooling fan, air conditioner and dehumidifier, making it ideal for year-round use. 

While it's best suited to smaller rooms (up to 12m2), its portable design and castors make it easy to move around your house. Weighing just 15kg, it's also light enough to carry downstairs to cool your surroundings when working from home. It's worth noting that the window kit is not included, and the power cable is relatively short, so you’ll need to choose your positioning carefully.

Once set up, we love the convenience of the remote control, allowing you to turn it on, navigate between the two speed settings or trigger the built-in timer with minimal effort.

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While portable air conditioners are a real godsend during heatwaves, they're never going to earn their keep all year round in the UK. Investing in an air con unit that can be used as dehumidifier during the colder months is a wise move. This model from ElectriQ works as an air conditioner, fan and dehumidifier - plus is has smart cooling and sleep modes, to suit your needs.

ElectriQ is Appliances Direct's own brand, and their website has a handy calculator to help you navigate the confusing world of BTU ratings, to choose the perfect air conditioner to suit your home.

This model has a 24-hour timer, which will come in really handy for pre-cooling your bedroom, plus the set-and-forget smart cooling mode means the unit will hold your selected temperature.

Tested by Mumsnet editor Poppy O'Neill: Read our full MeacoCool MC Series Pro 10000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner review

Highly rated amongst Mumsnet users, Meaco is a trusted brand that produces some of the best fans and dehumidifiers on the market today. The MeacoCool Pro Series 10000 is a popular portable air conditioner, with multiple functions including a cooling fan and dehumidifier. 

Thanks to its innovative features, you don’t need to move a muscle to cool down the temperature of your bedroom. As well as operating via the MeacoCool app, you can sync this air conditioner via wifi to your Alexa or Google Home, triggering it instantly by voice command if your room starts to feel like a sauna. 

Two types of window kit included, making setting up the MeacoCool simple and stress-free. Our tester Poppy noted however that the unit felt quite heavy, so while the castors make it easy to move between rooms, carrying up and down stairs may feel like a little more of a chore.

With a specialist sleep mode for overnight use, we love the quiet operation. With a 24-hour timer, you can set it to turn off automatically or simply set it for a few hours to pre-cool your kid's room before bed. 

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While it certainly doesn’t come cheap, the Bosch Cool 5000 air conditioner is super easy to use. The intelligent auto setting automatically adjusts and controls the cooling performance to suit your surroundings, so you won’t get cold if temperatures suddenly drop during the night. 

A 3-in-1 model recommended for rooms of up to 46m2, this compact and portable design combines an air conditioner, dehumidifier and fan. Using inverter technology for improved energy efficiency, Bosch claim uses 30% less energy compared to traditional portable designs and runs at just 44dB, with no frustrating stopping and starting sounds to contend with while you’re trying to nod off.

We love the specialised sleep mode, dimming the lights and running on the lowest noise levels possible, so you won’t need to turn it off to guarantee a good night's sleep. If your home is humid or damp during winter, you’ll also love the powerful dehumidifier mode, capable of removing up to 80 litres of moisture daily.

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Reviewed by Mumsnet editor Poppy O'Neill: Read our full AEG Comfort 6000 Portable Air Conditioner review

If you’ve been relying on a tower fan but are struggling to find a non-sticky starfish sleeping position, it may be time to upgrade to a smart portable air conditioner for your bedroom. The AEG Comfort 6000 Portable Air Conditioner is a great example. While the window kit is sold separately on the AEG website, it's quick and easy to set up without requiring professional installation. 

With a powerful 12000 BTU rating, it efficiently cools spaces of up to 36m². Along with impressive energy efficiency, this modern design also uses the more sustainable and environmentally friendly R290 refrigerant gas to cool your surroundings.

With slightly higher decibel levels than some portable air conditioners, our tester found this air conditioner too noisy to have on while she slept (although the white noise may be helpful if you struggle to switch off at night). That said, she was really impressed by its performance when pre-cooling her bedroom, simply turning it off when it was time to sleep. She also rated the smart functionality of this 3-in-1 design, triggering the settings remotely using the AEG app. 

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If you’re prepared to spend a little more and don’t mind paying extra for professional installation, split system air conditioning is the way to go. By far the quietest and most energy efficient choice for bedrooms, split air conditioning has two units - a discreet internal wall-mounted unit and another on the external wall. 

We love the Electriq iQool Plus, which offers powerful cooling of 12000 BTU and doubles as a heater for the colder winter months. This energy-efficient design is self-cleaning and features a UVC steriliser to stop germs, viruses and mould from recirculating around your home.

With a designated sleep mode and quiet running volumes as low as 32dB, it’s much more peaceful than your average portable air conditioning unit. The smart ‘follow me’  feature also adjusts the temperature automatically based on your location when using the remote. 

With a discreet, wall-mounted design, this split system air conditioning unit doesn’t come cheap, especially when considering the need for a qualified AC engineer. That said, this energy-efficient model is whisper quiet at just 31dB, meaning you won’t need to turn it off on the hottest summer evenings when it's time to go to bed. On icy winter nights, you can also use this as a focused heater, keeping your bedroom toasty warm or giving a boost of warmth before bed. 

We love the specialist sleep mode that automatically adjusts the temperature to maintain a comfortable temperature overnight, or you can trigger it remotely from the comfort of your mattress using the LG ThinQ app. 

Unlike some portable air conditioning systems, this split air conditioning system uses more sustainable R32 refrigerant -  a more eco-friendly choice. Thanks to LG’s Active Energy Controls, you can also adjust the power usage based on the number of people in the house, helping keep those energy bills under control.