Thread: Portable Aircon

Can't help with models sorry although they are advertised form time to time at elec goods stores (the usual suspects).

Ex-work colleague used one in her temporary office (demountable) while her office was being renovated. It pumped a lot of hot air from the exhaust, so I made her an insert from scrap ply to sit into the window frame. She would open the window, slide the insert in to block the gap and fit a 150mm (I think) vac pipe from exhaust to a hole in the ply. The pipe was about 4-6m I think.

She told me the pipe came with the unit and I guess they all have some way to vent the compressor heat.

We recently had a similare problem, what with my SWMBO having just moved here from rural Canada (ie. she's used to 20deg below rather than above. ) and our being in a rental property.

Luckily, we found a 2nd-hand portable Split System on Gumtree for around $200. It's a Mistral MPAC 140, if you look at the pic the little unit on the left hangs outside the window, connected to the internal unit by the lines in the long gray hose.

On the downside, it needs a drain hose from the internal unit (we run it to the bathroom floor drain) and it won't cool down a large area that's already hot very well; it works too hard. However, we've found that if we use our brains and get in early, presetting it to temp before the heat of the day, it'll keep our 7m x 4m living area nice'n'cool real well...

Dunno how easy they are to find nowadays but if you see one in good nick I suggest thinking seriously about grabbing it!

What sort of windows do you have?
The vent duct goes out a window, and a lot of the portable ones come with sliding plate to fit in the open window to (try and) seal it. This works well if you have sliding windows, but not at all if you have an awning type sash.

I have made up a removable frame for an awning type sash for a couple of people and it has worked well. When the weather changes the frame can be removed and the window closed.

We have one in our rented duplex works great as long as everything is closed up keeps the open plan living areas of lounge, kitchen hall and dinning room cool. Vented to a sliding window also drain tube.

Couple of issues with portable air conditioners.

1. They are inefficient. I'd get the biggest you can regardless of how small a room you want to cool.

2. They are really noisy.

3. Some that advertise as reverse cycle actually reverse the ducting, so you need to take it apart and put the hose on the front which in turn puts the controls away from you and looks ugly, if you care about that sort of thing.

4. The longer the hose the less efficient. Get it as close to the window as possible.

5. Big issue. Some have a removable drain tank some have a drain screw. The screw is so low you can't get much of a tray under it and your dealing with liters of water.

6. Some spray condensate on the condenser to help cool it. This is good. More efficient plus some of it evaporates and is carried out the vent hose. Less frequent emptying.

7. If you lay it on it's side wait 24 hours upright before starting. If not the pump will seize and it's chuck away at that point.

I've got a big broken one in my front room, another repair project I'll probably never get to. Compared to the split system or window wall they are awful. If you can fit a small window wall to a window it would work a lot better, but does require fitting so....