Portable Air Conditioners: Single Exhaust vs Dual Exhaust in Decorating on May 04, 2011 by Staff Writer Before you finalize your decision on portable air conditioners,  decide whether you want one with a single exhaust or dual exhaust. Each has its own benefits, and what you buy will affect your utility bills. Here’s what you need to know about both, so you can buy a unit that will work well for cooling your apartment: Single Exhaust Portable Air Conditioners A single hose or single exhaust portable air conditioner uses one hose to cool the air inside a room. If you were to open up one of these and examine the inside, you would find a compressor, which is used to remove heat from the air. The hot air is passed through the hose again to the outside, cooling the room. Each time air passes through the portable air conditioner unit, a small percent of air from the room is reduced and negative air pressures is created. Hot air from other rooms in the house will try to replace this “lost” air, and the unit has to work even harder to cool the room.

This is one of the reasons why a single exhaust unit is not as appealing as a dual exhaust unit. Dual Exhaust Portable Air Conditioners No negative air pressure exists in a room that uses a dual hose or dual exhaust portable air conditioner. One hose brings air from the outside into the room, instead of pulling in air already in the room. The second hose takes the warm air out of the room. The mere existence of the second hose makes a dual exhaust unit cool a room quickly, almost three times faster. These are generally a better buy than single exhaust units, and you can expect to pay more for a better performance. Single Exhaust Portable Air Conditioners Benefits There’s a significant price difference between single exhaust and dual exhaust portable air conditioners. Single exhaust units do offer some benefits, even though they don’t perform as well as dual exhaust units. Less energy use because of one less fan and motor (dual exhaust units have two) Costs less than dual exhaust units

It’s important to weigh these benefits, and if money is tight, a single exhaust system may be sufficient to meet your needs. Dual Exhaust Portable Air Conditioners Benefitscentral ac unit cover If you can afford to buy a dual exhaust portable air conditioner, then that’s a better choice. cleaning an air conditioner unitHere are just some of the benefits you can expect:indoor central ac units Better air quality (one hose dedicated to bringing in fresh air from the outside) For these reasons, you should buy a dual exhaust portable air conditioner if possible. Whether you buy single exhaust or dual exhaust portable air conditioners, be sure to buy one that matches your room size and has enough BTUs to cool your room.