Miscellaneous Portable air con units UK

[Jeanette]

Every heatwave we talk about getting a portable air con unit.

Anyone in the UK bought one recently any recommendations?

Thank you

Jx

 

[mizmar]

No.

But, do you have heat exchange heating?

 

[Jeanette]

But, do you have heat exchange heating?

No 🙁

 

[Vlad]

Just a big old electric fan here, does the job ( and it was a freebie rescued from a recycle thingy too )

 

[Jeanette]

We do have a large old fan but it is noisy 🙂

 

[MarkSax]

If you live in a detached or semi-detached I recommend installing a proper wall mounted AC unit not less than 18000 btu so the whole floor can benefit. Flats are tricky but if you can a 12000 btu for a small living room is enough. Most have inverters so they can be used for heating in winter. I had a portable, it’s noisy, there’s some sort of exhaust tube that needs to go outside to expel the hot air and it doesn’t cool down the place as well as a wall mounted back to back AC unit.
P.S. A large bag of ice in front of a conventional fan works wonders in times of need.

 

[Pete Thomas]

I used to have aircon in my studio, it went during renovations and I never got round to putting it back. No amount of fans make up for it just being too hot so I would appreciate having it back. What I had was a single room aircon, not portable.

As you all may remember we are about to move, I am going to investigate a complete HVAC system for the whole house.

 

[Jimmymack]

I bought a vertical fan from John Lewis a couple of years ago that has all sorts of adjustments some I don’t see the point of. It works well but still ends up circulating warm air when temperatures get too high. It’s quiet though and has meant that we’ve had some sleep after I trained it on the bed.

 

[Jeanette]

If you live in a detached or semi-detached I recommend installing a proper wall mounted AC unit not less than 18000 btu so the whole floor can benefit. Flats are tricky but if you can a 12000 btu for a small living room is enough. Most have inverters so they can be used for heating in winter. I had a portable, it’s noisy, there’s some sort of exhaust tube that needs to go outside to expel the hot air and it doesn’t cool down the place as well as a wall mounted back to back AC unit.
P.S. A large bag of ice in front of a conventional fan works wonders in times of need.

I had wondered about this!

Might be worth the investment but I know we will move at some point so was going to wait...

Jx

 

[zelda]

I'm out in Alberta. It gets up to 30C, with low humidity, in summer and very little rain. Most days are around 25C.

Four years ago, we bought a portable LG Air Conditioner on wheels, LG Model LP0815WNR, 8000btu. We've had zero issues with it.

The voltage is 110AC here in Canada and the US. The UK has 220? but these units are probably available with 220.

Our house is a modest 800 sq. ft. bungalow with a full basement. We close the basement door when running the unit because the cool air will tumble down the basement stairs. We close the spare-bedroom door as well.

The LG unit came with a 6" x 6' hose. It comes with a window hose-exhaust kit as well but I cut a 6" hole in an exterior wall. I bought another hose on Amazon so it has 12' of hose now. This way, we can move it around and point it it this way or that.

 

[h4yn0nnym0u5e]

We’ve got this one, similar to but slightly quieter than a previous one we passed on to our son. Good for one room, really, but that’s all we need.

 

[zelda]

8000 btu - same as ours. Does the job.
Except for our really low humidity, our summer weather is quite similar to that of southern England - Devon, Dorset, Cornwall etc. - in recent years.

 

[Saxlicker]

We do have a large old fan but it is noisy 🙂

Shark flexibreeze FA220UK.
Virtually Silent on setting 1 & 2 and setting 1 is gentle enough to create a tolerable breeze that lets you sleep.

Very Good IMO. Not cheap but battery lasts all night as well.
We have the version with the detachable pedestal so it turns into desk top versions.
2 of them manages fairly well during the heat of the day and perfect at night.

 

[sax panther]

We got one a couple of weeks ago, an Avalla S95. It was about £180 but well worth it already. It cools our bedroom down really quickly. It makes a bit of a noise but I'd rather have the noise than the heat when I'm trying to get to sleep!

 

[Tenor Viol]

I live near the Scottish border at 55N, so temperatures of 30C are somewhat unusual (it will be down to 22C tomorrow). Being surrounded by the sea means humidity is usually going to be relatively high.

What's crucial with weather like this is doing your best to reduce thermal gain.

In the morning, when it's cool, open windows and doors to get cross-draughts going and to get the inside as cool as you can. As soon as it starts warming up outside, you need to close all doors and windows - you do not want the warmer air getting inside. Close blinds/curtain to stop rooms heating up. Close doors on the side of the house that's in the sun.

It does mean there is some 'following the sun' as to which blinds/doors are open or closed.

 

[Jeanette]

I do that to an extent 😃 but it doesn't get it cool just as you say stops thermal gain.

Jx

 

[Wonko]

I had a portable, it’s noisy, there’s some sort of exhaust tube that needs to go outside to expel the hot air and it doesn’t cool down the place as well as a wall mounted back to back AC unit.

About 20 years ago, my wife wanted to get a portable airco-unit. I asked a friend (who is specialised in AC-systems) for advice. He said that those portable units normally blow out the warm air and by doing so create an under pressure in the room, and that is compensated by sucking in the warm air from outside through all the small air-openings (like under the doors). That makes them verry inefficient, using a lot of extra electricity.
So a proper AC-unit that has both parts of the cooling system (one part cooling the air inside the house, the exterior part using the outside air to expel the heat) is a better investment. It pays itself back in just a couple of years.
About 7 years ago we installed a unit to cool down our bedroom. And about 2 years ago we had 2 systems installed to cool and heat the ground floor of our house. Very pleased with both. And I am convinced that these investments make our house worth more if we would have to sell it.

 

[DavidUK]

We just moved and left behind an LG wall mounted AC unit in the kitchen/breakfast room.
One of our removal men recommended Pro Breeze, a UK company, for portable AC as he's had one for a couple of years. We'll install a new wall mounted unit in our firthcoming extension to the new house but a portable one is tempting, very tempting, right now.

 

[Targa]

Buy an aircon unit.
Contribute to global warming.

 

[Wonko]

Oh yes, important advice for everybody that is considering any AC-system.
Start by keeping the heat out, that means installing sun screens on the windows. Insulating walls, ceiling and windows (double or triple glazing) is also a good idea.
It's cheaper to install sun screens, and it doesn't contribute to further global warming....