Due to condensation, water droplets are collected by the portable air conditioner — you'll need to manually remove the water from the tank every so often and clean the filter while you're at it. Portable air conditioners: pros.
Portable air conditioners: cons. Split-unit air conditioners, also known as fixed air conditioners, are comprised of two parts: a condensing unit mounted outside and an evaporator mounted inside. Both parts of a split-unit air conditioner need to be connected, so installation is far more complex compared with a portable air conditioner. These machines are quieter and more efficient than portable air conditioners, but need to be permanently positioned in just one room.
If you've settled on a split-unit air conditioner, you'll probably need to get it set up by a professional — note that installers tend to be at their busiest during summer.
A split-unit air conditioner features a compressor in its outdoor unit that circulates the refrigerant and turns it from a gas to a liquid. That liquid passes through coolant lines to the indoor evaporator, where it transforms from a liquid to vapour.
Heat is removed from the surrounding air and cooled air is blown into your home. The outdoor unit will then turn the refrigerant vapour back into a liquid. This process will repeat over and over until the air conditioner unit reaches the temperature you've programmed. Split-unit air conditioners: pros. Split-unit air conditioners: cons.
Some air conditioners double up as a dehumidifier, meaning they serve a purpose throughout the year, not only in summer. If you're primarily after a dehumidifier, though, we recommend buying a dedicated dehumidifier instead. With some air conditioner-come-dehumidifiers, you'll need to connect up a hose which might not be supplied to drain the water. With others, you'll need to set the machine up as you would in air conditioning mode, with the hose out of the open window.
Tempted by a dehumidifier? Before you hand over your money, check in with our dehumidifier reviews to ensure you're choosing wisely. Having a range of fan speeds is useful, as it affects the rate at which your room cools down and the noise the air conditioner makes. Most models have three fan speeds and some also have a fan-only mode, which has no cooling effect and simply circulates the air within the room.
We don't recommend buying an air conditioner primarily for the fan function — you can save significantly on floor space and money by buying a fan instead. Useful if you want to adjust the settings without moving from your seat. When we get our hands on an air conditioner with smart features, we run it through rigorous privacy and security tests. Some air conditioners can be used as an electric heater, which could prove useful in winter.
This reduces noise by running the compressor and fan more slowly. Often, the target temperature will increase automatically across the night so that you don't wake up freezing cold. But no air conditioner is completely silent, even on sleep mode.
In fact, you're better off pre-cooling your room before you go to bed, rather than attempting to sleep with an air conditioner running. Pick an air conditioner with a clock and hour setting. Some only have countdown or delay timers that need to be reset daily. Air conditioners come in various shapes and sizes but are often described in terms of their BTU British thermal unit output. In theory, the higher the BTU claimed, the more efficiently it can cool a room.
As a general rule, 5, to 8, BTUs is adequate for most living rooms or bedrooms. Use this calculation to work out what BTU is right for you:. Multiply the dimensions in feet of the room by five. If you're concerned about how much energy an air conditioner will use, look out for a model with a good energy efficiency ratio EER. This is the ratio between an air conditioner's BTU and its power input in watts. Generally, the higher the EER rating, the more efficient the air conditioner.
You could also look at the claimed energy class. Air conditioner manufacturers are obliged to self-certify their energy class, from A to G. Often, we find the claimed and actual energy class to be different. Before you part with your money, check the retailer's returns policy and have a look at some customer reviews. Demand for air conditioners is lower in winter, so you may be able to bag a bargain in an end of year sale.
Popular retailers that stock air conditioners include:. Find out which retailers are rated highly by Which? Yes, there are lots of companies that offer this. Poorly designed controls are a constant annoyance. Raised buttons with different shapes let you identify functions by feel. Air conditioners have louvers you can adjust to direct airflow vertically or horizontally.
Some have fans that oscillate. But most are better at directing air toward one side or the other. Consider your room layout, and look for a model that can direct the airflow where you need it most. An energy-saver setting stops the fan when the compressor is off. These features save electricity. We respect your privacy. All email addresses you provide will be used just for sending this story.
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Things to Consider Look for Energy Misers New Energy Star certified room air conditioners come with better insulating materials and clearer instructions to help ensure that you get a good seal around the unit, minimizing leaks. Illustration: Brown Bird Design.
Which Model Is Right for You? Video Buying Guide For more information, watch our buying guide below. Window Air Conditioner Ratings. Controls Touchpads with large LED displays, sizable and uncrowded buttons, clear labeling, and digital temperature readouts are easier to use.
Directional Airflow Vents Air conditioners have louvers you can adjust to direct airflow vertically or horizontally. Dehumidifying Mode This feature is useful on humid but cool days in spring and fall. Brands All the brands below make window air conditioners that are Energy Star certified. Friedrich is a smaller manufacturer of more expensive window air conditioners available at regional appliance retailers. Friedrich makes models with Btu from 5, to 24, Then all you have to do is extend the side panels so they fill the width of the window sill.
