Lets talk about air conditioners...

Air conditioners!

Has anyone had experience with portable air cons? Are they as good as a window air con would be?

Going to buy one tomorrow. The mid 40 days are killing us & we're only half way through summer! Plenty to go...

I have a frame & power point on a whole separate line alone in the kitchen already, so set up for a window air con, but the portables seem to be a little cheaper for the same thing? I know they need to be ducted out... and I can move a portable one around the house...

Any info either way is handy please :) Brand name/models or sales could be handy too, but I will only have a limited choice. Betta/Retravision are the only stores I will have access too.

You might struggle to buy one as they are being snapped up quickly in the heat wave.

I have a portable evap doesn't work as well as my hole in wall one. I've convinced DH to look into ducted a/c as the portable isn't working that well down in bedroom end of house. I have an air con specialist friend who told me that portables don't need outside opening as they don't need to equalise pressure like ducted evap does so don't need to worry about having a slight opening.

Also ceiling fans make a huge difference.

We've had two separate ones. One we used in the house, bought about nine odd years ago for around $100. Pile of garbage. Bought a new one last year for our caravan for around $130. Pile of garbage. The one in the house had a compartment where you put ice in and it would use that to cool the air it blew out. The caravan one sucked the air through the window and converted it to cool air with water.

Sorry! I don't know if they get better if you pay more but ours couldn't even cool down a small caravan by one iota.

We've had two delonghi pinguino's & they were both fantastic. The first was a split system which was awesome & cooled a large living area well, the other one vented out the window & you added water to it, not because it was evaporative, but because it was designed to boost the refrigerator cooling.

If you're going to buy one, get a good, powerful one. Do not waste your time getting an indoor evaporative cooler, they are not suited to long hot summer days at all.

Lilima - I'm not in the heatwave zone. This is a normal summer for us :) There is no reason I believe that they'd be hard to get over here at the moment. Ceiling fans aren't an option being in a rental.

PacRakMG - I think you're talking about air coolers. Definitely more than $100-130. Looking at paying around $500. Possibly a little more depending on what size they do.

I had a split system in the last house, it was awesome. I haven't got that kind of money, or I'd be getting one installed for sure! I'm only worried about cooling down the living area's & hoping I can get one big enough to do the lounge/dining/kitchen area. Bedrooms don't bother me. If not, I'll block off the kitchen/dining area, or the loungeroom & just have one cool room.

That's what I did think MD, but having never used one & not knowing anyone who has, I have no idea. And since the frame is already there for a window/wall one, I may as well use it.

Seems to get a higher cooling capacity aircon you, you need to buy R/C. The cooling only air conditioners are all only 2.something kw... I have a fire place, I'm not needing a heater. Was hoping to drop the price a little by getting a cooler only.
Oh well, its not going to hurt I guess.

I can get more out of a window air con, than in a split system for less. I can get a 5.something kw for around $700-$800, where as the cheaper end of split systems for around that price are only 2.6kw...

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PacRakMG - I think you're talking about air coolers. Definitely more than $100-130. Looking at paying around $500. Possibly a little more depending on what size they do.

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Ah okay. Yeah, that makes more sense. Well air coolers are a pile of garbage :lol:

We have a split system downstairs here but it has too much of an area to cover and I'm sweating inside. Our old house we put in an evap cooler and it did the job beautifully. We also had three massive windows in our kitchen/dining/living area (open plan) and we covered them up with the cheap bamboo blinds from Bunnings. Made a massive difference - didn't have to use the cooler until the end of the day.

We have a portable air con. It cools down the bedroom but anything larger it won't. It's only a 1HP one though. Mum has a 2.5/3HP one and it works so much better than mine. We paid 400 for ours a few years ago now (about 2009?). Not sure what mum paid for hers.

We have an olimpia splendid .. Purchased a couple of years ago .. It's cooling only portable air con and it's amazing !! We have the option of putting it on the window sill or out the back door ..

It's on right now and we coulsnt be without it ..

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Lilima - I'm not in the heatwave zone. This is a normal summer for us :) There is no reason I believe that they'd be hard to get over here at the moment. Ceiling fans aren't an option being in a rental.

PacRakMG - I think you're talking about air coolers. Definitely more than $100-130. Looking at paying around $500. Possibly a little more depending on what size they do.

I had a split system in the last house, it was awesome. I haven't got that kind of money, or I'd be getting one installed for sure! I'm only worried about cooling down the living area's & hoping I can get one big enough to do the lounge/dining/kitchen area. Bedrooms don't bother me. If not, I'll block off the kitchen/dining area, or the loungeroom & just have one cool room.

That's what I did think MD, but having never used one & not knowing anyone who has, I have no idea. And since the frame is already there for a window/wall one, I may as well use it.

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To be clear, the split system we had was a portable one.

We had a delonghi one too, it was fantastic, and being able to move it around when renting was good and it was quiet.

There wasn't a huge range to choose from. But we got what we wanted. I'm thinking maybe I should've just got the R/C for heating back up, but its done now.

There was only really one brand to choose from. Teco. Kelvinators were out of stock. They only really get other brand names/bigger prices in if someone requests them. Regional area's :)

Was a struggle to get in place, but I'm stubborn & managed to do it myself, even though its huge & weighs almost as much as I do!

Just waiting for it to warm up a bit to turn it on :) Looking at a nice 35 today, so good weather for testing it out :)