I looked to see if anyone had started a thread on these, and the only one I found was from 2007. Am considering sending one to the s’s and their families as both are dealing with a heat wave, neither have A/C (as this is not common but has happened enough lately that its time to consider a room a/c) and with the fires in Nor Cal they can’t consistently open the windows and run a room fan. Ay experience with/recommendations for a reasonably priced portable room a/c? I know they require running the vent to the window. One s’s place is better suited for that than the other, but I’d like to find a reputable one first. The one that I found thus far that seemed ok, but has mixed reviews, is a Black & Decker. Any tips?
We have a Friedrich zhp14da. One of these:
https://www.friedrich.com/professional/products/zoneaire-portable
It works well for us. We needed it because it was going in a location where the window would not support a regular air conditioner. The bottom of the window did not have the sort of ledge that an AC sits on.
It is a “two hose” portable air conditioner. This will be much better for your use than a one hose model. With the one hose model the AC pushes hot air out of the hose. However, air has to enter the house somewhere to offset this air that is leaving. If you are in a smokey situation this will suck smokey air into the house. With the two hose model outside air comes in one hose, is heated, and goes out the other hose. Of course the amount that it is heated matches the amount by which inside air (which stays inside, being sucked in the back of the unit and blow out the front) is cooled down.
We have not had any problem with water buildup in spite of the very high humidity that we had about a month ago.
A normal window air conditioner will work in most cases with normal double hung windows (which are common here in the northeast). It will keep outside air outside and inside air inside, while cooling and dehumidifying the inside air. However, we had to deal with a window that could not hold a normal window air conditioner.
I am not sure that I would call this “reasonably priced”. The common window air conditioners cost quite a bit less.
I agree that you need to know what kind of machine the window will support. I live in a 1950s neighborhood and have noticed a lot of the houses have window units (no central air or, more common, swamp cooler). They also have supports outside the windows, usually made out of work horses or 2x4s.
Thanks. Am looking for the floor, not the window model.
I had to get one for our attic because the windows up there are too narrow for the usual window ACs. They are not really “windowless”, nor are they that portable, nor are they very easy to set up. I picked one up at Lowe’s.
They need to vent out of a window or a hole in the wall, with something just like a drying duct. We had to custom cut plywood to fit our window opening tightly and then cut a hole for the duct to vent out. The unit is on wheels and is portable for 2 feet or so that the duct allows it to move. It’s a loud unit, it uses a lot of electricity, not as efficient or effective as a window AC. Also, unless you want to empty the water pan, that fills from condensation every 8-24 hours depending on your situation, you need to get a hose and direct that out somewhere. I was fortunate that one of my guys was here to set it up. I certainly could not myself.
With the water out-hose and the plywood in the window, I’m set, he attic is tolerable with a big fan and that AC working in concert. I need to get something to cover the plywood because it looks awful even in a small attic window as you look at the house. I had to put it in the front attic window to get maximum cooling effect for the most used area and the entire attic.
So, I’m not thrilled with the contraption. It’s big. Noisy, Not great decor. Can’t move it much. Doesn’t really cool the room like my window units do. But it’s the best I can do for now. I’m going to get a mini split system for the attic.
We’ve had a Wynter for 4 years now.
https://www.whynter.com/product/whynter-eco-friendly-12000-btu-dual-hose-portable-air-conditioner/
This unit is large and easily cools half of our upstairs with 3 connecting bedrooms. (about 600 sq feet)
We are experiencing a heatwave and smoky air from fires, too. So, I cut a charcoal filter that I had for our air purifier and put it on the intake hose for additional filtering.
It is loud in small rooms (it’s on wheels and we move it around upstairs as needed) but it cools well. I’m thinking about ordering another one for the downstairs bedrooms.
We have a Dyson Blade that we use when it’s super hot (old house, not well insulated and the A/C doesn’t always keep up). It also is a heater in the winter. https://www.dyson.com/fans-and-heaters/dyson-hot-cool-overview.html
Thanks. Does the dual hose drain the condensate too?
Am having trouble finding pricing on some of these, or where to order them. Any thoughts?
There are two drain plugs. One will allow a short drain hose to be attached for continuous drainage (into a small bucket or to outside). We just drain it manually every couple of days through the bottom plug (there’s only room for a shallow pan to catch the water).
It shows up in a search on Home Depot:
@jym626, this model has a feature that eliminates having to drain;
How about a fan with a pan of water in front of it?
We have had two of these. Bought a next to new one for our D2 to have in her apt upstairs bedroom that doesn’t cool as much as the lower part of the house and this year bought one for our house (we have radiator heat and must use portable AC upstairs).
We bought ours at Costco. DeLonghi I think. It cost $400-$500? That model also can heat a room. There was a less expensive one that was just for cooling.
