Long Hot Summer - Portable Air Conditioning Units

littlereddevil · 1 May 2007 at 8:50PM

Oh I wish I had a need for ac in the northeast of scotland.
It is sooo cold.

babyangel10 · 2 May 2007 at 7:36AM

grannyjo wrote: »

Thanks mjr600. We've been looking for a reasonably priced and effective air con portable unit. You've done some great homework for me. I've just ordered one through quidco supposedly with 3% cashback. The site though is offering me ipoints with no mention of quidco- any one know what I'm doing wrong?
-

Hi, I don't think you have done anything wrong - I saw that too, but presume that ipoints are their 'recommended' cashback site (IYSWIM?), thats' why they mention them.

You should still get your Quidco cashback, if you went through the link from Quidco's site

babyangel10 · 2 May 2007 at 7:38AM

Ooh, just seen that you are a newbie, grannyjo - welcome to MSE! :wave:

In case you didn't know - 'IYSWIM' is short for 'if you see what I mean'

scanner_2 · 2 May 2007 at 2:57PM

Hi

can I ask a favour for those who have purchased the 12,000BTU model, can you rate it out of 10.

I am thinking of getting it myself, it lis a lot of money and I want to get all the facts before I plunge.

Thanks

claudia · 2 May 2007 at 9:31PM

I have just ordered one after reading through this thread last night! It sounds like just the thing to make the nights a little more bearable when the hot weather comes! Thanks for all the info you have posted -very helpful,cheers Ros

danksybaby · 2 May 2007 at 10:24PM

does anyone know if these cheaper ones are any good cause i dont think i can afford the other ones.thanks

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4157825.htm

http://www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10001&langId=-1&catalogId=10651&productId=699004

mjr600 · 2 May 2007 at 11:01PM

danskybaby, those items are not air conditioners they are air coolers. The reason I've arrived at a proper air conditioner is that air coolers like this just don't get cool enough.

The principle is totally different with an air cooler, it is simply a fan which blows air that has passed through a water soaked filter into the room. The theory is good and I'm sure that in large industrial sized units it can work but certainly in my experience it does not. It blows damp air and the instructions suggest you have a window open to prevent the room getting too humid, not good when it is also hot outside.

I suggest a good fan would be better.

hesjane · 3 May 2007 at 1:16AM

We bought portable air conditioners in 2003 but changed them last year for split units. I bought my units off Ebay and they are *F*A*N*T*A*S*T*I*C*

I wouldn't dream of going back to portable, noisy air conditioners. The wall mounted units are so quiet and I don't need to find somewhere to store them for several months of the year. They were so easy to fit - DH did it with our son.

The Ebayer I bought them from was fantastic. When one arrived and was slightly damaged I phoned and he dispatched another immediately and without question but asked me to hold on to the first one for a few weeks until he could collect it when he was in the area. When he came to collect he noticed we had a unit we hadn't bought from him and when I asked if he knew where I could get it re-gassed as it wasn't as effective at cooling rooms as the one he had supplied he did it for me free of charge and it worked brilliantly. I paid about £170 plus £30 delivery for a 9000 split unit. I've just check his ebay shop and although he sells them on buy it now for about £335, I checked the recently completed items and the 9000 split units go for between £170 to £210 plus p&p and the 12000 units go for £206 - £220 plus p&p. I haven't put a link on here to this particular ebayer because I wasn't sure if it was acceptable, but if anyone wants to know his ebay id just pm me. I can highly recommend him (and no he isn't a relative or friend)

If you are going to invest the money in an air conditioner, then invest a bit of time and install split units.

Oh.....an one more thing....during the winter my central heating boiler packed up.....just switched the air conditioning units to heating mode and we were sorted whilst the gas fitters did their stuff.

mjr600 · 3 May 2007 at 1:52AM

hesjane

Thank you for your input but once again without information about the portable air conditioner you were not happy with, it is of little use.

Regarding the split units, I am glad you find them of benefit and the information you provide is useful but in order to fit them your husband did it with your son and had the skills required, not all MSE have that skill hence the thrust of the thread covering portables. Even in these days of equality it was still the job of the chaps to do the work :-) .

You mention installing split units (plural) thereby substantially increasing the cost, something MSE aims to reduce. My home has ten rooms, thankfully only two adjoining bedrooms need cooling to help sleep and only for 3-4 months in summer, one 12000btu portable is more than powerful enough to cool both rooms. Split units would see two ugly external fan units mounted on the outside of the house and office like wall mounted coolers on the wall all year round.

I accept that portables are a 'quick fix', thankfully in the case of this thread they can be relatively cheap, powerful and require no fitting skills.

edit

I'm going to get the boss mad looking at MSE at this time of night when I should be working !

Donnie · 3 May 2007 at 8:52AM

For the security conscious, those with with 'sash windows'(sliding up and down), can fit an inexpensive internal screw bolt(easily removeable from the inside with a key) to prevent the window from being opened any more than the gap space that you need for the hose.
Certainly less than £5 for peace of mind.

Long Hot Summer - Portable Air Conditioning Units

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