Air Conditioning

Let's talk about air conditioning. Right here is where you will find some useful information on Florida friendly cooling solutions for the home, office, or work place that work to keep you cool when it gets hot out there as it so often does!

There is no getting away from the fact that when the temperatures rise steeply in summer, you are going to need a way of escaping the heat for some of the time at least. While it is great to enjoy the sun and spend time catching rays or making use of the pool, it is also nice to cool down for a while, especially when it's time to sleep at night.

Of course, in the home, night time can often be the time that those who do not have any means of cooling their home down on the inside while it is hot on the outside really need it. That's because it can be difficult to sleep when it is too hot, so having a solution to the heat is a necessity.

But what about during the day while you are working in your office? How can you keep cool there while observing a reasonable level of economy and keeping power consumption to within reasonable levels?

Options

That is where you can make the decision to go for a large, expensive house-wide air conditioning system, or save money by opting for one or two of the smaller, less expensive portable air conditioners that you can buy for a fraction of the cost of a large system. A large, whole house air cooling system, or heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system can be costly to install and also to run.

This is especially so if the house is large and there are very few people at home at any given time of the day. Many of the rooms will be nice and cool but never visited by anyone to enjoy the costly benefits!

Portable Air Conditioners

Modern portable units can run very quietly and therefore make an excellent choice for keeping the bedroom cool at night, even if you don't need it at other times of the day. There is not much point in using power to cool rooms that are not being used and this is more acutely noticed when you live along or as a couple.

The great thing about portable air conditioning units is that you can simply move them from room to room as you go to keep cool.

Window Air Conditioners

This type of cooler is ideal in situations where floor space is at a premium and you don't want to be taking up any of it with a portable AC unit in each room. It installs directly into a window opening and thereby does away with any need for an ugly vent hose connecting to a window kit.

Window units are rated at a similar power output to many higher end portables, yet tend to be more energy-efficient. The main downside is they take up window space and in smaller rooms that maybe only have a single window, that can block out some of the natural daylight entering the room during the day.

Ductless Mini Split Air Conditioners

Ductless mini-split or zone air conditioning is a common alternative to central systems where each room can be individually cooled and temperature controlled via remote control.

These units are superior to window AC units for economy and power efficiency and are also asthetically more pleasing on the eye. Each cooler comprises two units, the interior cooling unit and the exterior condenser unit.

The two units are connected via a pipe that runs through the wall, so once installed, there is no visible ducting or pipework, making for a neat and tidy setup.

Portable Evaporative Coolers

By far the most economical cooling solution is the evaporative cooler, also known as a swamp cooler or even a ventless portable air conditioner, although it is not really a conventional AC at all. These devices cool by evaporation and have no energy-hungry refrigeration process inside them.

Evaporative coolers typically use between 100-200 watts of power to provide sufficient cooling for a 200-500 sq ft room depending on size. The major downside for users of this type of cooler is they won't work well in humid conditions.

Unfortunately, the climate in FL is predominantly hot and humid, which puts a downer on using this type of cooler to save energy and money in this state. For this reason, we don't recommend getting a swamp cooler in Florida as they won't perform at all well most of the time and be a big disappointment to anyone buying them.

Economics

The major consideration when choosing an air cooling system for your home should always be the economics of installing and running it. The impact to the household budget is only one side of this coin but one that is often the most important to the household.

An equally important albeit less considered side of this is the impact to the environment. Running a power hungry large system may well be expensive in terns of energy bills each quarter, but it is also expensive in terms of the greater amount of resource stripping it takes to generate the electricity that runs large systems.

It costs natural resources that will never be replaced and increases the level of pollution to the atmosphere that we breathe, the water we drink and the land that feeds us. That may sound like an environmentalist's tirade against an insensitive multinational company, but it's real and it is an issue that is worth considering.

For more information on economical portable, window, mini-split or ventless evaporative air cooling units, we recommend you take a look at our own review pages published in this section of the site. They cover a wide range of air cooling types with all the main points explained in depth.

Alternatively you can visit this good external resource that looks at vent free portable air conditioner units. It explains the workings of these units and their application in great detail.

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