This Video Explains Why You Should Avoid Portable Air Conditioners

Portable AC units have lots of problems even if they're popular - this video explains why.
Jessica Miley

Temperatures are rising in the Northern hemisphere and summer has truly arrived.

As the mercury creeps up, everyone is looking for ways to cool down. For some, that means long days at the beach but for others, it could mean investing in an air conditioner for their house or apartment.

This video from Technology Connections warns consumers away from getting a portable air conditioning system and points them to the more common compact window units.

An air conditioner can be loosely described as a mechanical device that collects and concentrates heat energy in order to move it from one place to another. The cold air you feel coming from an air conditioner unit is just regular air that has been cooled down.

All air conditioning units have a few essential components that help make this ‘miracle’ happen. A compressor, the condenser, and a thermal expansion valve, amongst other things.

We’ll let you watch the whole video to get all the details on exactly how these three things work together to keep you cool; but in simple terms, there is a hot side, a cool side and in the middle, there is the compressor.

On a window unit, the hot side is outside of the room, drawing air in, cooling it down and then pumping it to the cold side inside the room that you want to cool down.