A portable AC  is a small mobile air conditioner, unlike a window AC or split AC, but without any permanent installation required. All of our portable air conditioners are between 29" and 34" tall and weigh between 65 and 80 pounds. Portable air conditioners also work well in apartment situations where a window unit is unacceptable.  See below for answers to some of the most common portable air conditioner questions we get from customers:   No, these are not the same.  Air coolers, also known as evaporative coolers or swamp coolers, use water and evaporation to cool. Generally, air coolers lower ambient temperatures by 10-20 degrees. Portable air conditioners use a compressor and coolant to cool and are much more effective in cooling rooms and for keeping the humidity low. Portable ACs extract hot air, and this hot air has to be vented. If the hot air isn't vented, the portable air conditioner will not be able to cool a room effectively. Window and venting kits are always included with portable air conditioners at no extra cost.

For more information on venting, click here.You can also vent a portable AC through a wall vent, into the attic or drop ceiling, or even around a door - you're only limited by your creativity! For information on venting portable AC systems through casement windows, click here.A portable air conditioner's exhaust hose is generally between 5 and 7 feet long and is made of high quality, flexible plastic. The plastic window kit simply is cut to fit almost any slider or up and down window in your home - up to 4 feet. The window is then closed against the window kit to seal the air from the outside, the exhaust hose then is fit through a small cutout in the window attachment. Installation takes about 5 minutes and this allows for easy portability from window to window. For windows larger than 4 feet, simply purchase extra Plexiglass or Styrofoam at the local hardware store. As mentioned earlier, for unique window situations such as casement (crank-out) windows, a little creativity is all that is needed.

All portable air conditioners come with the standard hose length of 5-7 feet. If you need a longer hose, these can be easily found at a local hardware store. It is a good idea to avoid hose lengths over 12 feet or 90 degree bends. You can also vent through the dryer hose as long as the hose diameter is 5" or more and the outdoor venting flap is removed. All portable air conditioners produce condensation as they are cooled. This water is then contained in an internal water reservoir or drained through a hose. On all of our models, this water reservoir has an auto shutoff feature so that water is never accidentally spilled onto the ground. With the unit off, the water is easily emptied into a drip pan. You can also gravity drain the portable AC by connecting a hose to the connection on the reservoir. Portable ACs are able to provide effective cooling with minimal water usage, making them one of the most efficient systems on the market. Energy Efficiency Rating (EER) is a standard measure of efficiency for comparing appliances and the cost of operation.

The higher the EER, the more energy efficient the air conditioner. Any rating of 10 or more is considered excellent. By cooling only one room, portable air conditioners can save you a considerable amount of money on your monthly electric bill. All of the portable air conditioners that we carry operate on 115 Volt/60 Hertz - the normal household standard. They generally run on about 7-10 amps and require a regular, 3-prong grounded plug found in most homes. ac unit compressor not workingThis is one of the most common uses of a portable air conditioner! air conditioner outside unit iceEven in small computer rooms, a 12000 BTU unit should be purchased due to the extra heat produced. hvac unit on roofMoreover, the portable AC will help keep the air dry and more suitable for computer application.

See our server room portable AC guide to learn more.Shop Our Selection of Portable Air ConditionersA window air conditioning unit is, in many ways, a terrible technology. It blasts cool air from only one location, as opposed to the many vents of central air. These heavy hunks of metal hang precariously over sidewalks—something I think about whenever I walk the streets of New York, look up at the many window ACs, and ponder the fact that they were installed by amateurs. But when summer comes and your apartment has no central air, the alternative is suffering (or a bunch of big, dust-collecting fans).Many of the same companies that produce window ACs also make portable air conditioning units that don't have to sit in the window. I was only vaguely aware of these machines until this weekend, when the heat wave that pushed temperatures to 90 degrees F in May forced us to consider cooling options for our suddenly roasting bedroom. We wound up with a 8,000 BTU Frigidaire portable unit.

Is this kind of air conditioner right for you?Our main driver in choosing this AC wasn't portability. It was another of the problems with window units: They take over your window and, depending on your style of window, you can't open it until you take out the AC in the autumn. That just wasn't an option for our one-window room, so we decided to seek alternatives.The Frigidaire portable looks like a mini-fridge on wheels with a vent in the front. The controls are like those of a typical window unit: You can set the temperature and switch between fan and cool modes. This unit also comes with a dehumidifying setting. On the back there's a filter where air gets sucked in, and a port where you have to hook up the exhaust hose: a big, thick dryer hose-like tube that has to run to the window.Our AC also came with a piece of plastic that fits into your window. It's about 7 inches tall and slides to adjust to the window's width. There's a hole where the exhaust hose locks in. Once that's in place and you close the window on top of the plastic piece, you can turn on the machine;

it starts blowing cool air out the front and blowing the hot exhaust though the hose, out the hole, and to the outside world.This is where we get to the problem with portable ACs: "portable" is relative. The machine creates heat that has to go somewhere. That's why your window AC unit is in the window in the first place—the exhaust comes off the back and goes out into the atmosphere rather than filling your house. A portable AC is portable in the sense that it can roll around, allowing you to change the point where cool air is blowing. But it's also tethered to the window (or another opening like a screen door). It can only go as far as the exhaust hose stretches, which in the case of ours is about 5 feet.For us, that works. We were looking for a solution that wouldn't sacrifice an entire window all summer long, and now we can still open the window whenever we want even with the plastic piece in there. I don't know if I'd call it "portable," though. Yes, the unit can roll away from the window as far as the exhaust hose extends, but that's a bit of pain, as the bulky hose is hard to adjust.

(It's also not necessary, because the 8,000-BTU Frigidaire has plenty of oomph for one room.) If I wanted to move it to another room, it'd have to sit near the window there, and I'd have to readjust the plastic piece to fit a different window. But I wouldn't do it twice a day to move the AC between the living room and the bedroom.These things are a bit pricey, too. During our hunt for the portable AC, Target was selling (and quickly selling out of) a bare-bones 5,000-BTU window unit for $110. We got the 8,000-BTU Frigidaire on sale for $260 at Best Buy; it typically costs $300. Most portables you see will be that expensive or higher, if only because companies typically don't make them smaller than ours.[Note: Commenters have asked about a couple of other issues with portable ACs. Subjectively, our portable certainly feels like it's using more energy to pump more air. For objective numbers, compare Frigidaire's portable AC to the company's window unit with the same capability—8,000 BTUs to cool 350 square feet.