Portable air conditioners

[Pickledonions12]

Morning everyone. I'm thinking of buying one of these. Does anyone have any advice and/or specific models they'd recommend?

Thanks 🥰

I have two.

Yes they are noisy but I have learned to sleep with one in the bedroom.

In my living room it cools half the room, so I use a fan to blow cold air to the rest of the room.

When you look at the specs it tells you the size of room they will cool.

My cat loves it too, she loves being warm, in this weather she lies on my neighbours drive, but in the evening she will move to the window sill and sit next to the output pipe.

I can't remember where we got our fans, @Pickledonions12 . But the Guardian updated last summer's recommendations if that's any use.

I put damp tea towels in the freezer for hot days, keep all south-facing rooms shut so the north facing rooms remain cool, and use black out blinds when it's very sunny.

We have a misting bottle in each bedroom. If it gets uncomfortably hot, a quick spritz on your skin will cool you right down as the fan causes the moisture to evaporation more quickly, which is what cools us down (it's also why we sweat).

Portable air conditioning isn't the magic solution to hot UK houses it pretends to be

It's expensive, inefficient, stupidly costly to run, and there are lots of practical ways to mitigate heat.

We have one which is super noisy. We use it an hour before bedtime, and it knocks the temp down by 6/7C, which is just enough to get to sleep. Couldn’t possibly have it on at night because of the racket. Would probably keep the whole neighbourhood awake!
in the last few days I’ve gone in the bedroom and turned it on purely to stand in front of it and cool down for 5 minutes. It’s actually been a godsend.

We had proper units installed late summer last year. I can't tell you how smug I've felt this week, which is not a good look I realise! But I'm cool and well rested while being a twat at least.
Seriously though, I reckon its the best money we've spent 😆 My friend has a portable unit in her bedroom and she says it's loud but a godsend. I hope you fine something that works for you, good luck!

I just stick the hose out of the window pull the window tight around the hose. Wheel the unit nearer to my bed and switch it on. The hot air goes out through the hose and the cooling effect from the air conditioning unit far outweighs any bit of warm air that comes back in through the window. It’s very simple to use and makes nighttime sleep much more comfortable. I’ve slept through every night of this heatwave 🤷🏻‍♀️

Yeah we are hoping to get proper units put in ready for next summer. Can’t wait.

The guy was actually right - it doesn't stop the units working but it does make them less efficient as the constant air flow through the room means it does not hold onto the 'coolth' already created so more hot air is constantly being cooled down.

As pps say the portable jobbies do work to cool one space, but for a whole house a built-in unit that has a separate heat expeller fan unit (outside) and cool air blower inside is much more efficient, as you can more or less seal the room and the air flow is a lot less.

That's a great explanation thank you!

I just bought an Electriq Ecosilent 12000 BTU.

Despite the name, it is noisy when on its 'cool' setting due to the work of the compressor. The compressor is basically independent of the fan, so you don't get less noise by using a lower fan speed. You get less noise by changing the setting, e.g. to fan only.

HOWEVER, my new unit took a room at 28/29 degrees and dropped it to 23 within an hour or so. I have gone from being unable to sleep to sleeping relatively well.

You need to vent the hot air out. The hose length of my unit extends to about 2 metres. I used some of the cardboard the unit came in to make a window cover, which I've sealed with gaffer tape. I also bought a window seal but this was not particularly useful hence making my own.

Would I buy again? Yes. If I were an owner-occupier with lots of spare money, I'd install a proper fixed unit.

And as some have said, one tactic is to use the unit for an hour or two before going to bed.

i spent money on one last year and sent it back, I was so unimpressed! Placing it somewhere that works is differing then the pip out of the window was so hot and even with the adapter for the window: which was also rubbish, it felt so much more effort than it was worth. We then had a water build up that you can empty but it never worked properly so o claimed faulty and they refunded me. Instead we semi freeze water bottles, have a cool shower and have a mini fan on to keep air over us.

Thanks I saw that one, but it still doesn't have a separate intake, just draws the air in from the room like any other single hose unit. (with all the same compromises)

The two hoses on the top are both cool air.

With the weather we now seem to get, I think it's worth investing in a fixed split unit in the long term...unless perhaps one has solar panels and batteries...

I bought a portable AC unit (Daewoo)about 6 years ago - it was £300-ish but it has certainly paid for itself in terms of keeping us cool, calm and collected. If (heaven forbid) it blew up tomorrow I'd replace it immediately.

Its currently in the lounge and doing a fantastic job of keeping the temperature down - we are considering investing in proper AC units which will be in the lounge and two of the bedrooms.

This is similar to mine: www.therange.co.uk/diy/fans-and-dehumidifiers/fans-and-air-conditioning/5000btu-portable-air-conditioning-unit#234799

I used to work for Toshiba air con dept, heres my input:
portable units have the condenser and evaporator inside unit inside your room and they generate heat, the longer the hose, the less efficient it becomes. Lots of generic units sold for as little as £140..screw fix etc, all work same as the expensive units. split unit is most efficient as working parts outside the area to be cooled and more efficient so cheaper to run, expensive to install.

