Portable air conditioner/non window unit

[dfchelbay]

We are considering buying one of these so that we can move it around the house to whatever room needs additional cooling. Anyone have one? Are they any good? You set the hose in any window and cool that room.

Would anyone recommend one? Any info would be appreciated. Our home is nearly all windows and it's 96 outside...we can't cool certain rooms in the house enough with the central air.

 

[csharpwv]

I had one while in college. The windows in my apartment were the ones that slide open left to right - so the vertical window units were very expensive - so the portable models were cheaper!

The portable - free standing units work very well under a few conditions -
1. DO NOT use them in a window on a side of your house that is totally exposed to the sun - if they are pulling in really hot air - they do not work all that well.
2. Remember - it is an air conditioner - it produces condensation just like any other air conditioner does - you have to empty the condensation bin. The higher the humidity is in your home, the more often you will have to empty the reservoir. If you plan to leave it on when you are not in the room - Be sure to empty it before you go to bed, before you leave for the day - etc - it will shut off when the bin is full.
3. Buy the biggest one you can afford! Don't think that a smaller unit will do just as well if you leave it on longer. Smaller units have to work twice as hard in bigger spaces - and still don't have the same effect.
4. Finally compare prices! look online - look for sales - compare features and prices. some have a built in dehumidifier, that works really well if you have a damp space in the winter. A dehumidifier can warm up a cooler space in the winter just like a heater!

One last thing - they are HEAVY! So if you have a two story home - don't think that it will be easy to use upstairs and down!

To answer your question - yes! they do work!

With the heat-wave in the east right now - your local stores may be out of stock - if they are - consider buying it online with the ship to store free shipping!

 

[Cindyrellablue]

DH bought this type of unit for us this past May and it worked great! Our highrise has built in air conditioning units in each condo, but management controls the dates that the A/C turns into the heater and vise versa. Because we can't hang anything out of the window in this building, the portable was our only option until they "flipped the switch".

We have the LG 12,000 BTU Portable Conditioner / Dehumidifier combo w/ Remote, purchased from Overstock dot com. It is a great unit and because it is refurbished, the cost is lower. It came with no problems and the website offered shipping for under 5.00

It also has wheels on the bottom, so you can easily relocate it around the house...having to lift it would be horrible though, it's tremendously heavy.

 

[abmitch01]

are they hard to vent in side-opening windows?

 

[bdoyledimou]

are they hard to vent in side-opening windows?

They generally come with an adaptor to fit the window, but if the adaptor doesn't fit, go to Home Depot and purchase apiece of insulating foam (with platic on both sides) cut to fit the window and then cut to fit the exhaust hose.

We had one in our old apt (prior to moving to our house with central air) and it was a life saver!

Keep in mind that it does condense, so make sure you have something underneath it to prevent damage to the floor! (we learned that the hard way when our hardwood floor buckled

 

[Cindyrellablue]

The LG model we have has a tray type water holder that you can slide out and spill out the water from. It has an alarm that lets you know that it is full. Two weeks of non-stop use and it wasn't yet full.

It came with difference sizes of plastic spacers to use to accommodate most window sizes, sliders and traditional lift-up. It also had a lot of sponge strip to insulate the plastic spacer and some screws to hold everything in place.

 

[mlittig]

I just got a LG 12,000 BTU portable air conditioner and I love it It can be put in either a regular double hung window or in a casement window It is really getting a workout now with this heat wave in New England but it is super

 

[twinmomplus2new]

Ok what am I doing wrong. we just bought one for our finished basementits the royal Sovereign 1200 BTUS. It has a water tank in the abnk and after 3 days of 90 plus the tank is empty.
however it is spitting water out of the top. and dripping from the bottom. we obviously can not let that continue in a basement. and yes its vented out the window????

 

[bdoyledimou]

Ok what am I doing wrong. we just bought one for our finished basementits the royal Sovereign 1200 BTUS. It has a water tank in the abnk and after 3 days of 90 plus the tank is empty.
however it is spitting water out of the top. and dripping from the bottom. we obviously can not let that continue in a basement. and yes its vented out the window????

Sounds like you got a clog in the works somewhere.. i would reccommend returning it and getting a new one.

Mine has two water resovoirs, one inside that slides out, and one on the back that is like a jug. If the internal slider one isn't attached the unit won't work. if it is full the unit won't work. but if the one in the back isn't connected, it will just drip water everywhere (the connection also leaks).

If it is spitting water out the top.. i suspect a bad coil/condenser.. (the drips in the bottom are probably just the water that doesn't make it out the top..)

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

Thanks for asking this question. My window slides from left to right and I was trying to figure out what I could buy for this type of window because our room is warm through the night.

 

[BBandDisney]

A 3 yr old post. Blow off the dust.

 

[tvguy]

Our highrise has built in air conditioning units in each condo, but management controls the dates that the A/C turns into the heater and vise versa..

Wow, that's bizarre. Normally high rises are set up so the a/c is always on, and when you need heat, it is controlled at the indivdual ducts in each unit. Is this an old high rise? That would be totally unacceptable to me.

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

I dont have one, but my mom did.

That thing was a life saver when our air went out last summer. We brought all the kids mattresses into our bedroom on the floor and plugged that baby in.

We used it for 3 days until the air was fixed.

I have no idea what brand our model it was, but her's hooked into the window just fine. It wasn't a round tube just hanging out the window. It was attached to a rectangular piece, that you could extend or slide closed to shorted, so you could close your window right down to it. I suppose that if you had a left to right window, you would just turn the rectangular piece up and down and adjust the slats to open more until it fits.