It’s been very hot around here…very hot. We don’t have central AC in our new home…or any air conditioners at all for that matter.
With all our fancy bladeless fans going on, all day long, on the highest settings, and all the windows open at night to let the steamy air out and the cooler night air in, we were still averaging in the 80s well into the evenings. The fans just weren’t doing it.
We shopped around for central air conditioning installation, and heard quotes way in excess of $10k. We have two floors and ducts need to be built into our walls, something about a two zone system, and well…it’s just not going to happen anytime soon. We love renovations and home improvements, and did an extraordinary amount this year in just the eight months we’ve owned our new home, but this was beyond us.
So we sat and sizzled.
Then someone told us about portable air conditioners. I knew about through-the-wall air conditioning units (but I wasn’t going to break through our beautiful brick walls for that) and window air conditioners (which sound dangerous to me), but I didn’t know about free-standing, portable air conditioners that can be moved where ever you want to cool your home. I had the opportunity to review a NewAir AC-14100E 14,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner, which my husband just put together this last week, and let’s just say we are no longer in any rush to throw away $10-12,000.
The NewAir Portable Air Conditioner is a powerful, free standing unit that can adjust to fit most windows (the tube, not the unit) and it quickly cools down the home. We put it in our dining room so the baby can’t reach it, and the entire main floor of the house felt comfortable in under an hour. It features an easy to use control panel, a sturdy body, and lots of cooling power.
My husband is not really a handyman of any sort- he prefers to hire people than DIY, but he was able to get it all set up and running very quickly, so it really is very easy.
Great Features of the NewAir AC-14100E 14,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner
We are pretty much ready for a long, hot New York summer! How do you keep your home cool?
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We received the New Air Portable Air Conditioner featured in this post for the purpose of review.
Central air is ridiculous up here. We have all window units, except in Zoe’s room. She has old windows that do not open, so this would be very handy in her room.
It’s been so hot here lately I’ve been running the AC constantly. I wonder if my husband would object to me having one of these in every room in addition to our regular outside unit lol
We have a great central air system in our home, and ceiling fans, but having a portable a/c unit on hand would allow us to keep our central air units at a higher temperature and save us money!
It looks so nice too! I cannot imagine spending that much for A/C glad to hear this is helping 🙂
It’s gotten HOT here in Oklahoma too! We have central heat and air but our room gets really hot during the summer. This would work great.
Wow we could use one of these for our apartment!
That’s one thing I loathe about summer – the weather!
I grew up without air conditioning in the country in Idaho. When the hot summer days would roll around, we’d hang out in the basement or stay cool by playing in the sprinklers. An air conditioner like this would have been really nice. We do have central air in our home now, but this seems like a very affordable option if you don’t have it but still want air conditioning.
Looks like a great portable AC unit. We have a portable one and it was a lifesaver when we weren’t living as close to the coast as we are now.
That’s a very handy air conditioner! It’s hot here too but thankfully we have central air. I don’t let it run too much though.
I totally need one of these. I live in an old house with 2 window units. It would be great to have one of these for those hotter days, to use in parts of the house that don’t get as cool.
Its pretty hot in Chicago too! 🙂
While I might be dreaming of central air, I am so happy to have a portable air conditioner to help get through the hot Portland summer. This one looks like a winner.
My parents need that. They do not have airconditioning. I do not know how they can do it.
That sounds awesome! We live in Vegas where it’s over 100 every day in the summer {it’s supposed to hit 122 next week…} so we NEED central AC, but this sounds like the perfect solution for you!
I don’t really feel central air is worth the cost in the Northern states (I’m in Rhode Island).
We are in the end of June & I have only used AC 3 or 4 days so far. I let cool air in in the evening, then close the windows and shades/blinds on the southern side of the house in the day to keep the heat out. Very old school, but it works surprisingly well.
Thankfully we have central air. I can’t image not having it, but we live in Florida, so just about everyone has it.
We have central air conditioning. If it were to go down, it would be nice to have a portable air conditioner on hand until we could get it fixed.
That would be the option I’d choose if I was in that boat. I can’t imagine not having A/C; here in Texas, it’s a must.
Good thing you have this now. It’s way too hot and humid without A/C in the summer.
That’s neat. I’d be interested in knowing how much electricity it uses. Our central air runs a lot here in South Dakota, but I’m pretty sure we’d nearly suffocate without central air when we move to TX we’re already watching the weather forecast there and I’m dripping from here!
It’s 14,000 BTU, but I’m not sure of the effect on our electricity bill yet- I’ll let you know!
Our central unit broke over the weekend. How I wish we had one of these!
Ack, that must be a fortune to repair! What are you doing in the meantime?
What I wouldn’t have given for one of these at some of our stops on this trip! I dread going back to the humid hot of Florida even more though.
Bought a window unit for the bedroom so we have a retreat from the heat!
I can’t imagine not living with central air and heat but it looks like that little machine does the job pretty well.
That’s amazing it works so quickly! This sounds more energy/budget friendly as well since you’ll only have cold air blowing where you need it most!
My uncle had something similar to this and swore by it. It was the only system he would use since he didn’t have window units.
I’m glad you were able to get something to help. Here in South Florida there is NO WAY I would ever try to live without central air. The only time I did was when I lived in Virginia and we had a window unit. I think in FL it should be illegal to live with out central air LOL.
We dont’ have a central unit so we use window unis but I’ve been wondering how the portable ones worked. If it keeps getting hotter this summer we may have to get one.
It should be illegal, lol
I need to get something like this for my sun room. It was originally a porch that a previous owner had converted. It technically has heating and cooling, but it is either too hot or too cold. This looks like a good solution.
We’ve had some hot days here, too (and way too much rain). I’m thankful for central air. And I still can’t sleep at night without the ceiling fan on. I have to be cool when I’m sleeping. 🙂
I don’t think we could live without AC…but this looks like a great solution!
Our A/C unit went out two weeks ago (yes, that long) and we’ve been so freaking hot. We could sure use this right now, seriously! I can’t take no more heat and box fans lol.