Portable Aircon Unit - 2 Baht Per 12 Hours Usage!

[MaiDong]

I'm looking to buy a portable aircon unit for my office and I saw one in Central today for B3999, it's nothing special but it's the perfect size for my office and it means when we move I won't have to say goodbye to a fixed aircon unit...

The guy selling them said that they use on average 2 baht for each 12 hours usage, is that possible?? We recently bought a fridge and the electricity rating label on it said that the fridge would use B350 per year - or 1 Baht a day, are these estimates to be trusted? What kind of price would I pay for 12 hours usage of a portable 55 Watt aircon unit?

Thanks in advance!

[ricklev]

I imagine its a fan blowing over ice, not an AC.

[MaiDong]

No, I opened it up and checked inside and it's definitely an aircon with a small compressor inside

[Naam]

The guy selling them said that they use on average 2 baht for each 12 hours usage, is that possible? What kind of price would I pay for 12 hours usage of a portable 55 Watt aircon unit?

a 55 W "aircon unit" is suitable to (partly) cool the inside of your computer

[apetley]

Seems remarkably cheap to me. Cheapest I have seen is one for 12k bht in Makro.

Running cost seems very low for aircon unit too.

If you go ahead and buy one let us know how you get on with it please.

[goldfinger]

buy it and test it,

but after, you need a real aircon to cool your head down, when you realize that you put 3999 baht directly in your toilet.

(maybe the fan inside is 55 Watt, but the compressor is the thing, that "burns" electric.)

[mahtin]

Evaporative air coolers, sometimes called swamp air conditioners, do not have a compressor or condenser. Liquid water is evaporated on the cooling fins, releasing the vapour into the cooled area. Evaporating water absorbs a significant amount of heat, the latent heat of vaporisation, cooling the air—humans and other animals use the same mechanism to cool themselves by sweating. Disadvantages are that unless ambient humidity is low (dry climate) cooling is limited and the cooled air is very humid and can feel clammy. They have the advantage of needing no hoses to vent heat outside the cooled area, making them truly portable; and they are very cheap to install and use less energy than refrigerative air conditioners.

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Air_conditioning?t=5.

Yes, please post your experience.

Edit: but you said it had a compressor...

[MaiDong]

Evaporative air coolers, sometimes called swamp air conditioners, do not have a compressor or condenser. Liquid water is evaporated on the cooling fins, releasing the vapour into the cooled area. Evaporating water absorbs a significant amount of heat, the latent heat of vaporisation, cooling the air—humans and other animals use the same mechanism to cool themselves by sweating. Disadvantages are that unless ambient humidity is low (dry climate) cooling is limited and the cooled air is very humid and can feel clammy. They have the advantage of needing no hoses to vent heat outside the cooled area, making them truly portable; and they are very cheap to install and use less energy than refrigerative air conditioners.

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Air_conditioning?t=5.

Yes, please post your experience.

Edit: but you said it had a compressor...

Thanks for that, I appreciate a sensible response sometimes Yes it is an evaporative air cooler.

goldfinger, was there any need for this?: "but after, you need a real aircon to cool your head down, when you realize that you put 3999 baht directly in your toilet"

I don't think it would have been in the toilet as I'm sure it would help to an extent, maybe it wouldn't make my office as cold as an aircon unit would have but that's not what I'm after really, I was happy to get something that blew cool air at me instead of hot air(like my regular fan)

mahtin, I looked inside and it had what I THOUGHT was a commpressor but obviously it only resembled a compressor, so anyway, would this be suitable for a 4x5 metre room? would the evaporating water affect my computers etc?

Naam, hahaha, that's obviously correct, I don't ever look at the wattage of anything so I had no comparisons

[tw25rw]

Do these things do anything to actually cool the room or do they just make you feel cool if you sit in front of them?

[thunder30101]

Evaporative coolers work great and actually cool better and much cheaper than ac units but only in a desert enviroment with <5% humidity. Really a waste of money here in thailand.

[Farma]

Unless you’re living in an area of low humidity forget about buying one. In low humidity climates they do cool the area by a few degrees.

In Bangkok they will just make you feel sticky. I’ve offered to buy one of these units for people living in driest Issan and even they declined the offer. They claimed a fan was better and believed the evaporation aircon units caused people to catch colds.

[MaiDong]

Evaporative coolers work great and actually cool better and much cheaper than ac units but only in a desert enviroment with <5% humidity. Really a waste of money here in thailand.

Unless you're living in an area of low humidity forget about buying one. In low humidity climates they do cool the area by a few degrees.

