Portable ACs are the perfect portable cooling solution for areas where installing standard air conditioning systems may be cost-prohibitive, impractical, or impossible. This is especially true in settings such as apartment buildings or server rooms located within an interior of a building. Moreover, portable air conditioners are compact, easy to maneuver, do not require permanent installation, and because they're most often used to cool specific areas as opposed to entire homes or buildings, they are quite energy-efficient as well. With regards to design, portable air conditioners are simple cooling devices. The box-like housing of the unit holds the cold and hot sides of the air conditioner in one while an exhaust hose expels heat. Water is condensed out of the air which is then collected in an internal drain bucket or through a drain hose. Furthermore, some portable ACs even utilize advanced evaporative technology and thus produce very little or no water at all. In addition to the above benefits, portable air conditioners are also multi-functional and offer more than just cooling.

The refrigeration cycle utilized by these portable coolers dehumidify moisture from the air, and some units even come with built-in heaters and air purifiers. Nonetheless, when it comes to choosing a portable AC , one of the most common mistakes consumers make is incorrectly sizing their unit. Portable air conditioners are sized according to BTUs, which stands for British Thermal Units. A BTU is a unit of energy that is commonly used in the power, steam generation, and heating and air conditioning industries. Generally speaking, a portable air conditioner's BTU rating describes its power and cooling capacity. Naturally, the higher the BTUs, the stronger the portable AC. Portable air conditioners have cooling capacities that usually range from 5,000 BTUs to as high as 30,000 BTUs, and the size needed to cool a room will depend on the area being cooled.  Thus, an incorrectly sized portable AC with insufficient or excess BTUs will result in inefficient cooling. After these have been verified, it is then time to determine your BTU requirements.

Simply look to the chart below: Portable Air Conditioner Sizing ChartSquare FootageRequired BTUs Recommended Air Conditioner100 - 200 7,000 - 8,000 American Comfort ACW200C150 - 250 8,000 - 10,000 NewAir AC-10100H250 - 350 10,000 - 11,000 NewAir AC-12100E350 - 525 12,000 -16,000 Soleus LX-14020' x 20' = 400 square feet  400 square feet = at least 12,000 BTUs As such, if your room measures 400 square feet, you will need a portable air conditioner that offers 12,000 BTUs of cooling. determining size of air conditioning unitHowever, please note that the figures in the chart above are estimates based on average room conditions in a moderate climate. ac unit electrical partsSome exceptions may also apply, and these are listed below: For second story homes or especially sunny areas, add the BTU amount by 10% For shaded areas, reduce the BTUs by 10% For each additional person over two persons in a room, add 600 BTUsTo cool a kitchen, add 4,000 BTUsmobile home hvac package units

The thermal gain of your boat varies greatly during every 24 hour period, and peaks when the sun is at its maximum strength. You must at least equal this otherwise the temperature inside your boat will go up rather than down when you close it up and turn on the a/c at noon. If you undersize your load you will be very uncomfortable and unhappy with your system when you need it the most! Significantly oversizing the system will result in system "short cycling" - not giving the system adequate run time to satisfactorily dehumidify the vessel. The general rule of thumb for sizing a pleasure boat is using the formula of 14BTU's/cubic foot (480 BTUs/cubic meter) of air conditioned space. This factor is for typically constructed pleasure boats and should be adjusted if non-standard construction techniques have been It is prudent to use a factor of 16 to 19 BTU's/cubic foot (550-650 BTUs/ cubic meter) for

areas that are used during the heat of the day that have a lot of sunlight coming in - for example a pilothouse, especially if the roof is not shaded or well insulated. For areas below deck that are primarily used after sunset such as a stateroom, you can usually drop this factor to 10 - 12 BTU's/cubic foot(380-410 If you plan to air condition the vessel only in the evening hours, or if your boat is under a canopy and out of the sun, you can typically use a factor of 10-12 BTUs for the entire vessel. In many installations we have designed systems that will cool the main salon during the day and the entire boat, including the staterooms, in the evening by using multiple ducting with closeable grills combined with a more powerful blower motor. This frequently results in a single system accomplishing what you would typically need two systems for, saving you a lot of money and frequently eliminating the need for

an additional shore power service. about 10 BTUs/cubic foot after sunset, therefore if entire capacity of a single unit to the main salon only, during the day, you will end up with, for example, 18 BTUs/cubic foot in this smaller area during daylight hours, and 10 BTUs/cubic foot during the evening when you open up all of the ducts and cool the entire boat). Exceptions: Catamarans and boats with large "greenhouse" like glass that allows lots of direct sunlight into the boat: Unless you can shade these areas so they are not in the direct sunlight, add about 600 BTUs of a/c capacity for every square foot of this glass (not the vertical panes as well). Tinting the glass helps a lot, however a simple tarp a few feet above the glass is the best solution while not eliminating your view. fabric the better for dark colors also block most of the UV radiation unlike a white fabric. that tinted glass is not permitted in the navigation

station because it almost eliminates your nighttime In applications where there is an unusually high heat load from many passengers such as a party boat, you should also increase yourThe general rule of thumb is 250 BTU's for inactive occupants and 500 BTU's for active occupants such as working or dancing. Please note that these formulas are for maintaining the desired temperatures of a typical vessel. Don't arrive at your boat at noon after it's been baking in the hot sun for hours with an inside temperature of 120�F, and expect it to be at 72�F inYou usually have thousands of pounds of furniture, fiberglass and steel that needs to be dropped 50� before the a/c has to only maintain this temperature. Just as in a house that has been closed for vacation, it may take several hours for the a/c system to catch up. "Thermal Load" or "Thermal Mass" is most easily overcome during the evening hours when the thermal