Portable Air Conditioners

[33 RPM]

Do any of them actually work, or are they a waste of money, power etc

there are a gazzillion of them on Lazada  / Shopee

for 3000-4000 baht upwards, a  lot with many 5 star  reviews. real or otherwise.

i do have aircon, a cassette system, but sometimes it would be nice just to  "cool  " the room just a little

Any thoughts or better, any  experiences with these units

Thanks.

[brianthainess]

Personally I would avoid ones that require ice, the others blow hot air out from the back, and need to be vented to the outside. 

A normal split system is the way to go. IMO

Edited March 23 by brianthainess

[Wobblybob]

We had a look at some in or local Makro and the assistant told my wife that they are very expensive to run. 

[sungod]

I've seen similar threads on here over the years, the opinion has always been waste of money, dont do what it says on the tin.

[worgeordie]

The ones that use ice ,are pretty useless ,and take some work ,freezing the ice

and cleaning them out, we have 2 big ones and don't use them now ,go with a

proper split A/c system ,

 

regards Worgeordie  

[33 RPM]

Thanks to you all, i do recall having one in a holiday rental which was useless

seems nothing has changed

Thanks.

[digbeth]

the evaporative ones cost around 3-4,000 baht, requires low humidity to work, or ice/ice packs in the water which only works for an hour at most, the only time humidity is low enough for them to work without requiring ice in Thailand is in the middle of 'winter' 

 

the portable aircon that cost around 10,000 baht has hot side in the same machine that needs to be ducted out of the room, and a waste water tray that need emptying, unless you're renting a place that won't let you install one, they waste a lot more energy and cumbersome to have around, proper split type air conditioner, even cheap ones that won't last long is better in almost every regard 

[Bassosa]

The only use case for machines like that is when you have huge volumnous rooms that are hard to air condition. A portable unit can support the main ACs when placed in a specific "hot" corner. You sometimes see it at restaurants.

[33 RPM]

right on the money there digbeth,

thanks Barossa

case closed, ill spend my money on more wine, when the price drops,,,,,, ha....

[Jan Dietz]

The only ones that kinda worked, mostly turned heat into noise.

[sjbrownderby]

I see some confusion here. Thee are a number of portable air conditioning units available, and NONE of them require ice or water. The important thing is to check whether the BTU output is suitable for the size of room you wish to cool. If you buy from somewhere like Lazada you will normally find in the product description the size of room suitable for the output of the machine. Machines that require water and ice (or freezer blocks) are not, strictly speaking, air conditioners.........they are air coolers. Two weeks ago, I invested in a portable air conditioning unit for our small bedroom, which I purchased through Lazada. The output is 7000 BTUs and the cost was 4400 Baht. the unit has wheels and can be stored out of the way when not being used. A wall mounted unit would cost around three times as much, including installation. The unit works well, but it was always going to be a compromise and only for temporary use at times of extreme heat. 

[charleskerins]

On 3/23/2024 at 3:10 PM, digbeth said:

the evaporative ones cost around 3-4,000 baht, requires low humidity to work, or ice/ice packs in the water which only works for an hour at most, the only time humidity is low enough for them to work without requiring ice in Thailand is in the middle of 'winter' 

 

the portable aircon that cost around 10,000 baht has hot side in the same machine that needs to be ducted out of the room, and a waste water tray that need emptying, unless you're renting a place that won't let you install one, they waste a lot more energy and cumbersome to have around, proper split type air conditioner, even cheap ones that won't last long is better in almost every regard 

How much is a cheap one?  

[sirineou]

Portable air conditioners are very inefficient, any money you save buying them you will quickly spend that and much more in running bills. Google it.

[CecilM]

Is anything preventing you from installing a proper A/C? (You might tell your landlord that you will leave the A/C when you move out.)

The cost of the portable ones plus the much higher electricity usage doesn't seem a good financial option. And they're ugly, take up space, and don't cool as efficiently. 

