I know I will probably get flamed for posting this cause people tend to hate on Portable Air Conditioners but Sam's Warehouse has a portable air conditioner for $199 in stores for the Boxing Day Sales.
Specs:
Cooling Capacity: 3200 Watts
Electrical Cooling Power Input: 1200 Watts
Power: 240V/50Hz
Air Circulation Volume: 450m3/hour
Accessories: Air Swing, Remote, Windows Slider Kit
Receipt here - http://upload.ozbargain.com/2011/12/25/7465_img_2713.jpg
Well, I got two 55L containers for $7.50 each to hold Christmas decorations but didn't really look for much else :P
Good for renters in humid climes.
This is evaporative isn't it? In which case it'd be terrible in humid environments.
I don't think so, if so it's overpriced by at least 2.2 times.
http://www.buildingchoice.com.au/home-diy/home-air-condition…
Evaporative = cheaper to buy and operate, but no good for humid environments.
Refrigerative = More expensive
Why all the hate?
I prefer a $10 fan but these are a step up from that.
Apparently they are loud and crap, it's still a step up from my broken fan and my cousin and my uncle and aunt swear by them, so I got one…
Agreed. Its a trade off between noise and comfort. Whats a little noise if it means a comfy sleep at 25C?
Fans will only provide instantaneous/temporary relief from the heat whilst using much less power than the air conditioners that reduce the temperature of the room over time.
Firstly, no.
Secondly, an*
I give you Exhibit A, this was a good deal too and a lot of the comments are "Portable air conditioners are poo"
Because they are mate.
I'm a renter and I'd NEVER buy one of these pieces of crap. Dont do it folks, complete waste of money…. and I only live in Canberra (not exactly Brisbane heat/humidity).
and I only live in Canberra (not exactly Brisbane heat/humidity)
Then with all due respect, you can't really know what you're talking about, now can you???
When you live in a hot climate, and you're a shiftworker who rents from an A-hole landlord & needs to get some rack time in the heat, these things are a godsend!
That the problem with OzB, too much 'sage advice' from people without any real perspective.
Yeah, a good discussion there - but nobody got FLAMED, especially the OP.
My $600 Kelvinator was a godsend for the couple of years I had it, but I do think their shortcomings should be clearly spelled out.
One thing I do hate is the way the energy efficiency regulations seem to have handed the portable AC market to this particular type, almost all of which operate on a principle that involves battling to cool the room against the hot air they draw in from outside.
Dual-duct floorstanding portables which address that problem are the exception, and potentially better solutions, such as window portables and portable splits, have been made unviable by being subject to minimum efficiency requirements while floorstanding portables are exempt (a good recipe for a race to the bottom).
I tried one - it's not just a little bit of noise. Thing thing sounds like a jet engine. The whole room shakes, you feel like you're on a ride at dreamworld :)
Well maybe you got a cheap-o type one or something, I don't know…
But the one I got last summer doesn't shake the room, the floor or the windows; yes it makes a bit of noise, but compared to over 40 degree temperatures, I'd rather have something that makes about the same amount of noise as a pedestal fan on high that makes the room down to 20 degrees!!
That's a huge claim!
40 degrees outside, 20 degrees inside… all from a floor standing portable ducted air con like the one above?
I'd be VERY interested to know what exact unit you have that performs like youve described above, because I looked everywhere for something like that and found nothing. NOTHING. Ended up going for a window cassette style portable air con…. where its an actual proper air con unit with compressor outside the room (the only way I reckon anyone could get a 20 degree drop in temp).
I'd be very interested to know how many of these portables you have owned yourself UFO? Which models did you try?
Employee of Sam's Warehouse/Crazy Clarks here. We had one of these running at the store I worked at last year, and they definitely cool down a room without shaking the room or making too much noise… At one point during easter our air-con for the centre broke down so we built a gazebo tent type thing and put one of those in there for all the easter eggs, to save them from melting. That gazebo was bliss. There is noise but it's not overly bad.
Although I'd only recommend getting one if you have a reasonably small to medium bedroom… Should be common sense that these things won't work for say a living room.
Is it an air conditioner or some sort of evaporative air cooler? (I've never seen an air-conditioner so small.)
Good find.
I want one, which Sam's Warehouse is it ?
I'm pretty sure it can't beat the noise of my 3000rpm cpu cooler fan when turned on to max rpm :p
The one I got it from was Sam's Warehouse in Chermside
Didn't know there's a local mob called Sam's Warehouse, for a moment I thought it was Sam's Club and shipping such a bulky item from the States would cost more than the product itself.
Flamed!!!!!!
Also, why does the receipt say 1.5hp when the cooling capacity is 3.2kW.
Also, is the checkout chick really shemale?
ROFLMAO, I never noticed that!!!
The deal isn't for an evaporative, its def a refridge unit. Pretty cheap and no doubt it would pull lotsa kW for the amount of cooling it does - but hey its cheap :)
Any idea how much it would cost to run this? Say, if I had it turned on for 4 hours a day
Depends how much you pay for electricity, how hot your place is, what temperature you set it…
But rough approximations:
My power is about $0.22/kWh. This means if it was going at 100% it would cost me 1.2 * 0.22 = $0.264
So the maximum cost would be ~$1/day for 4 hours. However it might be much less than that if the weather is not so hot (thermostat switches it off).
My Kelvinator had to be on all day with its compressor running the entire time just to keep the room temp around 4 or 5 degrees below what it'd otherwise have reached. YMMV - some people report their portable ACs doing less than that and some lucky ones report it turning their room into a freezer.
Thanks OP - just grabbed one for the office.
For anyone thinking about getting one - following is my understanding of info explained to me:
Seems to be 2 Evantair models (Older $199 & Newer $239 both reduced from around $400)
Both 1.5 hp but the $239 is 2.55Kw not 3.2Kw (I was told this means the the $239 will be cheaper to run?)
Also told the $239 has an internal reservoir that you empty periodically rather than needing an external water bucket for the $199 - doesn't have the Air Swing (?) though.
I've got the $239 running now, no probs so far and the noise doesn't seem too unreasonable either - there's 2 settings for the fan if noise is a concern.
Daz… What do think about the cooling? Is it effective? Thanks.
Hard to say how effective it is yet as it's only low 20s here today.
Wish I could give some more constructive feedback but wont really know till we get some warmer weather.
:-)
Portable air-conditioning is a completely viable way of cooling your home (roughly good for 25 square metres) but you do need to spend more than $199 dollars.
I have a Dimplex 3.5Kw portable with a window-mountable exhaust duct. Reverse Cycle refrigerated that can do 18C-35C and 400 cubic metres of airflow: http://www.thegoodguys.com.au/robina/Dimplex_3.5KW_Cooling_P…
Yes it can be noisy but goddamn, not everyone has the money nor SPACE for a wall-mounted unit or a full-blown ducted system.
These things can be a life-saver for the poor soul in that one room of your house that seems to just trap heat worse than any other part of the residence.
Anything else notable in the sales?