In Bangkok they will just make you feel sticky. I've offered to buy one of these units for people living in driest Issan and even they declined the offer. They claimed a fan was better and believed the evaporation aircon units caused people to catch colds.

Thanks for telling me, I've always previously walked past these items in department stores - thinking that they don't work or are a gimmick, so, I'll have a look in Makro at the B12,000 portable aircon units apetley mentioned

[wichianburi1]

Evaporative air coolers, sometimes called swamp air conditioners, do not have a compressor or condenser. Liquid water is evaporated on the cooling fins, releasing the vapour into the cooled area. Evaporating water absorbs a significant amount of heat, the latent heat of vaporisation, cooling the air—humans and other animals use the same mechanism to cool themselves by sweating. Disadvantages are that unless ambient humidity is low (dry climate) cooling is limited and the cooled air is very humid and can feel clammy. They have the advantage of needing no hoses to vent heat outside the cooled area, making them truly portable; and they are very cheap to install and use less energy than refrigerative air conditioners.

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Air_conditioning?t=5.

Yes, please post your experience.

Edit: but you said it had a compressor...

Thanks for that, I appreciate a sensible response sometimes Yes it is an evaporative air cooler.

goldfinger, was there any need for this?: "but after, you need a real aircon to cool your head down, when you realize that you put 3999 baht directly in your toilet"

I don't think it would have been in the toilet as I'm sure it would help to an extent, maybe it wouldn't make my office as cold as an aircon unit would have but that's not what I'm after really, I was happy to get something that blew cool air at me instead of hot air(like my regular fan)

mahtin, I looked inside and it had what I THOUGHT was a commpressor but obviously it only resembled a compressor, so anyway, would this be suitable for a 4x5 metre room? would the evaporating water affect my computers etc?

Naam, hahaha, that's obviously correct, I don't ever look at the wattage of anything so I had no comparisons

I bought an evaporative air cooler from Central, Pinklao, 6 months ago, make: Keruilai KLF-35-GR and paid 12K for it. The brochure reads it will cool the room down by 3-4 degrees. When I tried it out, the air felt cooler due to the evaporating water one has to fill in the dam_n thing but the temperature only dropped by 1 degree; the tiled floor got slippery, the furniture moist and my GF complained about her having a damp skin. I use it now mainly as a fan and that works fine in a larger room . My advice: Refrain from purchasing an evaporative air cooler in a humid place such as Thailand; rather invest in an aircon.

[MaiDong]

I bought an evaporative air cooler from Central, Pinklao, 6 months ago, make: Keruilai KLF-35-GR and paid 12K for it. The brochure reads it will cool the room down by 3-4 degrees. When I tried it out, the air felt cooler due to the evaporating water one has to fill in the dam_n thing but the temperature only dropped by 1 degree; the tiled floor got slippery, the furniture moist and my GF complained about her having a damp skin. I use it now mainly as a fan and that works fine in a larger room . My advice: Refrain from purchasing an evaporative air cooler in a humid place such as Thailand; rather invest in an aircon.

Thanks wichianburi1, you made my mind up for me

[Maizefarmer]

Maidong

As others have suggested, yes, you have been looking at an evaporative air cooler.

While they do work, their performance is a function of relative humidity.

wichainburi1's comments are bang on the mark and 100% correct: they are designed to work in low humidity enviroments. The higher ambient humidity, the less the capacity for additonal evaporation. The less additional evaporation that takes place, the less the temp will drop.

My experince in buying/selecting an evaporative cooler: make a note of models with sufficient airflow for your room size , then check out (on the internet) the manufacturers relative temp drop for given ambient tmeperatures, at various humidity levels - and thats' the real important bit i.e. the respective humidity figure for/@ a given temp.

While nearly all evaporative manufacturers provide a temp drop chart for their product, not all provide that figure in conjunction with humidity figure/s - in the absense of which, it's worth little more than the paper its printed on.

You really want temp drop figures "for the following relative humidity % figure", or similar clarification added - and don't forget to check out the model's room size (volume)/air flow(volume) figure as well.

[MaiDong]

Thanks for your very informative post Maizefarmer, I think I'm completely off the idea of buying an evaporative air cooler, I need a small aircon unit, I can't have more humidity in my office, I've got too many things in here that might suffer.

I saw some much more expensive units, made by more regular brands and they must have been actual aircon units because they were B14,000+ some were close to 30k! So I'll start saving now and buy something proper

[goldfinger]

mai dong, ...so....did i say anything wrong??

[MaiDong]

mai dong, ...so....did i say anything wrong??

??

I'm not here to argue with people or to make inflammatory remarks such as "but after, you need a real aircon to cool your head down, when you realize that you put 3999 baht directly in your toilet" - I'm here asking a question, and in my view your comment above was inflammatory, is that ok?

