FAQs

Portable Air Conditioner

What is a portable air conditioner?

A portable air conditioner (PAC) is an air conditioner that is mobile. Unlike window, through-the-wall, or central air conditioning units, PACs do not require permanent installation. Using the included window kit, connectors and exhaust hose, they exhaust heat from a space to lower the temperature and dehumidify.

Portable air conditioners are great for specialized applications where central air or conventional window air conditioners are unfeasible or too expensive.

PACs are used to cool single rooms, dorm rooms, small offices, computer server rooms and garages.

Our PACs can be plugged into a standard 115 Volt/ 60 Hertz household outlet.

Is a portable air conditioner the right choice for me?

Portable air conditioners are great for specialized applications where central air or conventional window air conditioners are unfeasible or too expensive. If you have an area that needs cooling, but conventional air conditioners won’t work for you, a portable air conditioner could be the answer you are looking for.

Also, portable air conditioner is a cost and energy saving alternative to conventional central air system as it cools one room instead of the whole house.

How does portable air conditioner work?

Hot air from the room or outside is pulled into the portable air conditioner through the filter or the intake hose to cool off the compressor and condenser coil. The cooled air is being pushed from the air vent to the room and the compressed hot air is then expelled out the exhaust hose.

Do portable air conditioners require outside venting?

Yes, all portable air conditioners need to vent the hot air they remove from the room. They include a window venting kit to install to a standard window. However, they do not have to vented using a window; they can be vented to sliding glass doors, through a wall or into a drop ceiling (method most offices use). For these applications, may require a custom modification and the vent hose may require extending.

Can a portable air conditioner run without a vent?

If the hot air is not vented outside of the room, the unit will blow cold air from the front and hot air from the back. This scenario does not change the room temperature; the air stream will be cooled but once circulated with the exhausted compressed heat, the room temperature will remain the same.

Can a portable air conditioner be vented to an attic?

If your building has sufficient air space in the attic, venting the portable air conditioner into it should not be a problem. Please note that you will be introducing humidity into the attic and if you prefer not to have extra humidity to the attic, you can remove the drain plug of the air conditioner and setup continue drainage.

Do portable air conditioners collect water/ need to be drained?

As portable air conditioners cool the air, they also dehumidify it. The water they condense out of the air is dripped into the internal reservoir or exhausted out the exhaust hose. The self-evaporative or auto drain feature, help evaporate the collected condensation automatically in most environments. If the environment has high humidity, the unit may require draining. Some of our PACs have an upper drain port for optional continuous gravity draining.

Are portable air conditioners energy efficient?

Energy Efficiency Rating (EER) shows the energy efficiency of the air conditioner. The higher the EER, the more energy efficient the air conditioner. To get the EER, divide the unit’s BTUs by the wattage (BTU power / wattage).

What is a BTU?

BTU stands for British Thermal Unit. A BTU is the amount of energy needed to cool or heat.

How much space will these units cool?

Room Area                     Recommended Capacity
Up to 250 square feet          8000 BTU
200 – 300 square feet         10000 BTU
300 – 400 square feet         12000 BTU
250 – 420 square feet         13000 BTU
400 – 500 square feet         14000 BTU

How do I use the window venting kit? Does it fit my window?

The window venting kit is essentially a “filler” kit to allow the end of the exhaust hose to vent out the window without allowing hot air from the outside in around the vent hose. The window vent kits fit most windows that slide to open (vertically and horizontally). If the window kit is larger than the window, it may be cut down to fit. For larger windows, an additional window kit may be purchased to connect and cover the open space. Alternately, a custom modification may be made using PVC plastic, Plexiglas or plywood.

What is an exhaust hose?

Exhaust hose is the tubing which connects to the window kit to remove the compressed heat from the room. The exhaust hose can be removed in some modes but must be connected when cooling/ heating (applicable models). The length of the exhaust hose will vary by model but can be extended if necessary. We do not recommend extending the exhaust hose longer than 9 feet.

Is a portable air cooler the same thing as a portable air conditioner?

No. An air cooler or evaporative cooler uses water and evaporative cooling to lower the temperature of its airstream, often by as much as 12°F. However, air coolers will not lower the temperature in a room- they only make it feel cooler in the airstream provided by the unit. Additionally, you must add water to evaporative coolers for maximum effectiveness, and they do not need to be vented.