How much area do they need to cool? Ours can cool two bedrooms pretty well but more would be tough. It is kind of loud but we get used to it. The one we bought this year was much easier to install. Used on a “regular” 35?ish inch window and it adjusted well to fit it. Haven’t had to drain it yet.
we have one of the Black and Decker ones. We bought it for older S when he lived in an un air conditioned room in a house at school. Since then, we used it for two summers in our bedroom before we realized our A/C was dying and it wasn’t just us getting wimpy in our old age. Our bedroom is approx 500 SF and one wall is all glass. The two A/C vents are in one corner. (old house/plaster walls. We can only have vents in certain areas) for $$$ purposes I keep our house set at 80 with ceiling fans running 24-7 (our utility rates are high here). So the room was probably pushing 90 those summers.
We would turn it on about an hour before bed with it set at 72 and our doors shut. By the time we went to bed it was comfy and we would often have to shut it in the middle of the night. I wouldn’t say it was quiet, but some white noise was heaven compared to a boiling hot room. I also wear ear plugs so I suppose that helped too. Lol.
H took care of the set up, but I don’t remember it being any big deal. We don’t do tricky set ups ourselves. We never dumped any condensate. H says we had it vented outside. It had a plug and an overflow area (and another hose we could have vented? I didn’t understand that part) but he said anytime he checked it there wasn’t anything to dump. I didn’t notice a huge jump in our bills, but ours are high anyway and vary widely throughout the year. $30 wouldn’t faze me at all. And we also only ran it at night.
Last fall we realized and got out A/C replaced. We haven’t felt the need to set it up this summer.
“Thanks. Does the dual hose drain the condensate too?”
Ours has a tube to drain water. I believe there is a pump feeding the tube so that it can pump the water out to a location that is slightly higher than the AC unit. However, they did make a point in their advertisement that they have set it up so that the water that collects from cooling the interior air is evaporated into the hot air that is being sent outside. At least as far as I have noticed this is working – I have never see water in the tube. It is led outside to a place where it would be okay of some water is pumped out.
I have wondered whether the condensate would build up and be a problem with the one hose units, but I do not have any experience with them.
Thanks.
I wrote a big long response (on my phone) and then lost the whole thing! Arggh. I got the feedback from DS#2 (w2ho lives in a 3rd floor apt) that he will want to use it in his office during the day but in the bedroom at night. I had to explain that it will be tethered to the window. I assume that once he gets it assembled into one window, he won’t want to remove/shift it to another every day. Yes?
The other s has a house but I think his windows open sideways, not up/down, so don’t think this would work easily for him. Then again, his wife is pregnant, so she may want a vote to see if they could figure out how to rig it up.
@jym626 We have the sideway opening windows in our dining room where we have the little “portable” AC installed for summers.
It looks a lot like the Sharp AFS60RX that you can (maybe) get at walmart. Ours is older. My DH cut a board to fit to reduce the top size and we just slide the window tight against the sides, with weather stripping on all sides. It just takes a regular (3 prong) plug and no hoses or drains. It does an OK job of cooling the LR/DR to be bearable on hot days, normally we can regulate with cooling the house at night and shutting it up during the day. We didn’t have any AC in this house for the first 25 years, but it bothers me more now.
We just put it in the window in July or so and take it back out in end of August or so. I can move it in and out of the shed on our hand truck and can slide it from the hand truck to it’s little stand by myself since DH hasn’t been able to lift weights for a couple years. Easier with 2 of course.
For the portable office to BR one, we have been looking, too, for our DD. But never found anything workable. DD’s apartment even has the dryer-like exhaust hole in one wall, but it is in the LR and she only wants to run the AC in her bedroom since she’d like to shut the windows due to noise. I’ll be interested to hear if there is one that
Thanks. Haven’t seen a sharp model. Will look. AM also finding that some don’t meet CA standards (or as DS#2 says, “you can’t have nice things like washing machines that work”. I believe his home “office” is their second bedroom, so if its hot they’ll just have to sleep in there , I guess.
@esobay - is yours a window unit? Thats what comes up when I put that model # in. ANd then air purifiers come up.
" I assume that once he gets it assembled into one window, he won’t want to remove/shift it to another every day."
Yes. These units are big. What I have weighs 64 pounds. It is on wheels, but is not significantly any more “portable” than a regular window air conditioner.
Also, the two “hoses” (“duct” might be a better term) vent to the outside through a panel that is taped (I use weather stripping tape) into a window. It needs to be cut to be the right width. There is some play possible, but if two windows are significantly different in width it is not clear whether or not anyone could cut it to be easily adjustable for both windows. This would probably depend upon the width of the windows since I have a piece left over after cutting that could be cut to accommodate some other widths, but only some.
Our most recently purchased unit didn’t require any taping or cutting of any sort. I wonder if they have made improvements in flexibility of fitting.
That said, moving it on a daily basis would not be ideal.