You didn t mention that portable ac units are very inefficient at cooling compared to a window unit.
Portable air conditioner vs window unit btu.
To make sure your window ac works properly you need to clean it.
Determining your needs for a portable ac vs window ac.
Portable units are usually used in situations that a window unit won t work.
Especially when choosing the correct btu size for an air conditioner.
Electricity states a window unit uses anywhere from 500 to 1440 watts to run while a 2 5 ton central unit about the size for a typical 1 500 to 2 000 square foot home uses about 3 500.
This is generally more important when considering a portable air conditioner as the ac is inside the room.
Department of energy doe created a revised method for measuring the cooling power of portable a cs.
A few years ago the u s.
A 12 000 btu portable ac will cool roughly as much as a 6000 btu window ac.
Choose too small a unit you could end up with a room that s not cool enough or with an air conditioning unit that overheats.
A portable unit on the other hand utilizes an exhaust pipe which funnels the air out of your window.
The fact that a window air conditioner uses a compressor that is situated outside the room should in theory make them quieter.
I found this out the hard way.
On the other hand too large a unit for the space will not remove the necessary moisture from the room making it feel clammy and uncomfortable.
Portable air conditioners have a larger cooling capacity and start at around 10 000 btu h while window air conditioners start around 5 000 btu h.
The major difference between portable ac vs window unit is that a portable unit uses an exhaust hose to funnel the air to a window while a window unit expels the hot are out the back of the system.
The higher the btu rating the faster the unit can cool down a room.
A window unit uses chemicals called refrigerants that absorb the heat from the air when it passes over a set of coils resulting in chilled indoor air.
The best alternative to a window air conditioner get that bulky view obstructing noisy ac unit out of your window for good.
Btus or british thermal units are the standard unit of measurement for the cooling power of an air conditioner.
Subjectively our portable certainly feels like it s using more energy to pump more air.
Air conditioners are usually quite noisy though you can find quiet air conditioners.