Are those freestanding A/C units worth the money?

[Hal65]

I saw them at Big C, I think they were on roller wheels. They seemed to blow cold although they had the benefit of pre conditioned air in the store already. I don't have the option of buying a window A/C so was wondering if these were decent for their price? Being in Pattaya I don't need to drop the temps that much most of the year.

[MalandLee]

The majority are efficient, (I have one) however, please check the "noise" output. Some can be unbearably noisy. I do not know which one emits the least noise, but hopefully, someone else may have done the research and can advise you - good luck

PS Mine is refrigerated NOT evaporative.

Edited April 20, 2017 by MalandLee
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[meatboy]

i bought a HATARI AIR COOLER [ht-ac1or1] classic 2,900bht. comes with 2ice packs.

my beloved dog suffers with the heat so this was ideal,not as good as air con in the bedroom but down stairs its fine for him.

they have a water tank 8ltrs.so i put 4 x 1.5ltrs.of water in the fridge overnight and it lasts around 8hrs.once you switch on.

when the water gets to minimum it switches off auto.ours has  4cool speeds,so far 2 is fine.

putting cold water plus one ice pack works fine.

when in the store have a look at what setting its on[1234] and if an ice pack is in the sump.gives you an idea how cold they are.

there is the next size up AIR COOLER TURBO around 5k.bht.

[jamiejoel]

Sorry but we bought one of these. They are, imo, totally useless. The store tricks your by having the aircon on so you naturally feel cooler. 

 

Ask them to take it out of the shop and turn it on and then see how cold they are. We bought one for 5999 baht and resold it quickly.

 

Go for a window one, or a good fan.

[dotpoom]

The Mrs. tells me they can be heavy on electricity?

[AndyOz]

Firstly I do not own one or would ever consider buying one. My experience is in building management.

These units can provide limited cooling but they are very inefficient. As mentioned they are noisy, that noise is wasted energy. The energy used to chill the water and freeze the ice packs also needs to be taken into account. High humidity also lessens there cooling effect. The reason they can look good in the stores is the air is already well conditioned, it is low temperature and low humidity air. These units expel cooler wetter air and that gives the appearance of being colder than it is.

All considered I would never recommend these units to be used at home.


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[Artisi]

the evaporative type air "cooler"s are marginal in Thailand, if humidity is low (not a usual condition) when you will be some cooling effect. In saying that I have one and feel it is a little better than the bedroom ceiling fan during the night time but tends to be noisier than the slow running ceiling fan - so it's a compromise .

[kannot]

Totally and Utterly USELESS, you need a separate condenser outside not IN the  same room as these  waste of  space  things

[moe666]

These are what we call a swamp cooler the humidity needs to be low for them to work efficiently, here in the north a good option during the dry season. As it is stated on the cooler they will only drop the temp. 5 to 15 degrees again that depends on the humidity.

Place them near a outside air source a window or door so they can pull the hot dry air from outside also open any other windows and doors a bit to allow the air to be forced thru the room and outside, if you are only getting the air inside thru the cooler then eventually they will stop working because of the humidity rising in the room. Remember they will only cool down 5 to 15 degrees.

[Pepper1959]

We have the standard water cooler and it needed minor repairs. Took it to the local guy and my partner said he was considering buying one of the stand alone air cons for his mother. The response from the Thai repair guy was to save his money, they have a limited shelf life, break down a lot and then are useless. Words from a guy who you would think would be quite happy to take your money.

[sipi]

We had one temporarily in a very small room and it worked very well, however it was noisy and used a lot of power. We gave it away so it is now in a studio/ study.

Normally they come with a "window kit" which exhausts the heat from the condenser outside, so you will preferably need a sliding window that can be locked slightly open.

[Leicamera]

I use in 1 room only, the bedroom. Don't expect to chill your whole house down. If you run it for 6-7 hours for sleeping, the electric bill will still be OK.

[Bangkok Barry]

I had one and found it to be a total waste of money. It was useless.

[RocketDog]

OP didn't specify what type of unit he was asking about and the responses talked about three types as if they are interchangeable; they are not.

1. a simple fan that blows air across ice/cold water into the room. Obviously you pay to freeze or chill the water and there aren't many BTUs in water/ice so the effect doesn't last very long. The good news is that the only power required by this unit is for the fan, which is not large.

 

2. An evaporative cooler (swamp cooler) uses hot DRY air to evaporate water and the latent heat of vaporization drops the air temperature as the air is drawn through a pad or some other device that is saturated with water. The cooler air goes into the room. These, as stated, can only drop the air temperature a maximum of ~20F from ambient. They do not work well at all in humid environments such as Thailand. The cost is for water and the fan electricity. A bonus for dry climates is that the air is humidified in the process.Note that putting such a cooler entirely inside a room is self-defeating because the room air quickly becomes humid, decreasing the efficiency.

 

3. A true heat pump with an evaporator and condenser sides. These are the units you see most of in Thailand with the evaporator/fan inside the room and the condenser/fan outside somewhere.

