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Portable Air Conditioners Vs Traditional Cooling Systems
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Published: August 15, 2007
It is August and everyone is trying to find a way to stay cool. Whether someone is hot due to global warming or a simple old fashioned heat wave, humans have been devising inventions to keep themselves cool when mother nature turns up the temperature. Portable air conditioners such as fans have been around as long as people have been getting hot; in fact, the word fan derives from the Latin word vannus for wind.
A traditional cooling system such as a table fan or box fan have been manufactured for many years, and some antique fans are collector's items.
Evaporative cooling systems must also be mentioned as a traditional cooling system because wealthy citizens of ancient Rome sometimes installed water cooling systems that pumped water through the walls of their house to cool the interior.
Portable air conditioners do not get any simpler than the traditional cooling system known as box fans. They are reliable and cheap to buy and operate. Box fans can also be moved conveniently around the house. A box fan in the door or window in the early morning or evening when the temperature is lower can push cool air into a building. Another form of portable air conditioners is a dual fan. A dual fan is a traditional cooling system with two motors and two sets of blades. A dual fan can be purchased as a ceiling fan or as a computer cooling fan.
Portable air conditioners also come in a compressor-based refrigerant cooled system. Portable air conditioners using refrigerant remove heat from the air as part of a refrigeration process. A British scientist, Michael Faraday, discovered in 1820 that compressing ammonia to make a liquid and allowing it to re-evaporate draws heat from the air around the evaporator. The discovery of this process is what makes portable air conditioners work today.
A compressor creates liquid out of a refrigerant such as Freon, and then the Freon runs through coils where it evaporates by drawing heat out of the air. The cycle is completed when a heat pump vents the heat outside through a hose. This heat is released from the refrigerant as it is turned back into a liquid. This is why these portable air conditioners must have a hose to the outside because if they did not, all the heat would go right back into the rooms being cooled.
Portable air conditioners can also use an evaporative system. Some portable air conditioners are free-standing units which must be filled with water. Water is pumped through a mat made of fibrous materials and the unit's fan draws air through the mat and into the building. Some of the heat in the air is reduced as the water is evaporated. These types of portable air conditioners are more effective in drier climates.
Portable air conditioners can be life savers. Many deaths in Europe were caused by a terrible heat wave in 2003 because few homes were equipped with portable air conditioners. It is important to choose portable air conditioners suitable for the size of the space needed to be cooled. Experts advise a refrigerant system that produces 12,000 btu's of cooling will adequately cool 400 square feet. Evaporative portable air conditioners can cool much more square footage with much less power, but only in the right climate.
The cost of purchase and operation of portable air conditioners is also important to consider. A box fan can be purchased for as little as $25. A New Air ACP-1600E Portable Air Conditioner 16000 btu unit will cost around $540, draws 1320 watts and 11 amps of electricity. Portable air conditioners of the evaporative variety are much less expensive to buy and to operate. A NewAir AF-330 Evaporative HEPA Swamp Cooler costs only around $140 and draws only 85 watts of electricity.
It is not necessary to go to engineering school to understand how portable air conditioners work. Those with compressors reduce humidity and cool the air by extracting the heat using a sealed cooling system with a compressed refrigerant. Evaporative coolers draw hot air through a wet mat to cool it down and to increase the humidity in dry air. The first is more expensive to buy and operate, but most people feel it produces better cooling. The latter is cheaper to buy and operate and is best used in very dry climates. Those are the basics on staying cool this summer using portable air conditioners.
Sources:
"Box Fan Fans." Biz Rate® shopping search. 2007. Shopzilla. 6 August 2007. http://www.bizrate.com/fans/product-type--box-fan/ products__att294299--494132-.html.
"Gyro or Mathews Fan Company." Lamps Plus®, Inc. 2007. Lampsplus.com. 6 August 2007.
http://www.lampsplus.com/products/s_gyro-or-matt hews-fan-company/?cm_mmc=GOO-SE-_-Ceiling%20Fans-_ />
NewAir AF-330 Evaporative HEPA Swamp Cooler. air-n-water.com. Air & Water, Inc. 6 August 2007. http://www.air-n-water.com/product/AF-330.html.
New Air ACP-1600E Portable Air. air-n-water.com. Air & Water, Inc. 6 August 2007. http://www.air-n-water.com/product/ACP-1600E.htm.< br />
"Compare These Products." air-n-water.com. Air & Water, Inc. 6 August 2007. http://www.air-n-water.com/portable-air-conditione rs.htm.
