Just wondering if anyone has come across a portable air con unit?

My wife's family home in Korat gets pretty hot this time of year and we want a way to cool it down without having to fixed air con unit.

Any suggestions?

Saw a bunch at Tesco this week. Also, HomePro/Works has them as does Global House.

As above, Tesco has just started selling air con. I think the portable units were around 6-7000 bht, but I don't know the output of them.

Thanks, I will go and take a look.

I saw one in Makro a couple of weeks ago about 7000 bts.

No mobile aircon works well.

Last time I checked proper portable A/C units were about 20K. The ones in the 6/7K price are probably "Swamp Coolers" that use a mist of water blown by a fan to cool things down.

These work fine in a dry environment but are not much good in Thailand as they just add more humidity to the atmosphere.

Portable A/C are not very practical and not very portable as you need to have large pipes going through a window or door opening to vent the air and drain the condensation water, and as the motors/compressor is in the room with you tend to be noisy.

As an alternative to expensive Air Con we bought a portable cooling device from Home Pro for about 5000 B. It uses water as a coolant and can spray mist should you so wish, I never use the mist option as its totally ineffective. Even without having mist spat in your face the water sump empties very quickly. However, it does cool things down and can be wheeled into the bedroom. Various timed settings too. Its not perfect, far from it, but it does make sitting in the room a lot more comfortable and bearable.

If you want a good portable aircon, get a dual hose. It draws air from outside to cool the unit and then pumps the hot air out. This way it doesn't cause warm air to be brought into your house. Most ports only have a hose to blow the hot air out. So air has to come from somewhere to fill the void.

There is a company in bkk that sells great ports and they have almost no water drainage as the unit uses the condensation water to cool the heat ex changer fins, then blows the waste humid air out.

http://www.mideaaircon.com/productseriesinfo.asp?seriesid=350

If you can't see this link you can got to this site .mideaaircon . com

I have not used there unit but have two friends that are and they work great.

i tested those for 9-12k baht at tesco and they are pretty good. Regular AC's on wheels. Settings from 30c to 16c. 9000btu/12000btu

will buy one next month

Edited March 16, 201214 yr by thaiIand

i tested those for 9-12k baht at tesco and they are pretty good. Regular AC's on wheels. Settings from 30c to 16c. 9000btu/12000btu

will buy one next month

I saw them yesterday, the initial reaction was "great". But surely, in order to cool, heat must be generated? So, as you're cooling the room, you're heating the room at the same time? Regular a/c, the heat is generated outside. I would like to buy one of these portables, but I'm unsure how effective they really are.

No mobile aircon works well.

Depends on your definition of 'well'

I've always relied and been sold on the fact that the portables are a compromise and indeed in some respects they are. Mainly they're fairly noisy and do require ugly pipes trailing to the outside via a window.

However, I recently needed one to fulfil a purpose, a very large room and obtained a 4,700 BTU Inverter unit and it works like a treat, given the points above.

There is a hose and fittings to allow hot air to exit through window or door. If you want something more permanent, you may need to bore a hole through the wall/window. you may have to get creative with cardboard, pvc pipe, etc to customize end point of exit exhaust

"2nd best time to plant a tree is today." Sent from TV android app.

I know the OP said he wanted a portable unit but you can get a A/C installed for about 20/30K and take it with you when you move.

I think the best "portable" unit is the windows type http://goo.gl/6bgZF

Easy to install and no permanent fixings. Unfortunately I've never seen any for sale here in Thailand.

I know the OP said he wanted a portable unit but you can get a A/C installed for about 20/30K and take it with you when you move.

I think the best "portable" unit is the windows type http://goo.gl/6bgZF

Easy to install and no permanent fixings. Unfortunately I've never seen any for sale here in Thailand.

Then you must pay to uninstall it, and pay to get it reinstalled at the new location, not to mention the increased space. I owned a portable a/c unit back in the states and they are pretty awesome, but the windows were designed so that the hot air exit sits in a plastic bracket that can extend to match a window/sliding door. So you just close the window/door on the bracket and the room is sealed. They are self-evaporating so you shouldn't have to worry about ever having to empty the packet.

There is an AJ / Perfect unit for 6900 baht at tesco. I remember the Perfect unit at makro being 12000 btu's and a couple of newer models at tesco. I would recommend getting a model that has remote/timer settings so you can preset the unit to shut off. I think 5 years warranty on the compressor and 1 year on the unit.

If it were somewhere that was permanent, fair enough....you can get a used unit for cheap: 3-6000 and hope it doesn't break or you have someone local to service it. Or maybe it still has warranty or the shop may offer its own limited warranty.

and where do you look for used ACs? i posted about this 2months ago and no answer

No mobile aircon works well.

Depends on your definition of 'well'

I've always relied and been sold on the fact that the portables are a compromise and indeed in some respects they are. Mainly they're fairly noisy and do require ugly pipes trailing to the outside via a window.

However, I recently needed one to fulfil a purpose, a very large room and obtained a 4,700 BTU Inverter unit and it works like a treat, given the points above.

a 4,700 btu a/c is probably able to cool a doghouse in Thailand but not a big room.