I live in a double story town house, the bottom level has a split system but the top level does not.
The top gets very hot and stuffy and the cool air will never reach the top, the bedrooms are all upstairs.
So I am thinking about a portable air conditioner, while a split system would be the best solution, I am renting and I doubt the landlord will go for that (have asked anyway)
Has anybody used a portable air conditioner? Any recommendations?
Just dont cheap out and get a really low kw one or even worse a portable Evaporative cooler that you have to fill with water and ice those are a huge waste of money
Wow $1395?
It is even a "Clearance" product!
While a portable AC can provide some level of cooling but from your situation, I don't think it will help at all.
TLDR; Not worth it, they suck.
Get a proper split-system air-conditioner, they're great. Evaporative coolers are good, if low-moisture. The window mounted units are decent.
Portable ones don't use much power, they can fan/throw an okay amount of air.
However, they actually don't cool and they're extremely noisey.
I tried the $400 one from Aldi back in 2016 (and returned it).
During summer the outside temperature was 30-35'C Highs, 25'C Average, and 20'C Lows. This meant the small bedroom with crappy curtains was consistently staying heated at around 40'C. I left the machine running 24/7 with the door closed, and it managed to bring the temperature down to 30'C which was still too hot to sleep.
It wouldn't be too bad if you had two, and one was pointed at your thighs and the other was pointed at your shoulders, the constant convection would've been enough to cool your body from the high ambient temperature. However, this means you have to tolerate sleeping "in the wind". But more difficult is the high decibel/sound generated which isn't possible to sleep, unless you have military experience, or sleep with Active Noise Cancelling headphones.
This video explains their shortcomings https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-mBeYC2KGc
Only advice I can give is that
They make a lot of noise and it can be difficult to sleep with all the racket it makes.
There are diminishing returns in regards to price v performance. My el-cheapo Arlec air conditioner can cool my bedroom just as well as a $900 DeLonghi penguino unit. The major differences however are in the build quality, the Delonghi feels more solidly made so it rattles less and it also has a water tank for the humidifier function. But in terms of noise… both are almost equally as loud.
Considered a really good air fan like a Vornado 660? They're $150 at Costco and really do pump out serious air.
I have three of these and they're great.
Point it at a mirror and you're set. It makes the room noticeably less stuffy albeit quite loud on the highest setting.
We bought an Arlec one from Bunnings for about $400 because we couldn't afford installing a proper one/wait for strata approval etc as my pregnant wife demanded cooling over summer. Even though it's not ideal/energy efficient etc, you don't say no to a pregnant lady.
Does the job at night when it's over 24C, but is super noisy…personally a fan would probably have gotten me through most nights.
During the day it does take the edge off…mostly only in one room though.
Even posted about it (sort of)
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/435641
I wouldn't spend more than $500 though…
We would have gotten the below, but it was sold out when we wanted it.
https://www.kogan.com/au/buy/kogan-smarterhome-41kw-portable…
Had one. They're terrible. You need to make sure you vent the hot air outdoors properly. They're noisy and inefficient.
Get a split system for that price.
The OzCheapo Method for Refrigeration…
Buy 2 x 1.5L Woolworth Branded Spring Water
Consume said water after being chilled for at least a day.
Refill spring water and freeze.
Put in front of fan and turn on fan facing frozen bottle.
Sit/work in front of frozen bottle.
Receive cooled air.
Win
Fill jug from tap and place in the fridge.
Consume said water after being chilled for at least a day. Refill jug and return to fridge.
Fill any old plastic bottle with tap water and freeze. (Leave an aIt gap for expansion)
Put in front of fan and turn on fan facing frozen bottle.
Sit/work in front of frozen bottle.
Drink chilled water regularly.
Receive cooled air.
Get the kogan reversible ones with at least 14-16000 BTU's when they have free shipping. They are quite good for the price
If you have to go for a portable unit and it’s within your budget then the PoloCool 6kw from Harvey Norman you’ve been looking at is a beast that I can couch for and coming into its 5th summer is still going as strong as ever… I have a split system that keeps the place cool throughout though when I want a room to be ice cold or even if I’ve forgotten to turn the AC on and come home to an oven that’d get Hitler hard I use PoloCool as it being portable I can move it around to which ever room and turn it from unbearable to freezing within maybe half hour and then wait for the split system to cool the rest of the pad down… Definitely not the cheapest out there but I’ve tried a few of the portable units now and this one is not only the first to do the job but still surprises me with how much more then just capable it is, it even kept a mates house nice and cool a few years back when he lost power over a weekend during a heat wave a few years back, plugged her into a generator and had the neighbours (which he’d shared the street with for a decade) suddenly on his doorstep introducing themselves and keepin his fridge stocked with beer once he was spotted checkin the mailbox with slippers and a beanie on…
More punctuation required.
we've had a portable aircon unit for years and it's fantastic. People seem to lose sight of their output capacity and the size of the area they want to cool, so complain that they don't work. We have a large open plan lounge room and it keeps the entire area cool, but if we ever tried to cool the whole house it would fail badly.
Just keep in mind what area you want to cool, and the size of the unit and you will be fine.
Or they buy the cheapest one they can, i.e. the Aldi one!
I have a portable Penguino and it's fantastic for hot Summer days. It's much too loud for sleeping, though. It has a quiet mode, I can't remember if I tried that.
or they fall for the 'greatest aircon evar' ads that are really just flashy lights on an evaporative cooler. Heck, I saw one that was passing itself as an aircon and saying it 'humidified the air' for better breathing - and it was just an evaporative cooler :)
How about a window unit? You can take it off and bring it with you when you move out.
since you're renting, portable is the only option.
even though they are worse that split system, it's still better than nothing.
I bought an Atomic Cool for $50 and so far its pretty good. Also an Evapolar, which is more expensive but has USB
Not worth it, I'd rather suffer the heat than suffer a portable (and have been for many years). When we rent a whole house you bet your ass we're passing on any which don't have aircon in living and main bed, particularly considering every summer from now on is going to be the hottest on record.
We rent and have both one box A/C and one portable. The box one was a Midea from Appliances Online. At the time, it was $349 w/free shipping. I had a local handyman creatively create a support to install it into a glass-fronted bedroom. It can be removed when we move. It works very well as this large bedroom (mine) being all glass & metal + facing the rising sun, gets super-hot in summer. On the cooler days, I can even set it to "dry" vs. A/C, so uses far less energy vs. the compressor running constantly. It's fairly quiet for what it is and cools the room/bathroom well.
The portable is an AUX brand- can't remember where I got it. It's pretty shite as it has to work hard to cool considering it needs to compensate for all of the heat that is pushed out the rear. We tried wrapping the exit hose with insulation but that only marginally works. It's incredibly loud, as well, and struggles to cool one small bedroom.
If it's at all possible, get a box A/C.
Good luck!
PS: this might help your decision-making— https://www.noisehelp.com/noise-level-chart.html
Get a box A/C.
The problem with the portable air conditioners is they use internal air to cool the condenser, and then vent that hot air outside. That creates a negative pressure environment which draws in hot air from outside.
Box A/C units are a better choice as the condenser is outside and cooled with outside air.
They are better than being boiling hot but in general they are noisy, poor at cooling, noisy, inefficient, noisy, relatively expensive for the size (kW), and noisy.