We broke down during the heat wave and got an air conditioner. Since our window sills are old and cracked and I've got a fear of crushing the landlords car with a dropped air conditioner we tried a "portable" model.
It sounded great: it was on wheels so it could be moved and could be used with any window. Well... the unit itself (a 9,000 BTU unit) was more than twice as heavy as an equivalent window unit (about 88 lbs) and quite large (around 36" tall). It also cost more than twice as much ($430 vrs $179 for an 8,000 BTU window unit). Lastly it used more power (a rated 9 amp draw vrs 6.8 amps for the Window unit). Anyway I still wanted to give it a try - I thought, just maybe, that the cost, size and power would result in something good. I was wrong. The unit required a huge, 6"-diameter exhaust hose to vent heat (similar to a dryer exhaust) which made placing the unit difficult (it couldn't be placed closer than a coupla feet to a wall). Also the intake for the unit was in the back (above this hose). This meant that the air had to circulate behind the unit and the hose, which grew quite warm, was heating the air going in. Also the hose was one-way. To blow out the heat the unit needed to suck air from the room... which meant a good portion of your cold air was being vented directly outside. In short the unit cost twice as much, was twice as heavy and used more power than a window unit but worked less than half as well. I took it back (a huge chore in and of itself) and got a little Window unit. It's probably under powered for the space I want to cool, but it works much, much better that that portable one. If you absolutely, positively can't have a window unit at all (your building or neighborhood won't let you) and you have a pretty small space to cool AND you have the money to burn you might consider one of the portable units. But only consider one if you definitely, absolutely have no other choice. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Purchase Flash MX Pro from House of Fusion, a Macromedia Authorized Affiliate and support the CF community. http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=57 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:167366 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
