Intended to purchase Choice subscription but appears quality gone downhill. - Is a Choice.com.au subscription worth it?
Rooms are 5 x 6m, concerned about power usage also considering medical issues affect by temperature/humidity, location is South Australia. Preferably something quiet (sensory issues) with home assistant integration (cognitive issues). Will consider quality product with just Wi-Fi App perhaps can emulate android VM accessible from HA tab, just cognitive issues struggle switch apps/devices at least can keep in HA.
Good to see recommendations from all price brackets.
I bought the 1600 BTU Arlec portable cooler from Bunnings, with the heating mode. Trying to cool a flat roofed room 4x9 meters. It struggles to lower temp just a few degrees. I've been sealing up all the air gaps I can find with masking tape. On paper 1600 BTU should be enough for a room that big but in reality it's not. If I run it the night before a hot day it makes it tolerable. Compared to the rest of the house it's comfortable, but still more than the 27 degrees my thermometer recommends as max temp. In South Australia too.
How hot does the room get? The room I'm trying to cool gets a few degrees hotter inside than it does outside, so if it's 33 outside then it'll probably be 35 in the room. It's also very loud, but it helps cover other household noise at least.
Comes with an app so I can turn it on when heading home from other side of the city at least. And when the sun finally goes down the house stays hot all night, but when the sun goes down then it starts actually working to chill the room (slowly).
A split system would work a bit better and be quieter, and be cheaper to run, though not portable if you move. But the power savings would pay for itself after 10 years I bet,