Portable Air Con for home

[NorthernDave]

Worth a punt all day long at £70 if they were proper AC units and not just air coolers.

Definitely AC, as me and Mrs ND had a long chat about getting one, but since it was windy, rainy and cold outside at the time we decided not to bother...hmmmm!

 

[JoeyB]

Its this one. 14,000 BTU. The price has gone up. It was £349.00 View attachment 94580

Thought it might be that one. I took a punt and got its slightly smaller sibling, the 12,000 BTU version http://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/plac12000hp/electriq-plac12000hp#top

 

[mjr]

Modern houses are terrible for heat retention. They are designed to be draughtproof / retain heat during the winter, which makes then a nightmare to cool in the summer. Plus heat rises so the bedrooms are usually several degrees hotter as the heat is trapped under all that loft insulation.

The upstairs rooms do get hotter, but all that insulation is good at keeping heat out as well as in, as long as you cool the house overnight. Try putting your head outside the insulation and see how cold it isn't :/

 

[jonny jeez]

PS it's not the blower fan that is noisy, it's the compressor. Ours is more or less as noisy on any of the 3 speeds.

That's true...and a good point. If you switch them to fan only they are very quiet...by comparison

 

[mrandmrspoves]

We went a cheap route about 6 years ago and bought an air cooler. Basically it is a large water tub with a cloth roller that rotates and drags the moist cloth past the electric fan. Not too noisy and we fill the base with freezer packs so the water is cool enough to lower the temperature. We picked it up for about £40 from a hardware store that was closing down - but they can be had for about £80 upwards from Homebase and the likes. Ours is currently in the shed but I will bring it indoors if it gets hot this Summer.

 

[Richard A Thackeray]

We have an 'air-cooler'
That's the one that rotate a fabric belt through a water bath & blow the (now cooled) air at variable speeds/time into the room

On ours, the vents swivel left-right, on motor, with timer settings of up to 7 hours
It's not that noisy, but wakes me up, then again, my wife could sleep with a brass band playing 10 yards away

 

[mjr]

I will bring it indoors if it gets hot this Summer.

(emphasis mine) - It should be noted that Narfuk is an alternate reality with its own climate to the Norfolk I'm currently sweating in as soon as I step out my front door.

 

[Drago]

I just go to work and use their air con, although typically someone will be whingeing its too cold and instead of putting on the fleece they were issued will turn the temp up.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

They had an AirCon guy on Radio 4 last night (PM) and he was suggesting between £150 - £500 for a portable unit with the £500 ones being top whack of what you'd expect to pay. His emphasis was on making sure you were honest about the area you were trying to Air Con as their biggest problem is people saying 'the room is X big' being told that's a job for two units, buying 1 because it's cheaper, then complaining it's not keeping the area cool. So you might want to look at choosing which bits of the house to cool, and closing doors, etc. to keep that area the right size.

 

[JoeyB]

They had an AirCon guy on Radio 4 last night (PM) and he was suggesting between £150 - £500 for a portable unit with the £500 ones being top whack of what you'd expect to pay. His emphasis was on making sure you were honest about the area you were trying to Air Con as their biggest problem is people saying 'the room is X big' being told that's a job for two units, buying 1 because it's cheaper, then complaining it's not keeping the area cool. So you might want to look at choosing which bits of the house to cool, and closing doors, etc. to keep that area the right size.

Good advice, thanks.

I'm hoping I have slightly over spec'd the one I went for. It is supposedly good for a few square meters bigger than our largest room.

 

[JoeyB]

I just go to work and use their air con, although typically someone will be whingeing its too cold and instead of putting on the fleece they were issued will turn the temp up.

Ah, Aircon-gate....not an office in the land that doesn't suffer from this!