Portable Room Cooling for Economy
Looking at portable room cooling for economy has some interesting alternatives that can help to keep costs low while providing a much needed cool atmosphere.
This summer may still be a while away, but when the outdoor temperatures begin to soar and the indoor temperatures follow close behind, it is important to your comfort to have something that will help to keep you cool.
There are several options open to you, but when considering the more economical choices, you should take a good, hard look at what’s available before jumping in.
If your home doesn’t already have any form of air cooling, such as central HVAC or similar whole house system, a more economical option would definitely be to look at portable units.
This article looks at the variety of room cooler that doesn’t need to be vented to the outside, thus providing a truly portable and mobile cooling solution.
Evaporative Air Coolers
One of the more popular kinds of truly ventless portable air conditioner is the evaporative air cooler, or swamp cooler.
This kind of cooling unit does this perfectly and the best part about it is that it is quite inexpensive to buy and to run when compared with most other forms of larger household cooling installations.
In fact, a small portable swamp cooling unit can be the perfect thing for someone who lives alone or if you are just a couple with no kids as you only need to really keep one room cool at any given time. This means a whole house system is unnecessary and expensive to run when you are keeping the whole house cool in rooms you are not using.
Humidity
The only downside to this kind of cooler is that it will not work as efficiently in climates that have high humidity.
To work at its best, the swamp cooler needs the humidity levels to be average to low (the lower the better) when they can be capable of reducing the air temperature in a room by as much as thirty degrees Fahrenheit.
So it is far better to work with a small unit that you can simply wheel into the next room so that it moves when you do and keep you cool wherever in the house you need to be.
Fans
Of course, there are many variations on the traditional fan that can be used relatively inexpensively to jeep you cool on a hot day.
Fans typically use around 50-100 watts of power to run at moderate speeds, which is usually enough to keep you feeling cool. They are most effective when the stream of air is directed right at you.
This is because the moving air evaporates your perspiration, creating a cooling effect directly on your skin. To have a fan running in a room that doesn't point at anyone will not reduce the temperature at all, just move the air around the room.
Summary
While you can keep cool cheaply using a fan or, if you live in a low humidity area, a swamp cooler, they are not necessarily the most effective cooling appliances.
To really overcome serious heat, especially when it is very humid along with it, you will need a refrigerant-based central, ductless mini-split, window or portable air conditioner to chill the air and make your room comfortable.
This is especially so when you want to sleep. It can be difficult to almost impossible to sleep when it's very hot and sticky without AC to take away the heat!
Posted: August 16, 2024
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