Can I use a portable air conditioner to cool my server room?

Although these are not industrial machines, this is an excellent use for a portable air conditioner. Even with central air, computer server rooms have more robust cooling needs than other parts of the building tend to require. A portable air conditioner works well to boost the cooling in a server room.

 

Dehumidifeir

1. What does a dehumidifier do?
A dehumidifier removes water from the air in your home until relative humidity is reduced to the level you choose. Once it has reached this level a good dehumidifier should automatically maintain that comfortable level with no interference from you!

2. What is the ideal humidity level for my home?
Generally a relative humidity of 50% is comfortable for your home. This will protect your home and belongings, prevent mold growth and control the dust mite population. There is no real need to reduce humidity below the 45-50% mark. To do so will simply cost more in energy while serving no useful purpose.

3. How does a dehumidifier work?
Most dehumidifiers work by drawing air from the room over a coil cooled to a very low temperature by a refrigeration system. These are commonly known as refrigeration dehumidifers. The water vapor condenses on the cold surface and the liquid water drips into the water collection bucket underneath. More and more dehumidifiers are now using an alternative method known as dessicant technology. The desiccant dehumidifiers pass the air over a wheel coated with a water absorbing material (called desiccant). The water is removed from the desiccant by passing a stream of warm air through it whereby it is dried and re-generated to collect more moisture on its next pass. The collected water is collected in the units water collection tank.

4. How long will it take to get the moisture under control?
As long as the dehumidifier you choose is large enough for the area it is working in, and there are no specific damp problems, then a dehumidifier will normally reduce the humidity to the chosen level within a few days to a week. This timescale does not apply if the room has been flooded, in which case one or more dehumidifiers will be needed and possibly supplemented by air movers and other specialist equipment. This work is usually undertaken by specialised water damage specialists.

5. Can I use the water that collects in the bucket?
The water collected in the dehumidifiers tank is called condensate, you can use this in your iron or to water the plants! However, it should not be drunk by humans or animals as it may contain traces of substances that could make you, your pets ill.

6. How do I know how big a dehumidifier I need?
This is basically down to the size of the room and how wet it is. But in general you will find most dehumidifiers on our site are classed by house size to make the job easier for you to choose. For instance our smallest dehumidifiers are ideal for anything up to a 3 bedroom house. Our larger units are ideal for homes with up to 5 bedrooms. In general terms we would always recommend that you err on the side of caution and if in any doubt buy a dehumidifier a size larger than you may appear to need. Larger dehumidifiers remove more water per energy pound spent and run for fewer hours in a given space than smaller ones. The energy saving will almost certainly be greater than the difference in purchase price.

7. Where is the best place to site my dehumidifier?
In an ideal world a dehumidifier would be silent and invisible. The next best thing is to be out of sight and earshot. Unfortunately the first is impossible and the second, while achievable in some cases, be more expensive in cost and effort. If you need to lower humidity throughout your house a whole-house dehumidifier is the best option. It is easy to fit, virtually silent and is the cheapest solution for whole house control. If you are using a portable dehumidifier in a small to medium sized room, a laundry room or a bedroom for example, it is not particularly important where you position it.

8. What is Continuous Drainage/Gravity Drainage?
All portable dehumidifiers have a water collection container, often called a tank or a bucket, to collect the water extracted from the air. These buckets are quite small, to keep the overall size of the dehumidifier down, and need to be emptied at least once a day. Because it may not be convenient, or possible, to empty the bucket daily almost all portable dehumidifiers for home use are designed to allow the water to be drained directly as it is collected. This is known as continuous drainage. In the casing of the dehumidifier a small hole has been cut to allow a small hose ( most of our units come with this hose in the box ) to be attached to the dehumidifier through which the water can be drained. The water is drained by gravity alone so for effective continuous drainage the dehumidifier needs to be raised a foot or two above the floor and the hose run to a floor level drain.

9. What is Pump Drainage?
A dehumidifier uses a built-in pump to actively push water out of the unit through a hose. This allows the water to be drained vertically, meaning it can be pumped upwards to a sink, window, or higher location. Pump drainage is useful when there is no nearby floor drain, or if the dehumidifier is placed in a basement where gravity drainage is not feasible.

 

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