"Air conditioner." Wikipedia. 5 August 2007. Wikipedia Foundation, Inc. 6 August 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_conditioner.
"Air conditioning." Wikipedia. 29 July 2007. Wikipedia Foundation, Inc. 6 August 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_conditioning#Hist ory.
A traditional cooling system such as a table fan or box fan have been manufactured for many years, and some antique fans are collector's items.
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Portable air conditioners do not get any simpler than the traditional cooling system known as box fans. They are reliable and cheap to buy and operate. Box fans can also be moved conveniently around the house. A box fan in the door or window in the early morning or evening when the temperature is lower can push cool air into a building. Another form of portable air conditioners is a dual fan. A dual fan is a traditional cooling system with two motors and two sets of blades. A dual fan can be purchased as a ceiling fan or as a computer cooling fan.
Portable air conditioners also come in a compressor-based refrigerant cooled system. Portable air conditioners using refrigerant remove heat from the air as part of a refrigeration process. A British scientist, Michael Faraday, discovered in 1820 that compressing ammonia to make a liquid and allowing it to re-evaporate draws heat from the air around the evaporator. The discovery of this process is what makes portable air conditioners work today.
A compressor creates liquid out of a refrigerant such as Freon, and then the Freon runs through coils where it evaporates by drawing heat out of the air. The cycle is completed when a heat pump vents the heat outside through a hose. This heat is released from the refrigerant as it is turned back into a liquid. This is why these portable air conditioners must have a hose to the outside because if they did not, all the heat would go right back into the rooms being cooled.
Portable air conditioners can also use an evaporative system. Some portable air conditioners are free-standing units which must be filled with water. Water is pumped through a mat made of fibrous materials and the unit's fan draws air through the mat and into the building. Some of the heat in the air is reduced as the water is evaporated. These types of portable air conditioners are more effective in drier climates.
Portable air conditioners can be life savers. Many deaths in Europe were caused by a terrible heat wave in 2003 because few homes were equipped with portable air conditioners. It is important to choose portable air conditioners suitable for the size of the space needed to be cooled. Experts advise a refrigerant system that produces 12,000 btu's of cooling will adequately cool 400 square feet. Evaporative portable air conditioners can cool much more square footage with much less power, but only in the right climate.
The cost of purchase and operation of portable air conditioners is also important to consider. A box fan can be purchased for as little as $25. A New Air ACP-1600E Portable Air Conditioner 16000 btu unit will cost around $540, draws 1320 watts and 11 amps of electricity. Portable air conditioners of the evaporative variety are much less expensive to buy and to operate. A NewAir AF-330 Evaporative HEPA Swamp Cooler costs only around $140 and draws only 85 watts of electricity.
It is not necessary to go to engineering school to understand how portable air conditioners work. Those with compressors reduce humidity and cool the air by extracting the heat using a sealed cooling system with a compressed refrigerant. Evaporative coolers draw hot air through a wet mat to cool it down and to increase the humidity in dry air. The first is more expensive to buy and operate, but most people feel it produces better cooling. The latter is cheaper to buy and operate and is best used in very dry climates. Those are the basics on staying cool this summer using portable air conditioners.
Sources:
"Box Fan Fans." Biz Rate® shopping search. 2007. Shopzilla. 6 August 2007. http://www.bizrate.com/fans/product-type--box-fan/ products__att294299--494132-.html.
"Gyro or Mathews Fan Company." Lamps Plus®, Inc. 2007. Lampsplus.com. 6 August 2007.
http://www.lampsplus.com/products/s_gyro-or-matt hews-fan-company/?cm_mmc=GOO-SE-_-Ceiling%20Fans-_ />
NewAir AF-330 Evaporative HEPA Swamp Cooler. air-n-water.com. Air & Water, Inc. 6 August 2007. http://www.air-n-water.com/product/AF-330.html.
New Air ACP-1600E Portable Air. air-n-water.com. Air & Water, Inc. 6 August 2007. http://www.air-n-water.com/product/ACP-1600E.htm.< br />
"Compare These Products." air-n-water.com. Air & Water, Inc. 6 August 2007. http://www.air-n-water.com/portable-air-conditione rs.htm.
"Air conditioner." Wikipedia. 5 August 2007. Wikipedia Foundation, Inc. 6 August 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_conditioner.
"Air conditioning." Wikipedia. 29 July 2007. Wikipedia Foundation, Inc. 6 August 2007. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_conditioning#Hist ory.
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