Portable air conditioners would be one of or the lowest efficiency systems available to purchase in Australia.
Basically, these units have approximately 35%-50% less capacity that what they claim, and this is due to the capacity being measured as total capacity without any losses. However, with the compressor condenser being within the conditioned space, the heat generated is a negative to the system’s capacity. The air duct from the condenser that plumbs the hot air outside, radiates heat to the space around it. And last of all the portable unit steals the conditioned air from the room that it’s trying to cool down. This cool air that is being exhausted needs to be made up somewhere and it ends up drawing in hot air from around the doors and windows to make up for the air being exhausted from the condenser. It then must cool this hot air as well.
You would be better off with a window air conditioner rather than a portable air conditioning system. We would strongly recommend NOT getting a portable system, as your normal type of system is far more efficient and when you compare the cost with an equal sized system (ensure you take off 35-50% capacity due to losses), the split system becomes a better option. These units are sub-standard and do not give an output capacity when stating the unit’s capacity including all the losses above. It’s extremely misleading to someone who has no idea of how an air conditioning system works.