These are what are commonly called air conditioners and can cool air down to nearly freezing, or below even while also removing humidity from the air.  As already stated in the responses, the condenser unit condenses the refrigerant from a vapor back to a liquid as it rejects the heat to the outside and often has a fan of its own.

 

The evaporator conversely converts the refrigerant from a compressed liquid to a vapor and takes up heat in the process. A fan blows the interior air across this evaporator and cools/dehumidifies the air in the process. Clearly using this type of cooler without venting the condenser heat outside or placing the whole condenser outside actually makes the room hotter. That is because the losses of the compressor  itself add to the heat in the room. Obviously leaving a refrigerator door open will not cool your kitchen because the condenser unit is built into the back of the refrigerator and dissipates heat into the kitchen air.

The cost of these units is high because of the two fans and the compressor, which is only max about 60% efficient.

 

I personally think the first two types listed are a waste of time and money in most of Thailand. But that's just my engineering opinion. Electricity is relatively cheap in this country and air conditioning is practically a necessity for my coddled self.

 

Know what type you are buying to prevent disappointment in either performance or operating cost of your new toy.

 

 

 

 

[Songlaw]

Seems to me we are discussing two entirely different machines on this thread. The OP, if I'm not mistaken, was enquiring about free-standing A/C units, not the evaporative units which use water cooled by ice-packs. One adds considerable humidity with minimal benefit and the other, if used with the aforementioned window kit to vent the heat generated by the condenser, would probably work fine as the unit should not be overworked due to being forced to overcome not only ambient temperatures but the heat generated by the unit, as well. However, the room size and location (lower, as opposed to upper level) would be key variables when gauging power consumption and wear and tear would be the chief concern if the unit were not to be adequately vented. Otherwise, power consumption should be comparable to a wall/ceiling mounted unit with an external condenser, with the only plausible benefit other than price being mobility. Doubtful you will find decent free-standing A/C units for less than 15K baht, however. And Big C is not exactly known for big ticket items. I would give Homepro or one of the independent dealers a look. Also, if you have stairs, that would detract from its "ease of maneuverability." These things aren't generally light.

[SOUTHERNSTAR]

Buy a good fan. The water ones are useless and the real ac's are heavy on electricity.

[Pib]

Sounds like the OP was talking a swamp cooler and not a real, mobile A/C.  Swamp coolers work fine in a "low humidity" environment...and Thailand is NOT a low environment.  

 

Many times stores selling these swamp coolers operate them "inside" their already air conditioned store where the air has been cooled and humidity lowered.   The swamp coolers then blow "cool" air...can really fool  you.  But quite often you'll see store selling swamp cooler just "outside" the store in the hot and humid environment don't seem to feel much better than a fan.   I based this on standing in front of swamp coolers running inside and outside a store.

 

 

[4MyEgo]

Air conditioners hands down any day of the week, your electricity bill will go up depending on the setting and usage, we leave ours on over night at 26 degrees, which is nice and comfortable, although I know a few people who like them set at 16, now that's freezing !!!

 

[bazza73]

What these evaporative coolers do is trade temperature for humidity. There's not much point to dropping the temperature by 5 degrees if you've increased the relative humidity from 60% to 90%. The human body cools by sweating, but if you are sweating at 90% humidity there is no cooling, only discomfort.

 

There is no such thing as a free-standing air conditioner. The heat it is producing has to be vented somewhere outside an enclosed place, otherwise the heat is circulating along with the cooling.

 

Evaporative coolers may work in inland areas such as semi-deserts where the RH is only 10%, and high ambient temperatures. That excludes most of Thailand.

 

They are a con, and I would never buy one at any price.

[sipi]

The OP specifically mentions free standing and window A/C units.

[Grumpy Duck]

The water evaporative coolers are not at all effective in Thailand where the Humidity is over 50% year round. They are designed for dry desert environments such as AZ, USA. I lived there where the humidity is seldom over 5%. Unless you use a water  recirculator pump they use a lot of water and the pads must be replaced occasionally. 

[kannot]

if  he "is"  talking about free standing aircon as  opposed to water  cooler types then the ones with TWO vents are  ok ones with one vent are again not  good and inefficient, LOOK on Yout  Tube about 2  hose  portable aircons

 

[wayned]

I have two Mitsuta "evaporation" air coolers.  Before I bought them I looked at the "portable" air conditioners.  For the air conditioners to work properly they must be vented outside side they cool and recirculate the air in the room and must vent the heat somewhere.  If you don't vent them outside all you are doing is blowing cool air out the front and the heated air out the back..  I also found that they were  very noisy since the entire unit is in the room and not split with the compressor fan outside or at least in the outside part of a window unit. 

 

The evaporation units are designed to "exchange" the air in the room, not recirculate it, and work best if the intake is out near an open window and there is an open door or widow for the air to escape.  Having said that they do not work efficiently in high humidity environments, those that exist here in Thailand as the cooling is the result of the evaporation process which raise the humidity of the air output.  If the air is already humid the evaporation process is slow and the result is a small deference between the temperature of the intake and output air.

