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7 Tips for Getting the best out of your Portable Air Conditioner

Portable air conditioners are the only possible option for many people, and they have an (undeserved) reputation for being expensive and not very efficient. In fact, if you choose your portable air conditioner wisely and follow a few ground rules for using it, you can definitely stay cool on the cheap. If portable is your only option, check out our top 7 usage tips for staying 'chilled out' with portable air conditioners!

Choose your spot carefully

You'll need a space for your portable air conditioner that:

• Close to a window: While most models can in theory be used through sliding doors, you may need to get a differently sized venting kit
• Allows your hose to remain straight: The less impedance there is to hot air flow outside, the better your portable air conditioner will work
• Close to a sink: You'll want to be able to empty your drainage tray easily - although this is a minor consideration.

Point your louvers upwards

Cool air naturally falls, while hot air rises. Pointing your cool air at the ceiling allows it to disperse more evenly throughout the room ... rather than just cooling down your carpet!

Keep your filters clean

As with any cooling system, portable air conditioners need to have clean filters to operate at maximum efficiency. You may notice a power bill spike if you don't maintain your unit well.

Choose your fuse

Portable air conditioners can draw a lot of power. Try to place them on a circuit within your house that doesn't have many additional appliances running on it, to save replacing fuses.

Buy a unit that's sufficiently sized

Portable air conditioners can handle cooling spaces from around 12 square metres to 30 square metres. It is far more cost effective to buy a unit with a bottom-end cooling capacity that matches your floor area, rather than stretching its capacity.

However, bigger isn't always better. If you buy a unit that's too powerful for your room size, your portable air conditioner will cycle on and off too often, meaning more wear and tear and insufficient time to dehumidify the air.

Should you run at night time?

It may be much more efficient for you to run your portable air conditioner at night time, in preparation for a hot day ahead. If your house has a high thermal mass (it is well insulated, and made of a material like solid brick), and your electricity is charged on a peak or off-peak basis, it may be cheaper to pre-cool the room in your house during the last hours of off-peak power charge with a portable air conditioner.

Alternative types of portable air conditioners

If you're willing to do a little hunting, there are also plenty of great reverse cycle portable air conditioners on the market - these will double as highly efficient heaters in the wintertime, and are often very reasonably priced.

You might not have any options other than portable air conditioning - but that doesn’t mean that you're sentenced to sky high power bills and sub-par cooling for the rest of your life! Choose the right model and do a little groundwork, and your portable air conditioner can be one of the best investments you've ever made.