Hi all,
Long time lurker on OzB but had to make an account to get your advice because this summer heat has been relentless and unbearable!
I was looking for suggestions for portable air conditioner or coolers for under $150. I understand I'm not going to get anything that operates like a proper air conditioner but something that makes it bearable to sleep in my room is what I'd like.
Features that are important:
- Easy to use
- Compact
- Doesn't need to be constantly refilled
Many thanks!
Coolers in the $100 to $150 range are typically not refrigeration cycle units, they're most likely just evaporative coolers meaning that they cool by blowing air over a wet pad and cooling you down by way of Evaporative cooling
Primary downside of evap coolers (aka swamp coolers) is that they don't work well (or at all) in humid weather. Over the last few days, the humidity was very high in sydney and swamp coolers would not have been effective.
You're right - most of what I have seen are evaporative coolers. Thanks for sharing the info.
Never knew this but definitely helpful in the future, cheers.
No it's not, looks like my spirit animal though lol
Ha hi DaDollarz. Nope but wise minds think alike. A kind ozbargainer sold me their secondhand kogan one, we love it. 14000btu, if you can get one $200 or less, do it!!
Whilst it doesn't need to be "refilled", it certainly does need to be emptied of the water it removed from my place.
Just be mindful that this one burns a monstrous amount of electricity when running (around 2kwh per hour) and it will rarely ramp down because of its inherent inefficiency.
Thanks - I think it uses approx 1kw/hr, and true, all portable aircons are inefficient, however it does an excellent job at cooling and we massively insulated the hoses which has helped a lot.
And didn't use of for long at a time, thankfully.
https://www.kmart.com.au/product/ice-pack/2122314