Function Over Form: Choosing Useful Extra Functions For Portable Air Conditioners
Portable air conditioners can be tremendously useful pieces of equipment, providing effective cooling wherever it is required around your home or commercial building. Indeed, these portable cooling machines are so popular that the choice of models and variants on offer is truly massive; as such, it can be difficult to choose between them.
Many portable air conditioners distinguish themselves from the masses with the addition of useful extra features, and under the right circumstances, the extra functionality provided by these portable units can be a real boon. However, some extra features are more practical and useful than others, so when shopping for a new portable air conditioner be sure to keep an eye out for the following practical and useful extra functions:
Self-evaporation
As warm air is passed through a portable air conditioner and cooled, the water vapour suspended in the air condenses into liquid form. In most portable air conditioner models (and many permanently-installed conditioners) this waste liquid is deposited in a drip tray, which must be emptied regularly to allow the conditioner to continue functioning.
Portable air conditioners featuring self-evaporation functionality can partially or completely do away with this messy and time-consuming emptying procedure. Using special evaporation coils, the condensed water vapour that passes through a self-evaporating air conditioner is allowed to evaporate naturally, returning to its original form as water vapour before being released back into your building. As well as helping you avoid regularly emptying your air conditioner of liquid, these evaporation coils also prevent a portable air conditioner from making the air in a room uncomfortably dry.
Reverse cycling
Reverse-cycle air conditioners are capable of both heating and cooling a room by altering the direction of the air flowing through them, and are a common sight in many commercial buildings and luxury homes. However, this useful function is not limited to permanently-installed units, and portable air conditioners with both cooling and heating capabilities can be found.
As you can imagine, a portable air conditioner that heats as well as cools can be very useful during cooler winter months, and can lessen your reliance on central heating systems or dedicated portable heaters. However, you should be aware that reverse-cycle portable conditioners can have high energy requirements during heating cycles, which may negatively impact your energy bills.
Programmable timers
These devices allow you to program your air conditioner to activate and deactivate at certain times during the day, without the need for human input.
These timers can be incredibly useful in a variety of circumstances; for example, a timer can be set to activate your portable air conditioner just before you get home from work, ensuring you come home to a cool living room. Alternatively, the timer can be used to turn off an air conditioner at night after you have gone to sleep, ensuring your room is cool enough to comfortably drift off without wasting energy by running the conditioner while you sleep.