Portable Air Conditioners

[Paul Richter]

Hi there folks, I was wondering if anyone has used a portable Air Conditioner?? I'm debating on purchasing one sooner or later possibly.

Thanks,

[Joe Z]

i have a 9000 btu haier portable ac that i use in my conversion van (casita has ac) and i find that if i am in the shade on a muggy hot 95 deg. day it works fine and brings it down to low 70's...... If the sun is shining in thru the windows then not too good mid 80's.... what i did was put that silver bubble insulation in all the windows while in direct sunlight and then it works fine. To me not as good as a window ac but definately better than no ac. I used it one night in a very muggy south carolina night and it froze me out where i had to raise the temp of the unit so it would shut off once in a while.
If you decide to get one be sure it's the newer models that have the self evaporator so that you do not have to empty the water bucket...... most can also be used as a simple de-humidfier also.
Joe

[Ray N]

When I was still working, about three years ago, we had a couple of offices where the built-in AC wasn't properly installed. As a temporary measure we put portable units in the rooms and I don't think they helped much. Yes, we vented to the outside, but they just didn't seem to put out much cold air. I guess they would be better than nothing in a very small space, but they don't seem to work as well as a regular, and much cheaper, window unit.

[mcbrew]

I used to have a portable AC... Danby brand. I think it was 5,500 BTUs, but may have been a little larger. It had electric heat, too. The thing I didn't like about it was that it constantly blew air from the room out the vent. That means air had to come back in the room somehow... and that air was not air conditioned. Imagine running the central AC at home, but opening a window wide and putting a fan in the window pointing outdoors... not very efficient. A better design would have been a duplex hose that would have pulled air from outside over the condenser coils then back out -- no exchange of room air.

It was one of those annoying models that collected water in a tank. The tank was troublesome to get in and out, and cracked many times. I repaired it half a dozen times with fiberglass mat. It worked, but it was a pain in the butt. Way too large for a fiberglass trailer. Now, if it sat outside and just pumped cold air into a window or vent, that might be better.

[Curtis F.]

Here are some past discussions. If you choose a two hose and manage your expectations, you can be happy.

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ust-39072.html

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...rop-30546.html

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ing-41951.html

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ote-35265.html

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/f...ium-24344.html

[ScottG]

I have used a potable ac unit on my boat many times, but the marine units are more like a window unit that fits over the boat hatch and blows down. but it works i live in wilmington NC and it gets hot here on the water. thanks



QUOTE=Paul Richter;220939]Hi there folks, I was wondering if anyone has used a portable Air Conditioner?? I'm debating on purchasing one sooner or later possibly.

Thanks,[/QUOTE]