A goldmine of enlightening details can be revealed by visiting online forums. For instance, when I wanted to tap into the experiences of actual portable air conditioner owners, all I had to do was Google portable air conditioner online forums, and Voila!, I had instant access to pages of relevant details from 3 various online forums http://www.bjrefrigeration.com/ .
I encourage you to try this method. Just replace any common services or product description for portable air conditioners plus the word “online forums”.
What I discovered were issues concerning energy consumption, how energy consumption influences circuit load, noise level, venting, the disposal of water from the dehumidifying process, and obviously, price.
Portable Ac unit Energy Usage.
In the United States, the typical a/c runs 750 hours each year. Since air conditioners use a great deal of electricity, their effectiveness has become a public problem. The EER, or Energy Efficiency Rating, is the ratio of the BTUs per hour to the number of watts the unit draws.
Portable Ac unit Circuit Load.
Before you start your search for a portable a/c, check your breaker box for the number of amps available to the room you want cooled. If you buy a unit that draws 14.5 amps on a 15 amp circuit, youll have the extra, but unexpected cooling impact of sitting in the dark while enjoying your brand-new portable a/c.
How Noisy Is A Portable Ac unit?
The majority of portable air conditioners that provide 14,000 Btus or less have a noise level around 50 decibels. This is similar to the volume of many refrigerators. At 60 decibels, a 16,000 Btu unit is slightly noisier. Think of what its like to watch TV in the kitchen while the fridge is running.