Portable Air Conditioner



Before Purchasing Portable Air Conditioner

One another way to cool our living space without having to invest in an expensive central air conditioning system is by using a portable air conditioner.  Portable air conditioner will allow us to enjoy all the benefits of traditional air conditioners but have the added value of being fully portable. 

The best of all, a portable air conditioner does not require permanent installation and it is perfect for keeping our room, apartment and condominium cool and comfortable to stay.


To get the most air conditioning for our money with a portable air conditioner, consider these features below, before deciding to purchase on a unit that is suitable for our personal use.

The space of our room 

Before choosing a portable air conditioner, the first thing we should consider is how large of the space that we are planning to cool.  Portable air conditioner is rated in BTUs. BTUs is stand for British Thermal Units.

Most portable air conditioner has cooling capacity that ranging from 5,000 to 16,000 BTUs.  The higher the BTU rating of the portable air conditioner, the stronger air conditioner is. 

Do not be tempted to buy a unit of portable air conditioner that is significantly more powerful than our cooling needs.  The size of our portable air conditioner should be adequate and fit to our room which we want to cool. 

A unit of portable air conditioner that is too powerful will cycle off too quickly and not properly dehumidify our room.  A portable air conditioner with too low a BTU rating will not adequately cool.

We can see our portable air conditioner sizing guide to figure out how large a unit of portable air conditioner that fit and suitable to our room.

Energy Efficiency 

We need to check the unit of Energy Efficiency Ratio of a portable air conditioner before buying the unit.  The higher the Energy Efficiency Ratio portable air conditioner, the more energy-efficient the portable air conditioner is. 

The current minimum requirement by law is an Energy Efficiency Ratio of 10.  Purchase a model with the highest Energy Efficiency Ratio we can reasonably afford because this will eventually save our cost of money on our energy bill.

Drainage Requirements

A portable air conditioner removes moisture from the air surrounding the units.  A portable air conditioner needs to be drained occasionally.  There is type of a portable air conditioner that can be empty its drainage bucket a few times a day and the other type of a portable air conditioner be drained continuously. Choose a portable air conditioner that exhausts the condensed water through its exhaust hose.

Over All

One of the most important things to look at when purchasing a portable air conditioner is the power rating or Energy Efficiency Ratio.  Most people always purchase a portable air conditioner that will just barely meet their needs. Unfortunately, if there is a heat wave or we want to cool a room that is already warm we will need more power.