Portable air conditioners are growing in popularity as a more convenient alternative to oversized, clunky, window-hogging window air conditioners. However, in many instances, people are shelling out the extra moolah for a portable unit when a window AC would suit them better.
If you're unsure of which unit is best for your home and cooling needs, read on for a comparison of the two devices. We look at the most important factors and make an overall recommendation for your cooling needs.
Installing a window air conditioner is a pain. You will likely need a screwdriver, level, pencil, and drill. You'll need to lift the heavy AC, position it correctly in your window, and ensure it's secure. I've tested 13 air conditioners, and on average, they take 25 to 35 minutes to install.
Window air conditioners only fit specific windows: single- and double-hung windows. If your window is narrower than 22 inches wide, most window ACs won't work. You also need a vertical clearance of at least 14 inches. Once the unit is installed, you can't open and close your window.
On the other hand, setting up and removing a portable air conditioner is easy. The initial installation takes 10 to 15 minutes on average. You just remove the AC from the box; roll it where you want it; attach the hose and window slider, adjusted to fit your window; and you're ready to plug it in and start cooling. If you want to move the portable AC, it only takes a minute or two to uninstall and reinstall it in another room. Window units take much longer.
To vent a portable AC's hot air, you only need an opening as wide as the exhaust hose, about 4 or 5 inches. Consequently, portable ACs fit a wide range of window styles and sizes. Since they're easy to uninstall, you can effortlessly open and close your window.
We test portable ACs by running them in a 550-square-foot room for two hours to see how much they lower the room's temperature. We run window ACs in a 650-square-foot space for just an hour.
We test portable ACs in a smaller room because they are generally rated to cool smaller areas, and the room's windows don't support window units. We test portable units longer because we noticed they take longer to reach a plateau where they no longer decrease the room's temperature.
Since the portable ACs run for longer in a smaller room, you'd expect a more significant temp drop. This is not the case. On average, the portable units decreased the room temp by 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit over two hours. The window units dropped the temp 2.6 degrees in one hour.
The difference in performance can be attributed to how the hot air is removed. Window air conditioners are mostly situated outside, and the hot air is sucked directly out of the room. Portable units rely on an exhaust hose to get the hot air from the AC to the outdoors. Much of the heat escapes from the poorly insulated hose back into the room before it can make it outside.
Window air conditioners were also quieter than portable air units on average, though the difference was only two decibels.
We used smart plugs to measure how many kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity the ACs consumed during testing. On average, window units used 0.43 kWh. Portable ACs used more than twice as much, 0.88 kWh, in the same period.
As mentioned above, portable units are inherently less efficient since much of the heat they remove from the room ends up back in the room as it escapes from the poorly insulated exhaust hose before it makes it outside. Window ACs don't have this problem since the hot air is released directly outside.
First, let's consider the long-term energy costs. As mentioned in the previous section, window ACs use half as much energy as portable units. Based on government estimates (13 cents per kWh, 8 hours of use per day, and 3 months of use) and our testing, a portable AC will cost you about $42 more to run each season than a window AC.
Window ACs also have a cheaper upfront cost. The median price of our portable AC pick is $407.50. Yet, only one of our window AC picks costs more than that.
