Portable a/c?

[icumom]

You all are my gurus on everything..My house is horrid at cooling the upstairs -my son's room simply doesn't cool off enough....it would cost a fortune to go dual zone and add another a/c, and the window ones would look awful since his room faces the front, so has anyone had any experience with the portable ones? I think an exhaust goes in the window, but its not unsitely.....any wisdom to share?

 

[Dela]

I bought one and hated it, maybe there are smaller units now, but I bought this thing from Costco, about $400, there was something about the exhaust and the window, I believe it also collects water, which you have to dump out (although not a big deal), but it was big and too loud for me, I could not sleep with it on. It's banished to the basement now.

 

[LaughingWater]

I don't have experience with a portable a/c unit, but our house does get warm upstairs in the summer. We use fans.

 

[dragonf1y]

I have no experience with portable A/Cs, but have you called an A/C repairman to come check your existing unit?
Our A/C broke down and I found out that whoever installed it had shorted the defrost board on the unit and then instead of replacing it, rewired the system to bypass the board. The ducts under our house were also improperly supported so that the connections in the ducts were gapping and dumping my cool air into the crawl space.
I got my system fixed correctly and my house is now cool for much less energy.
Unless your house is bigger than your central A/c is rated for, you may have something broken or inefficient in your system.

I have also heard excellent things about attic fans.

 

[Gayle]

We tried to use a portable a/c unit at work for a small problem area and found it to be crap. As ugly as they are, I'd go for a window unit as a temporary solution.

Also, we have an attic fan that is set to start running when the attic hits a certain temperature, and it does help cool the house. Depending on the size of your attic space, you might be able to get one that's solar powered.

 

[LauraMax]

I got one for my basement gym--it's an LG & I absolutely love it! I don't know what I would do without it!

But that room is only about 300 sq. ft. I don't think it'd work well in a larger area. Window units might not be very pretty, but they cost the same (if not less) than the portables & cool a much larger area.

 

[Govtgirl]

We live in a 50's cape cod that collects heat in the upper floor. It could be 72 degrees downstairs, and 88 upstairs...the AC just wouldn't reach it, and even the extra window unit couldn't keep up.

But...once we got new windows, the problem almost solved itself. They really keep the heat out, and I swear it's 10 degrees cooler up there now. I know, not a cheap option, but it saves a lot on your electric bills over the long haul.