Portable Air Con Units

[TitanTim]

Hi all,

Does anyone have a portable air con unit who could give some feedback if they are any good or not or just a waste of money.

I'm looking at this Electrolux from John Lewis http://www.johnlewis.com/electrolux-exp12hn1wi-portable-air-conditioner-white/p231882244 have looked at a fair few others online, some of which have received very mixed reviews and feedback from users, noisy etc and the gripe over venting the hot air to outside. It would be located in small conservatory extension off the main living room. Living in a bungalow with cavity wall and roof insulation once the house heats up in very warm weather it can be pretty uncomfortable, takes an age to cool down etc. I'm not expecting such a unit to cool the whole house but just to make the main living space more comfortable in the evenings. Every year I've thought about getting such a unit but It's like anything you might only use a few times a year, but when you do your glad of it.

Thanks,

Tim.

 

[Wondermike]

I had one for a few years, similar to that. You need to have, as it states on the website, a hole to exhaust the hot air out. Doing it through a window seems to defeat the object, so I used to use the catflap. If you don't exhaust it, it creates more heat than it removes, and warms the place up.

You might be better looking into a fixed unit with an externally mounted chiller unit.

 

[TitanTim]

I had one for a few years, similar to that. You need to have, as it states on the website, a hole to exhaust the hot air out. Doing it through a window seems to defeat the object, so I used to use the catflap. If you don't exhaust it, it creates more heat than it removes, and warms the place up.

You might be better looking into a fixed unit with an externally mounted chiller unit.

Thanks for the reply Mike, OK I've spent a fair bit of time looking into the portable units and the ones you can buy in the UK look to be a waste of money all said and done. Ideally you need a twin exhaust air cooler which are far more efficient than the single exhaust models. Snag is they aren't readily available in the UK and the ones that are cost £££££s . With a single exhaust air cooler it vents the hot air drawn from the room but also causes a vacuum which means it draws more hot air into the room being cooled if that makes sense. With a twin exhaust model the one exhaust draws air in from outside which is cooled and expelled into the room whilst the other exhaust draws warm air from the room and expells it to outside.

I think this video kinda summed it up so don't think I will bother now,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKwZG-sLyT8

Will have a look at a Dyson tower fan instead :roll:

Tim.