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Summer and fall heat throughout the U.S. can be unbearable if you don’t have central air conditioning. A window conditioner is often a good alternative. But if you can’t use a window unit, or you want to air condition more than one room, then a portable air conditioning unit may be your best choice.

Before you shop, you should know the basics about buying a portable air conditioner, so that you can do more than just ‘kick the tires’.

Why Buy a Portable Air Conditioner?

Portable AC units are not mounted in a window or through a wall, so they are far easier to install than window units. Also, you can move them from one room to another, so they can be more useful. Portable air conditioning units, however, tend to be more expensive than window units and are not as efficient.

What Do I Need to Install a Portable Air Unit?

Portable air conditioners generally require three things:

1. the space for the unit;
2. an electric outlet rated at 15 amps or higher (some larger units require 20 amps and a special type of plug);
3. an external window or wall exhaust vent for the hot air exhaust.

What’s the biggest installation challenge?

The vent hose, or hoses. The vent hose is essentially an exhaust hose through which hot air is removed from the room being cooled. The hose runs from the unit to some place where the warm air can be released, such as a window, another room or a drop ceiling.

The vent hose is typically about 5 feet long. An exhaust hose kit designed to allow you to vent the hose through a window comes with most portable air conditioners. Portable air conditioners have either a single hose or dual hose system.

A single-hose system takes in the air from the room, cools it and puts it back into the room. A dual-hose system takes in air from the outside with one hose, cools it for the room, then expels the hot air out the other hose.

Using the window kit and installing the hoses can go smoothly – or not. It depends on your window type, the utility of the kit, and your personal prowess. The good news is, it’s not rocket science.

Don’t Air Conditioners Create Water?

Yes, they do. And where and how this water is expelled is another important issue to keep in mind when shopping. There are generally two ways the water removed. One type of portable air conditioning unit requires you empty the unit by hand (usually less expensive units). The other way water can be expelled is with an auto-evaporation or self-evaporating feature. These units discharge most of the water through the exhaust hose (usually more expensive units).

How Do I Pick the Right Size Portable Air Conditioner?

The power of a portable AC unit is measured in BTUs (British Thermal Units). The larger the room you want to cool, the more BTUs you need.

Generally, you need 5,000 BTUs for a room as small as 150 square feet and 16,000 BTUs for a room as large at 400 square feet. You can look at a table of room sizes and BTU requirements at www.portableacguide.com/portable-air-unit-size.php.

One way to save money on energy is to buy an energy efficient unit. You can determine this by looking at the EER (energy efficiency ratio). The higher the EER the better. A unit with a EER of 10 uses half the energy of a unit with a EER of 5.

To aid in your search, look for a unit that has a government Energy Star. To receive an Energy Star, a unit must use at least 10% less energy than those rated at 8.0. The U.S. Department of Energy recommends you buy a unit with an EER of 10 or above.