 

If I had windows that I could easily move the "exhaust kit" from one window to another I might have bought one, but exhausting it outside in my house would require major rework and, other than the bedroom, the room where I spend most of my time is 86 square meters, too large for any to cool.

 

I chose the Mitsuta "evaporation" units mainly because of the size of the water tanks, one 32 liters the other 40 liters.  I ran test on the first one in my house.  When the inside temperature was 35.5 degrees at 37% humidity, the air output was 28.3 degrees at 77% humidity.  So it is definitely better to sit in front of a fan with 28.5 degree air blowing on you rather than being blasted with hot air. But their claim that they will reduce the air temperature in a 30-50 square meter room from 5-15 degrees is total BS in this humid environment.

 

The other consideration is the power consumption.  Most of the stand alone air con units that I looked at were between 200 and 2000 watts, the units that I bought are 150 watts.

 

You can find more info on this thread: https://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/973033-portable-room-air-conditione

 

Note: I'm fairly sure that if you talk to your landlord he will allow you to install a permanent air conditioner on the agreement that you leave it when you depart free of charge.

 

[jacko45k]

14 hours ago, dotpoom said:

The Mrs. tells me they can be heavy on electricity?

Relative to what? The type I am thinking of are really just a fan and rely on evaporation cooling only.

In a warm room with high humidity they are of little benefit, but do cool in a dryer room, remember they will increase humidity where they are used,  something you may not want to do. The idea of stocking them up with ice packs or chilled water from the fridge sounds inconvenient.

 

Where they are demonstrated in the store they are being shown to their advantage. If you need a recommendation you need to talk to meatboy's dog.

[bazza73]

37 minutes ago, wayned said:

 

Note: I'm fairly sure that if you talk to your landlord he will allow you to install a permanent air conditioner on the agreement that you leave it when you depart free of charge.

 

I'd suggest one would be better off finding a landlord with a property where the aircon is already installed.

[wayned]

5 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Relative to what? The type I am thinking of are really just a fan and rely on evaporation cooling only.

In a warm room with high humidity they are of little benefit, but do cool in a dryer room, remember they will increase humidity where they are used,  something you may not want to do. The idea of stocking them up with ice packs or chilled water from the fridge sounds inconvenient.

 

Where they are demonstrated in the store they are being shown to their advantage. If you need a recommendation you need to talk to meatboy's dog.

Look at post 23.  I made a typo on the power consumption it should have said 1200 to 2000 watts not 200. 

 

Assuming 30% duty cycle , 10 hours/day, and 4.0 baht/KWH the unit using 2000 KWH (12000BTU)would cost 7200 baht/month. (2000 x 10 x 30 x 0.3 x 0.04).

 

I've seen inverter 12000 BTU split units advertised at 880 watts.  This unit would cost 3168 baht/month (880 x 10 x 30 x 0.3 x 0.04.

 

The 150 watt evaporation cooler that I have would cost 1800 baht/month.

 

[wayned]

21 minutes ago, bazza73 said:

I'd suggest one would be better off finding a landlord with a property where the aircon is already installed.

I meant it as a joke, but I know someone who did it when I lived in Samui years ago.  The biggest problem that he had was agreeing on a new monthly charge for his room as the place was on one meter and the electric was included in the monthly rental.

[meatboy]

1 hour ago, jacko45k said:

Relative to what? The type I am thinking of are really just a fan and rely on evaporation cooling only.

In a warm room with high humidity they are of little benefit, but do cool in a dryer room, remember they will increase humidity where they are used,  something you may not want to do. The idea of stocking them up with ice packs or chilled water from the fridge sounds inconvenient.

 

Where they are demonstrated in the store they are being shown to their advantage. If you need a recommendation you need to talk to meatboy's dog.

i will try and get someone to post a photo of our beloved sleeping[yesterday 7hrs] in front of the cooler.

it is better than the normal fans and very quiet.we have 2large fridges and a freezer,so chilling water and freezing ice packs is no problem. so its great for cooling our boy down,as our ground floor is open plan so air con is not convenient.we have only had it a fortnight so time will tell,from what i have tested if used in a small room its better than a fan,as long as you can chill the water and freeze the packs.

the unit itself is power,220volts,46watt.water is circalated by a pump.

Edited April 21, 2017 by meatboy

[wayned]

I'm not going to get in a discussion of using chilled water and ice packs as they actually reduce the efficiency of the unit but do give added cooling in the short term as long as the water is kept cold.  One of my units has a place for putting ice and the other doesn't.  I've never tried ice or cold water as one has a 32 liter tank and the other a 40 litter tank so keeping cold water in them is not really possible.

 

With dogs, the main thing is keeping the area where they live cool, not blowing air on them. If the unit is used properly in a small space it will drop then temperature in the space.  Putting it in a bathroom with the door closed halfway where the floor is normally cooler to start would be the best for him.

 

When my Goldens were alive you didn't come to my house and leave the car door open or you would have a Golden Retriever in your back seat.  They loved to ride and knew that the air con would be on.  More than once a friend took off not realizing that one was asleep in the back seat!

[Henryford]

Useless, no better than a fan for 1/4 of the price. Plus you soon get fed up with filling it with ice/water.