Do portable air conditioners work as well as window AC units of the same BTUs?
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No. Any electrical appliance generates heat to function. A window air conditioner places this heat outside the window, along with the heat exchanger.(Just feel the hot air coming out of the back of a window unit). A portable unit has this heat to overcome, while it is simultaneously trying to cool. I wont go into the mechanics of air conditioning,(compressor, evaporater blower,etc.). This is just a simplification.
probably better,since the heat exchanging coils aren't out in the sun,they're ducted out a window
From my experience, the answer would be no because they are not nearly as efficient or effective at outputting the hot air. AC's primarily do two things: input cold air into the room, and output the hot air generated by the motor outside of the home. For my dorm room, I got a very expensive portable AC and they all work with the same principle - a hose is connected to the back, and you place this hose and an attachment in the window to output the hot air. Unfortunately, the hose gets VERY warm and if there are any leaks near the window the warm air will drift right back in the room. The AC didn't work well at all (we didn't really have a great window for it though), but still I'd imagine that because of the heat leakage from the hose and window, you may need a few hundred extra BTU's minimum to displace that difference.
It all depends if the condenser is water-cooled or air-cooled.
The water cooled units are a little more efficient than the air cooled ones but they are more expensive to operate due to high water bills.
However, any way you look at it, both systems are impractical and messy with hoses and other peripherals lying around all over the place.
I used to design these systems in the early sixties and I did not think that they are still around.
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