Bloody hel_l, if I was sitting having a coffee with some mates and someone came and said that to me I wouldn't be too happy, it sounds like something a drunk stranger might say

Maybe I took your remark the wrong way but it did sound a bit over the top, didn't it?

MAIDONG

[goldfinger]

Why,????

you clearly asked for a " portable aircon unit ",

and my answer was, that if you think you get this for 3999 baht, it would be like putting money in the toilet.

...and by the way.... 55 watt for 12 hours is 660 watt usage.maybe you know how much 1 kw costs in thailand it is easy to calculate how much this will be in the end.

so, cool down (without aircon, drink some coffee ....and Merry christmas.)

[Luang]

mai dong, ...so....did i say anything wrong??

??

I'm not here to argue with people or to make inflammatory remarks such as "but after, you need a real aircon to cool your head down, when you realize that you put 3999 baht directly in your toilet" - I'm here asking a question, and in my view your comment above was inflammatory, is that ok?

Bloody hel_l, if I was sitting having a coffee with some mates and someone came and said that to me I wouldn't be too happy, it sounds like something a drunk stranger might say

Maybe I took your remark the wrong way but it did sound a bit over the top, didn't it?

MAIDONG

For what it is woth Maidong, i think you have taken his comments too literally and i can't see anything offensive as you suggest. His comments were, by no means personal or derogatory.

Relax man.

[MaiDong]

Fair enough.

Back on subject - anybody got a portable aircon unit for sale?

[mojaco]

This is probably the obvious, but can you easily mount the aircon in a window in the room, as the hot air has to blow outside?

And, if the aircon can't cool enough because of the heat load into the room, you might hang a sheet to just cool a smaller area around your work area? Or, if the aircon blows directly at you I suppose that might be cool enough?

[harrry]

No oneI have noticed seems to have indicated that for these to work well there must be good airflow to ouside the room. A door or window must be left open or the room just gets more humid.

[mojaco]

No oneI have noticed seems to have indicated that for these to work well there must be good airflow to ouside the room. A door or window must be left open or the room just gets more humid.

That would be true for a "water-cooled" unit but not true for a compresser refrigerated-type aircon. I think others have advised the OP to get the latter type, and I totally agree with that. He needs a window mounted true air conditioner - I had one years ago and the are OK for a small room. A water-cooled unit is next to useless in humid Thailand.

[MaiDong]

He needs a window mounted true air conditioner - I had one years ago and the are OK for a small room. A water-cooled unit is next to useless in humid Thailand.

One of my Thai friends suggested one of these, imported from Japan apparently and sold here for around B4-5,000, only thing is, I don't want to block off any of my window as the light is limited already

[mojaco]

He needs a window mounted true air conditioner - I had one years ago and the are OK for a small room. A water-cooled unit is next to useless in humid Thailand.

One of my Thai friends suggested one of these, imported from Japan apparently and sold here for around B4-5,000, only thing is, I don't want to block off any of my window as the light is limited already

You could hang a sheet floor to ceiling around your work area draped around the aircon on the floor or sitting on something with a hole for the aircon. Or even half in and half out of your curtained-off door. Just so the hot exhaust gets out of your room and/or work area. Also need to catch the water produced into a bucket or something. That way it wouldn't need to be in your window.

Also such a low cost aircon won't cool a 4x5 meter room much, so you need it blowing on you, or curtain off your work area to as small an area as possible.

[MaiDong]

There's a Singer promotion on at the moment, might just go with them and get a new full sized unit installed

[mojaco]

There's a Singer promotion on at the moment, might just go with them and get a new full sized unit installed

That's the best way for certain.

[Kf6vci]

I would not touch such a thing - what else but JUNK can it be?!? They showed a Chinese made hot iron going up in flames. Brand new and all it took was 3 minutes.

Airon = they usually run at maybe 500 Watts for average home units. One mosquito repellant thing it says only 1 Baht a day, too and that is half the size of my closed fist.

Get a 799 Baht fan or try nudism.

[mojaco]

I would not touch such a thing - what else but JUNK can it be?!? They showed a Chinese made hot iron going up in flames. Brand new and all it took was 3 minutes.

Airon = they usually run at maybe 500 Watts for average home units. One mosquito repellant thing it says only 1 Baht a day, too and that is half the size of my closed fist.

Get a 799 Baht fan or try nudism.

Are Singer and Airon the same? I've had a trouble-free large Singer refrigerator-freezer for 6 years. However I bought good quality Mitsubishi wall-mounted (permanent) air conditioners at the same time. Those have been trouble-free also. Who is Airon?