Are you worried about the summer heat and confused on how to cool your home? Well, it’s a pretty crucial question to be taken into consideration while keeping your comfort and health in mind. So what are the readily available options?
Going for new fans might be an economical way, but it’s not going to be effective. So the right choice will be an evaporative air cooler or maybe a portable air conditioner to get cold and refreshing air to make you comfortable plus beat the summer heat. These appliances have different working mechanisms and, as a result, distinct advantages and disadvantages.
Moving further, we will provide you with a clear-cut idea of the working device and related positives and negatives of each appliance. So, let’s see what you should look out for in the best swamp cooler portable AC.
Portable Air Conditioners
This cooling unit operates as a window unit, which is portable as well. This type of air conditioner is rather convenient to use as you can move it to any different place in your house quickly and also without paying a fortune, which means it is budget-friendly as well.
It uses a similar cooling agent as you have in your fridge, though for the space you live in, such low degrees aren’t necessary. Any model you choose will use a temperature sensor to make the room air as cool as you deem comfortable.
Advantages of Portable AC Units
- The capacity of cooling down wide rooms. A portable AC unit is very efficient in cooling rooms of varied sizes up to 50 m2. Thus it can be used quite vastly across one household.
- Easily portable with a compatible dimension. The average manufactured size is around thirty inches in height and 15-20 — in width, with a total weight of around 60 pounds, which makes it easily adaptable to different proportions of home.
- It maintains a desired and low-humidity temperature. Along with hot air, these devices exhaust moisture from the air, which is handy for humid climates, and maintain a desirable and cold temperature with high comfort and no humidity.
Disadvantages of Portable ACs
- Use of refrigerant. Every AC unit uses refrigerant to alter the air temperature. Since the gas used is odorless, there is a risk involved in case of gas leakage.
- High energy consumption. Generally, such AC units demand high energy consumption, i.e., around 290 watts per hour, which can be a burden for your bills.
- Maintenance effort. Unlike a split AC, it doesn’t have an inbuilt filter, so it has to be regularly cleaned and maintained to avoid mold formation inside the unit that can ruin its functioning.
- Not a silent operation. These portable AC units generally don’t cross the noise level of 65dB but still have a constant operating noise, which can be a bit irritating and might hamper your comfort.
- It requires a hose for exhausting the hot air. This isn’t a much noticeable con because all such units need a tube to pass out the hot air, but it can be a problem if you lack a sliding window panel to pass the tube.
Evaporative Cooler
A small evaporative cooler can cool your house’s every corner due to its portable function within a low-cost bracket. It has a simple makeup — hot air goes in, cool air goes out, but the key to this process is water. This cooling unit works by evaporating the water from a material with absorbent properties.
An evaporative cooler is very compatible with the environment since it is truly eco-friendly as no refrigerant is used.
Advantages of Evaporative Cooler
- Gently lowers the room temperature. This ideal and eternal way of cooling by evaporation of water has been an old traditional technique. This system adds some new features in it, such as a motor and a fan, which increases the efficiency of this unit for faster cooling.
- Saves the high-power consumption. Evaporative coolers use a very useful technique to cool the surroundings with not much-inbuilt materials and technology. It consumes very low energy, which is about five times lower than that of some air-cooling units.
- Humidifies the air. It is an ideal cooling unit for the extremely hot and dry climatic conditions. Swamp cooler not only maintains the recommended level but also increases the humidity to the required level of 30-50% of the surrounding along with a cool sensation.
- Less effort and easy maintenance. This air-cooling unit does not require any other device to keep it clean, and the moisture pads only require a bit of warm water to remove the odor.
Any Cons?
- Not suitable for humid places. This feature can be a pro or a con as per the climatic condition. It will be suitable for an extremely dry place, but for a high humid place will increase the humidity. So, if you are residing in an area with wet climatic conditions with high humidity, then it might be a reason for discomfort for you.
- Low cooling capacity. As compared to other cooling units, this unit might provide you a less cooling capacity since it does not use any fast-reacting refrigerant.
Table of Comparison
Here is an abbreviated model of the advantages and disadvantages of the two products to help you select the perfect product for your household:
| Evaporative Cooler | Portable AC | |
| Pros | – Helpful in lowering the room temperature
– Quite economical – Effective in humidifying the air – Personal models are fairly lightweight |
– It does the job
– Quite easy to transfer and transport – Works efficiently at humid places – Easy and convenient cleaning |
| Cons | – Not suitable for highly humid places | – Use of harmful refrigerant
– High energy consumption – Requires constant cleaning – Air is dried out – Quite turbulent – Need access to a window at all times |
Conclusion
What personal air con should you buy? From the comparison of the two appliances we’ve covered, you can decide the ideal one for you. We would advise considering these factors before choosing one:
- The climate in your residing area
- Maintenance efforts you are willing to put
- Consumption of energy
- The adaptability of the appliance
- How quickly the room can be cooled down efficiently