Windmill even makes this part easier—the box includes some foam pieces marked with guidelines for cutting that snap right into these side panels, keeping them fully outstretched and airtight while also providing some extra insulation. Performance-wise, the Windmill is about the same as our runner-up pick from Frigidaire, with an average volume of The company also uses a carbon offset program that aims to make up for production emissions by investing in trees.
It has plenty of other thoughtful details and touches that set it apart, too, like the stylish plastic cover over the razor-sharp exhaust fins on the back of the unit that could save you from slicing your finger open. And even the main LED display that shows the temperature turns off automatically after about 30 seconds.
It also comes with an activated carbon filter, instead of a standard washable screen like most ACs. While it does expel the cool air up and out into the room, there are some situations like my own where you might want to give it a push in a certain direction.
You might want a fan for that. Though it measured slightly louder than the Midea—averaging about 48 decibels, as opposed to 40—the Frigidaire was still essentially imperceptible over the basic tone of the room in which we were testing. The Frigidaire also maintained a slightly more consistent temperature throughout the room during our tests.
It typically kept the air within one-half of a degree when measured from 3 feet directly in front of the AC and 6 feet away on a diagonal, compared with a roughly one degree difference with the Midea. The LED temperature display on the control panel, for example, automatically turns off a few seconds after you stop pressing buttons. This setting allows those ACs to keep the air circulating constantly, even if the compressor turns off or on; by contrast, when this Frigidaire reaches the temperature you want, it shuts both the fan and compressor off completely, which can cease air circulation and leave the room feeling stale.
During that time, however, it also suffered from inconsistent stock issues. Both are Wi-Fi—enabled units that are okay but generally unremarkable—they sound like air conditioners and feel like air conditioners. And it impressed us every time. And now you can find other, more affordable ACs with the same inverter perks, such as our top pick from Midea.
The ACs in this series are louder, larger, and more expensive than our current picks, and the packaging is not as sturdy, so they are also more prone to arriving damaged. Some of them are effective, too. Unfortunately, even the best of the smart integrations are not good enough to set an AC apart for these features alone.
You can get nearly equivalent benefits by simply hooking your AC up to a smart plug. Some electric companies, like Con Edison in New York City, are even giving out free smart plugs to customers. And frankly, you might not be able to do that kind of thing with a smart-home app every time, either. We thought we might have a challenger to the smart-plug approach when a company called Tado introduced the Smart AC Control , which was meant to turn any AC with a digital thermostat into a smart AC.
But three of our staff members tried and failed to even set the thing up, and the owner reviews were poor. LG has a great app, as well, but the voice commands are particularly cumbersome, to the point of being an inconvenience. Portable air conditioners are so popular now that we gave them their own guide. Picking the right through-the-wall air conditioner can be a little tricky, but the path of least resistance is to get a universal-fit, rear-breathing AC.
Also: No, you should not put a regular window unit through your wall, unless the documentation specifically says that the machine is suitable for a wall installation. This style of air conditioner installs into a horizontal-sliding window or a crank-out window. Such models are more expensive than typical double-hung-window units, but they cost about as much as a good portable air conditioner and work more efficiently.
The model we recommend needs an opening of about 15 inches across, 21 inches tall, and 24 inches deep. Central air conditioning systems are complicated, permanent installations that are too unique to each individual house for us to cover comprehensively. However, if your home already has a central AC system installed, we do have a guide to furnace and air conditioner filters to help you find the most effective way to remove particulates from the air in your home; we generally recommend the Nordic Pure MERV A ductless mini-split air conditioning system typically consists of one or more wall-mounted indoor units that connect to an outdoor compressor.
Mini-split systems are more powerful and more efficient than a collection of window units, and they will ultimately leave your home with much less clutter and more usable window space. However, they can be expensive, with installation costs upwards of five figures although some local utility companies offer rebates to offset those costs. For starters, follow the installation instructions—the idea is to keep the AC secure in the window frame, with the back of the unit angled slightly toward the ground so that condensed water can drain out.
Brace the machine on air conditioner brackets , not on a stack of old magazines. Beyond safety, rickety installations can amplify noise; make sure your AC is braced tightly against the window opening to minimize rattling.
After you turn on the AC for the first time, if you hear any obvious high-pitched whining for more than a few minutes, you might have gotten a dud. Wait 24 hours to give the refrigerant a chance to settle and then try again. It usually slides out from the front of the unit. You should clean this filter every month to keep air flowing properly.
Most modern units including all the models we tested have a light to remind you to do this after every hours of use. At the end of every cooling season, remove your window AC units and drain the condensed water on the ground or in a bucket or bathtub. Max Sherman, staff senior scientist, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, phone and email interview. Sometimes his curiosity gets the best of him, such as when he plugged a space heater and a Marshall guitar amp into the same power strip.
Liam McCabe is a senior staff writer for Wirecutter, and has covered the wild world of appliances since After testing dozens of robot vacuums, he is neither worried about AI nor holding his breath for self-driving cars.
He enjoys visiting factories and learning about regulatory loopholes, and has flooded our testing area only three times. Our pick.
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