5 Best Portable Air Conditioners in India 2021 (Cruise, MarQ, and more)

For your portable air conditioner to have enough cooling power to make your rooms comfortably cool and airy, it needs to be sized properly. To understand if you have accurate space, you need to consider its BTU rating. BTU or British Thermal Unit is the measure of the unit’s cooling power.

For smaller rooms of 350 to 400 square feet, we recommend using a unit with 9000 BTUs or about less than one ton. For a large living room of 700 square feet, look for a portable air conditioner with 14,000 BTUs or between 1 or 1.5 tons.

An air conditioner that is too small won’t keep up with the cooling demands of your environment. Moreover, if you select one that is too large, then it will cool the area and shut down before removing excess air from the area - leaving your space muggy. Instead, it will eat up your cost, not cooling enough. So, check out the BTUs or wattage carefully!

Generally, portable ACs tend to be energy efficient and can save a few rupees on your monthly electric bill. Wondering how efficiency is calculated? It is measured by the AC’s Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER).

The EER is the energy efficiency ratio, a number produced by dividing the air conditioner BTU rating (its output) by its wattage (its input). For example, if an 11,000 BTU air conditioner consumes 1,400 watts, its rating is 7.8.

Simply, the higher the EER, the more efficient the model will be in saving energy and lowering your electricity bill. When going for a model, be on the lookout for a rating of 10, as it is considered an excellent rating for portable ACs.

Most portable air conditioners come with two hose configurations, including single hose and double/dual hose ac units. If you are wondering what a hose is, it is the pipe through which the air is circulated in and out of your house.

In single hose ac units, the design uses a single pipe to intake and exhaust air. However, it will cool your space but not as efficiently as a dual hose ac unit. On the other hand, dual hose ac units have separate intake exhaust hoses. Because of the two different hoses, these designs are more energy-saving and will cool your room approximately 40% quicker than single-hose designs. 

We recommend using a dual hose portable AC unit as they are more energy-efficient and stable in maintaining air pressure. This factor is important to consider if you are looking to cool larger rooms.

India is divided into tropical and temperate zones, ranging from the hot and humid climates of the south to the north's cool, dry climate. Because of this, it is recommended to choose a unit that has an inbuilt heater. Heaters generate heat either through a heat pump or electric heater, which will help during the dry, cold winter months.

However, it is best to choose one with a heat pump when looking for heating options. It extracts heat from the outside air and disperses it throughout the area. On the other hand, it can reverse its system to cool areas as well. 

Many, especially in colder areas, prefer this kind of dual system, as they tend to be more efficient than electric heaters. In contrast, electric heaters use thermal strips to generate heat, burning more electrical power and raising energy consumption power.

Because of their popularity, several innovative products are coming out in the market, designed to enhance user experience and give you a peaceful home or office environment. Most of them now offer special features like self evaporating technology, remote control, a programmable timer that add convenience and save your money on energy costs.

Self-evaporating technology is a mechanism that allows the exhausted cool water droplets to dissipate on their own without leaving behind any pooling remnants near the machine. This feature highly elevates your user experience, as you do not have to clean the water tray from time to time.

Additionally, the remote control and programmable timer options can make things easier without you having to worry about turning off the AC. Now you can turn it off from the comfort of your bed or couch, in the middle of your sleep or meeting, with the ease of pressing a button.