I bought a heavy window box model very cheap as customer return...it sits in the sash window...its very rapid at cooling room and only on for an hour or two before bed...its noisy so not on during night...its not as cheap to run as portable units but more efficient as on for less time so works out the same cost...however, its clumsy and heavy and expensive for a new model, min £450/ 550.

I’d recommend seriously considering a simple back-to-back built in one instead. 1000 times quieter and more effective. If you’re renting the the split units are ok.

We bought a Chilly brand one for about £400 about six years ago. It gets wheeled out every summer and has always worked well to cool down the bedroom. It's noisy but I can sleep with it fine, it's that kind of white noise and I always sleep with white noise or a fan on anyway. Definitely a good investment! We have v cheap energy overnight anyway due to the EV so it costs buttons to run then. It doesn't get used during the day unless someone wants a nap!

Someone's mentioned the cost

I was really worried about the cost.

This is about 10 years ago, so it's even more worrying now

However.... I was pleasantly surprised how cheap it is to run. Being honest, I can't tell you the cost now, but it added a surprisingly low amount to my electric bill 10 years ago.

Somebody said to me that a fridge is a good comparison? I was initially worried about running it too much, but after I saw the first month electric bill, I was like yeah this is fine.

obviously everyone's different but the thing about a very hot new build is your heating bills are tiny. Overall, much as the whole thing annoys me, my energy bills are much cheaper than when I was renting in a very cold flat. Over time these things become hard to compare. But I shudder to think what the bills are like when you're trying to heat a very cold flat.

No, I don't know how I ended up with such extreme temperature where I'm living! Hopefully next time I can move somewhere normal 😂

The sticker on the unit will tell you how much KWH it uses..a unit is now appx 26 to 28p...so one hour is costing that multiplied by 2 as most units consume 2kw hour ...smaller ones about 1.5kwh...mine is 2.2 kwh. a fridge uses very little.

2 of our bedrooms are in the roof and get unbearably hot in this kind of weather. We have 2 black and decker units- about £200 on amazon- and they work a treat. They are noisy, and a faff to set up the first time, but they’re brilliant for the money.

www.amazon.co.uk/BLACK-DECKER-BXAC40023GB-Conditioner-Dehumidifier/dp/B0C3HQP13S

Yes we did this - order a custom made bit of Perspex with hole that you can attach a vent into, then attach the Perspex to the window frame with Velcro. Worked a treat! Also buy insulated hose or buy/make a jacket for it

We find it quite straightforward. I brought a cheap unit (about £300) from Amazon, it’s a princess model. We then bought window seals from Amazon - about £15 each. They Velcro to the window and zip round the hose. You can still shut the window with them attached. You then need one of the seals on a window for each room you want to use the aircon. We put ours on a couple of hours before bed usually, my husband can sleep with it on but I struggle due to the noise it generates, but it takes the room down to about 18 degrees when we go to bed which is great in. This heat. We’ve had the unit for 4 years and use it most days in the summer.

Thanks @MrsMickey would you have time to link your unit and window velcro seals please?

Best purchase you’ll ever make. They have noise but i don’t get how a whole street can hear it like someone upthread had said. You can get them super energy efficient too. And they are much cheaper than the Dyson fans which are definitely not cooling.

Ive had mine 3 years now and it’s the best purchase I have ever made

This is the type we’ve got, I see Argos have bumped up the price…. https://www.argos.co.uk/product/4632144

this is the window seal https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bindokun-Conditioner-Portable-Universal-Conditioning/dp/B0G6SK5ZFB/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=1ZMSQCI5NURK5&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.KRs7UURCsOXXNwJn4ocLz4Q0zqXtQc1_JzCEJqH6BJ7-bb28WX5fkIKRHJpnxZ_Y6WMjnFgcKCXooacfNr6UDKSNtXUYMcM-qPg4EMotWztbPjCZ4yVEDIC5Jm8t2vArDJsac3mtZEa_qM9LEFnHrY96kL-CjrF3sZPomR4AwitrUrAYi1GH_6V2qXXazmOHMTqk2VujSEKUHTmKS0S_vh6HPywfC0WJ5_4koebMDtk.KoiC8-dNR4IVk7U-V2jCPsR7AV7afJSwp1LE5OVYZfQ&dib_tag=se&keywords=air+conditioner+window+seal&qid=1780001166&sprefix=Air+condition%2Caps%2C134&sr=8-1-spons&aref=kX22QDwW2O&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&psc=1

Ooh should have mentioned, we do find the pipe can be a bit of a faff, we use a bit of gorilla tape to hold it in place

We purchased the Electriq Ecosilent 14000 BTU last week. If we place it on our upstairs landing and open all the doors it cools the whole upstairs in a couple of hours before bed. It blows out a lot of very cold air and is absolutely brilliant (if noisy). I stuck the hose out of a small top window and stuck plastic bags over the gap and around the hose using masking tape. Worked perfectly.