Portable Air Conditioning - Choosing a System

Portable Air Conditioning – Choosing a System by Airtech Air Conditioning Services providing Service, Callout, Repair, Maintenance, Hire and Sales of Fixed and Portable Air Conditioning for Commercial and Residential Use.

How to quickly calculate how much cooling you need

How much cooling do you need to cool a room? As a rule, every cubic metre of a room volume needs a cooling capacity of 30 watts.
For example (living and office spaces):

35m² X 2.5m ceiling height=
87.5 m³ cubature X 30 Watts=
2,625 watts

It is also important to take into account what type of room you are trying to cool. Building insulation, windows, doors and the direction the building is facing. All these factors come into play when cooling a room – to speak to an expert or find out more about how your building might effect your cooling please call 01342 836000

Even though you might see Portable Air Conditioners without a hose in photos, the use of at least one hose is inevitable.

Air Conditioners are compression cooling devices. That means they generate cold and warmth to an equal measure. The generated cold is wanted in the room and the warmth is directed outside to atmosphere. Without a hose you would be blowing the warm air back into the freshly cooled room – which defeats the object of Air Conditioning!

The majority of Portable Air Conditioners that are used in residential properties are called Monobloc Air Conditioners (see above). These are your typical ‘box’ shaped Air Conditioners which normally come with one hose (although some come with an additional hose – please visit our page here ___ to learn more about duel hose monobloc systems). Heat is produced centrally within the unit and therefore must be conducted to the outside in a way that prevents it from being mixed with the freshly cooled air in the room. This is where the hose is used to remove said heat.

Portable Split Air Conditioners do however exist. Split units automatically discharge the warmth to a condenser set up outside, which comes as a separate unit itself (although a lot smaller than the internal unit). All the same, this method of Portable Air Conditioning needs a connection line for the refrigerant which ensures heat removal.

In split devices the condenser (external unit) and evaporator (internal unit) are separated.

The external unit is positioned outside, normally on a balcony or terrace or other area which is outside. They are connected to the inside evaporator by a connection line containing the refrigerant.

Compared to monobloc design devices, Portable Air Conditioning Split systems are characterised by having a higher energy efficiency as the waste heat is produced outside in the external unit, rather than indoors – this also eliminates the need for a hose. Another consequence of running a Split portable system is that there is no vacuum created – which means there is no warm outside air trailing back into the room – however this does limit the amount of fresh air the room will receive (e.g. poorer oxygen balance).

Another difference to note is the noise emission. Split Air Conditioners are generally more silent that other monobloc devices. This is because part of the ventilation system is outside in the external unit, whereas in the case of a monobloc design, all fans are based in the same, internal, device. It is also valuable to note that both Split and Monobloc designs have compressors inside the indoor unit which also emit noise.

Unlike air coolers, air conditioners cool the room air with the help of a powerful compression refrigeration system. A refrigerant is led through two heat exchangers – a condenser and an evaporator. By means of a compressor and an expansion valve, the refrigerant is exposed to changing pressures within this closed circuit, which results in the gas heating up during compression and cooling down during decompression. The heat is discharged to the outside at the condenser, and the cold is blown into the room at the evaporator.

Dehumidification at the same time

Since the air can cool down to below its dew point at the evaporator, humidity contained in the air condenses simultaneously. This means that the air is not only cooled but also dehumidified, which generally promotes personal well-being and creates a more pleasant room climate.

This is the most common type of Portable Air Conditioning. These units are designed to have a high amount of cooling power utilising the single hose technology to reject the warm air outside – this is typically through a window or door gap – we can also provide more permanent options which include a wall mount. They are also extremely popular because of their flexible operation environment, easy handling and also the constant fresh air the system draws into the room.

The permanent discharge of warm air creates a slight under pressure, which evens out by pulling warm air from outside and adjacent rooms (for example under doors and the open window which is being used for the hose). The positive effect is that this way the room is continuously supplied with fresh air (oxygen). This also means, though, that approx. 20 to 30 % of the energy will be lost due to the warm air sucked in from outside.