Generally, the weather in Singapore tends to be dry and humid. To combat certain days when the weather is really hot, we resort to several cooling appliances such as a portable air conditioner. A portable air conditioner would let you cool a room without any complicated installations. It is simple and a great alternative to centralized air conditioners. But since there are a lot of portable air conditioners on the market, choosing one could be a problem, especially for new homeowners. And if you would pick a substandard portable air conditioner, you would end up having to call an aircon servicing company right away. This is why we have compiled the things to look for in a product on our portable air conditioner buying guide.
Portable Air Conditioner Buying Guide
The Noise Level of Your Portable air Conditioners
Portable air conditioners can create a very loud noise. Since their entire bodies are situated inside your living space, the sound resulting from the airflow generation is surely going to be heard inside your room. This can be a problem, especially if you just some peace and quiet after a long day of work. So if the noise level matters to you, you can look into the decibel levels that different units would produce. The best models are so quiet, that what you might only be able to hear would be the fan running.
The Size of your Portable AC
The size of your portable air conditioners should also be considered. If portability is the name of the game, then you should pick the unit that you can actually move from one place to another without breaking a sweat. These units are typically those that are not too big and bulky. Instead, they are lightweight enough for you to move them from one place to another. But if you want a portable AC that would stay in one place for the long term, then you should pick the one that would be congruent to the place where you would place your air conditioner.
Where to Place your Portable Air Conditioner
Speaking of place, you also have to consider the portable air conditioner that would suit the place where you would place it. Since you are looking through this portable air conditioner buying guide, then you might probably have an idea where you will place your unit after you buy it. You need to consider the fact that these units would produce hot air during the cooling process. This hot air should be exhausted out of their hose. Hence, do not pick a portable AC that would not suit the place that you would be placing them.
The Room Size of your Portable AC
For several homeowners, the size where they will install their portable air conditioners matters as much as the size of the appliance itself. This is because portable air conditioners do not really cool an entire flat. Others would work well in cooling smaller rooms, while others are designed to cool particular rooms such as a bedroom. Therefore, you would need to look for a portable air conditioner that could handle the size of your room.
Usually, BTUs are used to measure the power of air conditioners. The higher the number of BTUs, the bigger the room that the portable air conditioner would be keeping cool. You just have to keep in mind that the doors and walls of your room will have an effect on how well the cold air could travel. Moreover, you would have to take into account the fluctuations of the ambient heat that your room would receive. For instance, if your room is directly hit by the sun most of the time, the ambient heat increases as well.
So that you would have a better idea of how many BTUs you would need, we have made a table below based on various room sizes.
BTU CHART BASED ON ROOM SIZE |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Room Size | BTU’s Needed | Room Size | BTU’s Needed |
| 150 sq. ft. | 5,000 BTU’s | 700 sq. ft. | 14,000 BTU’s |
| 250 sq. ft. | 6,000 BTU’s | 1,000 sq. ft. | 18,000 BTU’s |
| 300 sq. ft. | 7,000 BTU’s | 1,200 sq. ft. | 21,000 BTU’s |
| 350 sq. ft. | 8,000 BTU’s | 1,400 sq. ft. | 23,000 BTU’s |
| 400 sq. ft. | 9,000 BTU’s | 1,600 sq. ft. | 25,000 BTU’s |
| 450 sq. ft. | 10,000 BTU’s | 1,900 sq. ft. | 28,000 BTU’s |
| 550 sq. ft. | 12,000 BTU’s | 2,700 sq. ft. | 36,000 BTU’s |
Ease of Use of your Unit
You may want to factor in the simplicity of its usage. Generally speaking, most portable air conditioners are easy to use. But there are some particular features that might make some a little more difficult to use. In terms of controls, you have to see if they are intuitive. You also have to ensure that the controls of your portable Ac will not confuse you. Instead, they will allow you to figure out how to set your unit to do whatever you want.
Moreover, ease of use entails allowing you to easily and correctly install it without causing any hassle. Learning how to install a portable air conditioner would require just a few steps. However, if you end up picking the wrong unit, you might be hard up in installing it. Either way, do not forget two aspects of installing such an appliance properly: venting and drainage.
The Maintenance your Portable Air Conditioner Needs
When dealing with the maintenance that your portable AC needs, you should focus on draining collected moisture. All portable air conditioners pull moisture out of the air as they would cool. There are various ways in order to remove this moisture. However, the most advanced and highly recommended units would have fully self-evaporative designs. These designs evaporate all of the water they are able to collect. This way, you do not need to manually remove the moisture. What you would only need to do is to clean the filters and defrost the unit if the ice would build up on the coils.
Wrapping Up
We hope that you have learned a lot from our portable air conditioner buying guide. Our list entails mostly the things you need in order to pick the right portable AC that you would use at home. Ensure proper maintenance of this appliance so you would not be troubled looking for repairs at short notice. For any appliance repair, you can always call a licensed technician in Singapore to do the service.
