Sunday, 4 August 2013

How To Choose The Right Portable Air Conditioner For You

By Doug Freedman


If you are thinking about purchasing a portable air conditioner there are some things to consider and some tips to really think about before making that final decision. Obviously style and color will play a part in this decision, but it should not be the main reason for buying it. You will find below some hints and tips that you may not have been aware of, that will hopefully help you in your decision.

Simply the most important thing when you are buying a portable air conditioner is its BTU. BTU is the amount of energy needed to heat or cool a room or space. BTU stands for British Thermal Energy. Choosing the correct BTU for your room space is very important. If you get this incorrect, it means you may not cooling the room properly or you may be cooling it too much leaving it feeling humid and not very comfortable.

Calculating the BTU you require is very simple, once you know the room size in square meters. For example, if the portable air conditioner has a BTU of 18,000, this will adequately cool a room size of 50 square meters. Some other factors will influence the level of BTU you require. If the room is very sunny or is a kitchen, you will probably need a higher BTU from your portable air conditioner. The BTU of an appliance will be clearly displayed on it, there are also helpful BTU calculators available online.

Condensation is produced during the cooling process and this needs to be taken care of or you may end up with a damp problem. Fortunately the portable air conditioners can deal with this quite easily. They do this in 2 different ways, and it's up to you to decide which one works best for you. There is the non-drip and the drip models. Firstly the drip model, quite simply gets rid of the extra water produced into an in-built bucket. This needs to be emptied more if you use the unit more. The non-drip model tends to be more expensive than the drip model. This is because it reuses the moisture produced and turns it into cool air.

Once you have decided what you are going to do with the condensation produced, you need to think what you are going to do with the extra heat produced during the cooling process. Usually there are 2 ways of doing this with a portable air conditioner. The first way is using the ducted condenser model. These are slightly less portable than the other option as they need to be nearer to a window to vent the hot air. They have a built in duct that they get rid of the hot air from. The other way is by using a remote condenser unit. These have a tubing attached which is placed out a window or opening, lessening the need for the unit to be so close to a window.

Finally, the last thing to consider is how much you can afford to spend on a model that is environmentally sound and has a high energy efficiency rating. The higher the efficiency rating, generally, the more expensive the unit is going to be. This should not deter you from buying an energy efficient one as they tend to cost less to use in the long run.




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