Portable air coolers

[ryanhull]

Hi all, been looking at a portable air cooler today for 3000bhat, your place water in them and they lower the room temp, just wondering if anyone has one and if they are any good? I am renting a new house and the landlord has put a cheap air con unit in the bedroom but in the dining room we are just using a fan and its quite hot, I guess they are a lot better than a fan but just wondering if anyone knows if they are worth buying? Cheers

[CharlieH]

Topic raised many times, the general opinion was they are a waste of time and might just as well just buy a decent fan.

[harrry]

They are good in a dry climate as they work by evaporation so in the middle of the Sahara desert they will work extremely well. As there is already too much humidity in the air they are useless here. They do feel cool when you walk in front of them in Central but that is because the store airconditioner has already dehumidified the air.

[thehelmsman]

Placing blocks of ice in water reservoir helps a lot. In the states they're called swamp coolers.

[dagobert]

Wasent there a thread here a couple of years ago, Some dude made a cheap aircon

out of a 20 litre bucket, small computer fan, wet cloth and some plumbing tubes ?

[slipperylobster]

Ineffective for a room larger than a bathroom. Might work in a small tent. Especially at temperatures over 90 F. I bought a portable air conditioner and had to sit right next to it. It did nothing for the room whatsoever, but blew cool air on my skin. The power bill was the same as a normal air conditioner (small). It worked so hard that it never would cut off. This portable air conditioner had a compressor. No water needed. I am sure you are wasting 3000 baht.

[dagobert]

These days you can buy a fairly good split system aircon, samsung or LG

for about thb 12000 in Makro or Tesco somthing like that im sure.

[The Deerhunter]

They work by introducing cool moist air into dry air which is instantly very cooling. The only place you find that dry air is in the air-con mall where you bought it and it worked great. When you get it home to your house where the air is hot and very humid it won't work! It just puts more moisture oin to the hot moist air. Waste of money. I am angry with myself. I have one. I should have worked that out before I bought it.

[tifino]

I have a portable De-Longhi de-humidifier. (Note - de-humidifier, NOT air conditioner)

With the small house sealed it drags the moisture out of the room, and I then simply turn on a fan to circulate the resultant drier air.

Works so well, that you have to remove pot plants from the room, as it will dry them outand kill'em eventually.

The weirdest twist is that the huge amounts of water it drags out and collects in it's storage bucket is plentiful enough for watering pot plants from...

[harrry]

I have a portable De-Longhi de-humidifier. (Note - de-humidifier, NOT air conditioner)

With the small house sealed it drags the moisture out of the room, and I then simply turn on a fan to circulate the resultant drier air.

Works so well, that you have to remove pot plants from the room, as it will dry them outand kill'em eventually.

The weirdest twist is that the huge amounts of water it drags out and collects in it's storage bucket is plentiful enough for watering pot plants from...

Most of the time here it is the dehumidifier part that is needed most here rather than cooling,

[slipperylobster]

I have a portable De-Longhi de-humidifier. (Note - de-humidifier, NOT air conditioner)

With the small house sealed it drags the moisture out of the room, and I then simply turn on a fan to circulate the resultant drier air.

Works so well, that you have to remove pot plants from the room, as it will dry them outand kill'em eventually.

The weirdest twist is that the huge amounts of water it drags out and collects in it's storage bucket is plentiful enough for watering pot plants from...

Spent many years in the dry, hot climate near Palm Springs, CA. A fan blowing hot, dry air just did not do the trick for me. A good air conditioner not only dehumidifies, but cools as well. You will still get a bucket of water from the aircon drain to water plants.

[dagobert]

"True yeah" De-humidifier and a good fan for breaze.

[daveAustin]

Yeah, waste of time. Had one many moons ago and worked ok when sat right in front and just after ice was put in there but it does nothing for the room apart from make it stickier. It gets old very fast. You'd be better off having a normal aircon installed, asking landlord to go halves.

[1BADDAT]

Ineffective for a room larger than a bathroom. Might work in a small tent. Especially at temperatures over 90 F. I bought a portable air conditioner and had to sit right next to it. It did nothing for the room whatsoever, but blew cool air on my skin. The power bill was the same as a normal air conditioner (small). It worked so hard that it never would cut off. This portable air conditioner had a compressor. No water needed. I am sure you are wasting 3000 baht.

Did you duct the hot air coming out of it through a vent or window outside?

[dagobert]

One of my mates down the road had a room 4×6 m, he put a exust fan in the window and he

had a pedastool fan on the other side of the room "worked a treat".