Does a window air condition have to be permanent and what would be the best portable air condition to buy

Question

Looking for a portable air condition in the range of $400-500 that would cool a small living room and maybe a kitchen next to the living room. What would be my best bet and also would a window air conditioner be better? Problem is I wouldn't want it to always be in the window. Would it be possible to put it on a table in front of the window?

Answer 1

Your best option, if you want ease of swapping it in and out of the window, is to use a 'portable' air conditioner.  With one of these units, you have one or two hoses that run to a panel in the window, but the unit itself can sit on the floor, or a table.  These are often higher rated btu's too  (meaning they cool more)

Here are a few links for you to look at -

http://www.air-conditioner-america.com/c...

http://www.consumersearch.com/www/house_...

http://www.iapcooling.com/

Just as a side note... 'portable air conditioners' first became popular as 'spot' coolers for computer equipment, hehehe... now theyre becoming quite common in homes.

You can find many more suppliers by doing a search for "portable air conditioner".... and you may even find some at your local hardware, or building supply store.

If you place the unit close to the window, you can help eliminate heat transfer into the room from the exhaust hose.  You can also replace the standard hose with insulated if need be.

Swamp coolers are a decent choice for 'dry' areas... but if you live in a humid area, you may find they don't work so well.

Window air conditioners are made to mount IN the window... you can take them out for winter, but they're really too bulky to just swap them out on a whim.... like  "Today is a nice day, I'd rather just leave the window open, than run the air".... kinda hard to do, when the window unit is secured to the sash and jamb, hehehe.

Good Luck

Answer 2

The problem with portable air conditioners is that the hose used to send the hot air outside usually gets so hot that it ends up heating up the room, which makes them less effective than they should be, almost not worthwhile. A window air conditioner can be taken out after the season is over and stored till the next summer, it is just sometimes a little bit of a chore to do this depending on the size of the air conditioners. But you can't use it without placing it in the window. There are so-called portable air conditioners which rely on packs of water to be frozen then slid into slots along the side of it. Fans then blow the cold air these packs give of into the air. This type of thing can cool down a room to about 65 degrees Fahrenheit for a few hours or more and not have that hot air hose exhaust to worry about.

Portable air conditioners can be had for as cheap as $450. The water cooled air conditioners (also called swamp coolers) can cost as little as $150.

Answer 3

no, you wouldn't want to do that bc the back of the AC emits HOT air. so, if you did put it on the table it wouldn't help cool the place bc you would be shooting cold air out the front and hot air out the back. however, when summer is over you can take it back out of ur window and put it in storage or something until next summer.  

Answer 4

For that price you wont find one (portable) big enough for that area.

Go with the window unit and remove later.

You must install it through the window.

The refrigerant picks up heat on the front side and releases that heat out the back.

Answer 5

It has to go in the window, Cold air comes out of the front and hot air goes out the back so that would be no point. They do have the escalating air conditioners that stand up Im not sure where to buy them but they are round. Thats all I know.