Please note –

  1. I highly recommend this Koldfront 14,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner . I was not paid to write this post and I bought this unit with my own money.
  2. This is a long post but covers all you need to know. Not interested in reading it all? Just skip to “Our Portable Air Conditioning Story” title. :) or here is the Direct Link for Koldfront Air Conditioner

It is going to get really HOT!

How are you planning to stay cool when it goes over 90 degrees again?

This year, summer in Seattle is hotter and dryer than ever. Researchers are predicting that this summer is going to be really hot and long not only in Seattle but pretty much throughout the country. Seattle is mostly cool year round but when it gets Hot – It gets really HOT and unbearable!

Lately, press and researchers have been focusing on stretch of warm weather throughout the country including Seattle. It’s been nice and sunny in Seattle for several months now, but in case you hadn’t noticed, it hasn’t been raining as often either. This year is very dry for Seattle and its going to get hotter in coming days.

For my family, summer is the best and most fun time of the year. We tried to stay cool with popsicles, easy to make meals (less time in front of the stove & oven), lots of fluids, watermelons and staying indoors during the day. We also had lots of fans and a portable air conditioner running throughout the day. Luckily, our Bldg common areas has air conditioning to cool us down the moment we step out of our door.

Yes, you heard that right we DO need air-conditioner in Seattle! No, you Missy/Mr. – Please don’t tell me we do not! It’s brutal to live without the air conditioning for days at end when it goes over 90 degrees and many a times close to 100 degrees with no rain to cool things down.

Our Portable Air Conditioner Story

It hit 90 degrees few days back. We had been home all weekend trying to stay cool with our nice 10,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner and 2 fans running throughout our small under 700 sq ft space.

You see 90 degrees is not too bad if you have an Air conditioner and few fans or so we thought.

This all changed the moment we stepped into our friend G’s (keeping the name private) condo that evening. Their condo was nice and cold despite the open floor plan like us and felt so nice and therapeutic. Trust me something as basic as an air conditioner can do that to you :) .

This is how the evening progressed:

Me : Wow! Your place is so cool, it’s freaking hot outside.

Friend G: Hi guys! Yeah, it’s our Portable Air Conditioner!

Me: What, did you say portable? Where?

Friend G: Lol ….Come on in guys you are still at the door!

There it was in the other corner of their condo.

Me thinking – Tucked in the corner? Really? And it is making their whole condo cooler? Their condo is slightly bigger then ours. What the hell are they using or doing different?

Me: God our portable air conditioner doesn’t do anything. We have to use fans along with it.

Friend G: That’s bad…..but that is because yours is 10,000 BTU and this is 14,000 BTU. We love this portable air conditioner!! It’s not only affordable but also very effective!

Right that moment, we knew ours had to go right away and we needed this same exact unit. We have wasted our money once and I am not willing to try a random model again. So it made sense to do two basic things:

  1. Buy through Amazon (our friends got there’s from their too) – They have a great return policy.
  2. We didn’t need to research more units as we really liked their unit and they had great things to say about it.

We got the link to buy this Koldfront Portable Air Conditioner from our friends and ordered ours right away. Luckily we were able to sell off our previous unit right away!

But you know what – you don’t know the value of something till you experience it yourself –  Till then even mediocre products feel really great!

Ours could barely make a room tolerable and theirs was making the whole condo cool and pleasant and they paid lower than we did for ours!

Koldfront Portable Air Conditioner

We just received our air conditioner few days back and OMG…it is amazing. Within 15 minutes our whole condo was cool and I was a happy camper as I could use our oven without heating up the house and cooked  some nice and juicy grilled salmon – Recipe coming out soon!

Buying Tips

BTU matters – Biggest mistake many people make is buying lower BTU thinking it is portable and they can stay in one room. It doesn’t work!! You will have to run it all day to get some mediocre results.

BTU makes a huge difference. Please do not try to save on few $ and buy less BTU like we did. It won’t serve the purpose and you will need to run it longer (think of utility bill) to cool your place. With higher BTU it will cool faster and will be more effective especially with open floor plan concept. Lower BTU’s are more successful in smaller confined spaces only – like your bedroom. They are not cut out for Family rooms or living rooms.

This specific unit that we got claims to cool only up to 500sqft. Infact, we have a 700sqft condo and this is beyond perfect and cooled our whole place down in matter of minutes!

Multi-Functional Operation – Dehumidifier only mode option! Must have!

Don’t buy an AC without this feature and you have made the best investment. Period.

Most people think of portable air conditioners as a one-season commodity, but that doesn’t have to be the case.

Please make it a year round investment! Many models come with a dehumidifier only option. This lets you use the unit as a dehumidifier year long!

Filters, Filters, Filters

Something most people do not pay attention to. Though most portable air conditioners come with a washable pre-filter; go for the one that offers an additional carbon filter too. This not only removes smoke and odors from your air but also boosts the efficiency of your unit and air quality.

A portable air conditioner makes a fantastic investment, and can make utility bills more cost effective when you make a right choice!

Just in case you missed the disclaimer above – I highly recommend this product ( Koldfront Portable Air Conditioner) based on my personal experience and it is NOT a sponsored post.

Also, Amazon has a big Prime Day Sale on July 15th it is suppose to be bigger then Black Friday!

Not a prime member? Did you know you get to try Amazon Prime Free for 30 days with easy cancellation. Cancelling is super easy and they are very good about it…shhh :)

Love,

Riya

 

16 thoughts on “Portable Air Conditioner Buying Tips Do’s & Don’ts – Summer Series

  1. Great review of an awesome product! I need to get me one of those! My living room is ALWAYS freezing but my bedroom is warm! Do not want EITHER option! This seems like a great idea! Will be checking it out and hopefully purchasing one! Thanks for the great post!
    ~Amanda Marie~

    1. you are very welcome Amanda! AC is a great investment esp if it is multipurpose!

  2. So I don’t have A/C in my new house that I just bought (I don’t move in until next week) so I had to start researching all of this stuff too. I went with a Window Unit for upstairs, and they’re leaving their portable for the downstairs-but if it sucks I’ll totally be upgading. It was interesting to learn about BTU and all that.

    1. Angie, you are so very welcome! Good luck and congrats on your new house!

  3. My husband has been trying to convince me to get a portable AC unit for our room since I am too cheap to run the house one at night. I might just have to splurge, thank you for the tips!

    1. you are very welcome Jessica, It you invest in a model powerful enough – you wont have to run it longer :)

  4. It’s been 95 degrees and above for the last couple of weeks where I live and I’m one of those people who cannot stand being hot. I actually set aside extra money so that I can pay extra on my electric bill because I feel like air conditioning is a necessity for me.

    1. Such a smart budgeting choice! If you buy a proper unit you wont have to run it too long and pay too much!

  5. Oh my, I need this! My room is HOT even with the ac running.I purchased a fan but it is a huge eyesore…I wish I would have known about portable ac’s before I purchased a fan.

    1. Jessica, I would recommend it if you change your mind and decide to get an AC. :)

  6. I’m not in the market for a new air-conditioner, we’ve just moved in to our new home and it luckily had one installed. I just had to say that this post had me lusting after Summer! Currently struggling through a chilly Australian winter!

  7. This looks like it served your purpose well. It’s been so terribly hot, I can’t wait for fall weather to arrive.

    1. I love sun and we hardly get any in Seattle …so I am not complaining. lol

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