[Wobblybob]

As a poster has already pointed out, these A/C work well in places like Australia, Thailand is in the tropics and gets extremely humid and it may cause the rooms to become damp.

[jimn]

Waste of money. We bought one 2 years ago and have used it on only a few occasions. They simply do not cool the room, fan is just as good.

[CanadaSam]

I think there is some confusion here, there are portable aircons, and portable air coolers.  The air coolers are basically useless, the aircons have a huge pipe that you must vent to outside.  As others have said, a normal split unit ac is the way to go.

[9a9a]

As people have already said the coolers that require ice are next to useless, I had one a few years ago and got rid of it quickly.

I now have a proper 12,000 btu portable TCL unit in our bedroom that’s vented through the window using a kit supplied with the unit. We have had it two years now and it works great blowing cold air over the bed, although a little noisy due to the compressor in the room it’s not been a problem, we have been in a lot of hotel rooms with more noisy air conditioning units. It’s not big enough for the size of the room but great for cooling the room a couple of hours before we go to bed.

We only use it for 2 or 3 months of the year when it get very hot as we live fairly high up in the hills and usually sleep with all the windows open and let the wind blow through.

[VocalNeal]

On 3/23/2024 at 1:01 PM, 33 RPM said:

Do any of them actually work,

 

They work well when demonstrated in Makro, et al. Because the space they are demonstrated in is already air-conditioned.

[Jumbo1968]

Bought one in Home Pro, blew out cool air in the shop only because the surrounding air in the shop was cooled by the shop AC, I wouldn’t recommend one unless you have a very small room.

[33 RPM]

Its an overwhelming NO, by all the comments

i do have a large cassette aircon unit in the  ceiling but thought i might save a few hours use with one of these other power hungry things

it was just a thought, albeit a somewhat misguided moment...

[xtrnuno41]

If an airco isnt getting the heat out of the room, then it only gives a cool blow in front.

The heat stays in and mixes again with air.

What it does, it takes out moist. Damp is getting less and you can sweat again and evaporate it, cooling YOU down.

Would be my opinion. IN the meantime it is getting out moist, it gives a cool blow in front, but temp will not go down overall.

[SammyJ]

On 3/23/2024 at 1:18 PM, Wobblybob said:

We had a look at some in or local Makro and the assistant told my wife that they are very expensive to run. 

correct--and they seem efficient while being demonstrated in Makro or Home Pro, but the store is already air conditioned and has low humidity--once the air cooler is run at home, it is nothing more than an expensive fan--like was stated in an earlier reply--the true portable air cons--require outside venting, and a collection of the water which normally is drained outside--and are expensive to run and very noisy as the small compressor inside the machine which is inside your house (split air con, most common here, the compressor, of course, is outside ur house )--the others that use ice or cold water--not too efficient in a warm humid house--they are simply increasing the humidity within your house, making it usually more uncomfortable, and a constant replacing of the ice or cool water.

[SingAPorn]

A definate NO.

[digbeth]

evaporative air cooler can work in air-conditioned room and does lower temperature as the initial humidity will be quire low in the room, but does it make the air conditioner works harder due to the increase in moisture in the room? 

 

While you might be able to feel 'cooler' I suspect the increased load from the air-con needing to remove the extra humidity will cost more in electricity than if you were to set the temperature lower at the air-con itself. 

 

Some normal fans to increase the wind-chill effect on the skin is probably the only assistance you can have with air conditioner

[retarius]

We use both together in Thailand. I find aircon air too dry and it aggravates my bronchial condition. The increase in rh (relative humidity) provided by the water evaporator helps me breathe airier and have a better night's sleep. I have no noticed any increase in the costs of electric since starting to use the portable evaporator a couple of months back. They are noisy, but I find the white noise they emit to be very soothing and helpful in sound sleeping. 

[Middle Aged Grouch]

Whatever the choice, it is always a better deal to buy from the local thai shop selling only aircons because they know what the local dynamics are and are street smart. Flee from the malls as they are just out to make a quick sale with bad after sales service usually.