Take the cold with you

The most widespread type of home conditioners at the market are certainly split-systems. There are many advantages of split-systems over air-conditioners of other construction – monoblock ones. However, even among monoblocks there are devices that are still quite popular today – so called mobile air conditioners. Despite several disadvantages, it holds its niche as a smart alternative when a split system is too complicated to install.

The story about mobile conditioners should begin with peculiarities of their construction. And this is where the disadvantages and advantages of these devices are.

Mobile air conditioners are monoblocks by their design. All their heat exchangers the evaporator that cools air and the condenser that gives out heat , compressor and fans are assembled in one case for comparison, split-systems are installed on a different principle, their compressor with the heat exchanger-condenser is installed in the outer block, and the evaporator is located indoors in the inner block .

The main advantage of mobile device is easiness of installation. For a split-system it is necessary to make a through hole in the wall, to fix the outside unit in the street, to lay cables and drainage hose in a hole or in a wall, and also copper pipes for the refrigerant. Such montage costs money, and not a little, as its cost exceeds the price of split-system itself. If by any reasons one cannot make alterations in an apartment or a house for example, if the dwelling is rentable or there are difficulties with authorization due to historical status of a building , it will be simply impossible to install a split-system.

In case of a mobile air conditioner everything is much easier. A casing of the device is entirely inside the premise, and air conditioner cooperates with the street by means of a flexible hose-air pipe. Through it a device ejects warm air outward. Actually installation of a mobile conditioner consists only in installation of a duct in a window opening or a window leaf.

One more positive property of mobile air conditioners is their compactness and possibility to be transported. Most models are equipped with wheels, they can be transported. It is convenient, because you do not need to keep the device in the room all year round – after the summer season it is enough to remove the duct from the window and put the conditioner in a storeroom. Also portability and easy assembly are in demand for air-conditioning of rented accommodations and leased offices: you don’t have to rebuild anything, and you can take the unit with you when the term of the rent is over. Finally, mobile air conditioners are suitable for the use in country houses, which are left unattended during winter.

However, monoblock structure has a number of serious drawbacks compared to split-systems. First of all it is noise. The noisiest component in air conditioner is a compressor, but in split-systems it is situated behind the wall, in the street, and in a premise is almost inaudible depending on remoteness from windows . Besides, split-systems are more silent thanks to the peculiarities of fans design – their air outlet area and sizes of impellers are bigger than those of monoblocks, and the air stream they create is less noisy. In a modern air conditioner a compressor is situated inside the room, that is why such models cannot be called “a chemist”. To somehow reduce the noise level, manufacturers of mobile air conditioners use sound-absorbing materials, fill the gaps inside the casing, etc. d. There is a fight for every decibel. Nevertheless, mobile units cannot reach the sound comfort level of split-systems especially of invertors, which are almost inaudible in “silent” mode : while split-systems have the minimal noise level during operation 20-30 dB, the noise level of mobile units is 45 dB and more. Therefore, before buying such a device, it is worth thinking about what purposes it will be used. For instance, mobile models are not very good for bedroom air-conditioning – the noise can disturb sleeping especially people with sensitive hearing .

The design of mobile conditioners sets the limits of their operation ability. Mostly the household models have a cooling capacity in the range of 2000-4000 W, some models have up to 4500 W. And in general, energy efficiency ratio of cold-productivity to energy consumed of mobile units is usually lower than that of split-systems. Though it is worth to say that with the development of technologies, new models become more and more effective, many of them have the energy efficiency class “A”.

Most mobile air conditioners on the market today are noninverter models. This means that such appliances function on the on/off principle – they alternately turn on and work noisily, then they turn off and stay quiet. In-verter models practically can not be found at the market because their prime cost is higher than the ordinary ones, that is why devices lose their main advantage over split-systems – low price due to the absence of installation costs .

Nowadays mobile air-conditioners market is not so wide as the split-systems market. Big Japanese air conditioner producers are concentrated mainly on split-systems. That is why mobile motors are mostly represented in Korean, Chinese and a number of European brands, such as Ballu, Bork, Daewoo, Electrolux, General Climate, Supra, Timberk, Zanussi, etc. d. And new devices in this segment appear regularly enough.

FUNCTIONS

The main function of any air-conditioner is of course cooling of the air. But nowadays most of models also support different additional useful functions. For example, the simple effect of condensation on the cold heat exchanger can be used for good – as a special dehumidification mode. Operating in such mode, conditioner does not change temperature in the premise, but efficiently removes moisture. In summer, when the humidity in the house is often higher than normal and causes discomfort, it is not superfluous to be able to dry the air.

Mobile conditioners, as well as split-systems, can work in a heating mode. Though, not all the models have such a function, and it is implemented in different ways. Part of air-conditioners heats the air by means of “heat sucker”. The appliance works as if in the “reverse” direction: it takes the air from the room, heats it up and delivers it back into the room, while the cold air, on the contrary, is thrown out into the street. In such models, the heat output is usually higher than the power consumption, since the energy is spent not on heating but for the work of the compressor and fans. At the same time other mobile air conditioners heat air due to a heating element, supplied from the network. In this case, the heat output of the appliances will be less or equal to the electricity consumed for heating.

Conditioners differ in type of control: electronic or mechanical. The former allow you to adjust the unit more accurately, they can have more functions and nuances of regulation. However such models also cost more than simpler devices with mechanical control. Depending on the type of control unit and its functions, one can set the desired air temperature, choose the fan speed, change the air stream direction, activate one or another operating mode cooling or heating, dehumidification, ventilation, “night” mode, automatic, etc. or choose a different mode. d. . The air conditioners are often equipped with timers on which you can program the time of switching on and off. This function is very convenient because you can easily set the device to cool the room not all day long, but, for example, to turn on just before the owners come home from work and prepare a comfortable climate for their arrival.

Many of modern models are supplied with a remote control, which simplifies the control, as one does not have to come up to the device, one only has to press the button on the remote control. Recently more and more producers develop design of cases of mobile conditioners with special compartments for storage of remote controls. It seems to be a trifle, but for the seasonal equipment it is very useful, because after the winter inactivity of the device you will not have to search for the remote control all over the apartment, because it has its own place for storage.

TO MAKE IT EASIER TO BREATHE

The principle of work of any air conditioner as well as a refrigerator is based on transfer of heat energy from one place to another. And this is accomplished by evaporation and condensation of the refrigerant inside the three closed circuits of the appliance. At that outside air does not get inside the room “fresh effect” in a room when using air conditioner appears because of temperature lowering but not because of real inflow of fresh air . However, some mobile air conditioners can indeed draw in fresh air from the street and mix it with the air in the room. In this case the unit operates in a mode of forced ventilation. But this function is not realized in all models. As a rule, mobile air conditioners with the possibility of forced ventilation are supplied with an additional duct, which will serve as a separate channel for air invasion into the room.

Another mode – air mixing – can also be called “ventilation” in the characteristics of a mobile air conditioner. In this case, the device creates a gentle circulation of air, creating a pleasant breeze i.e., by evaporation of condensation and heating . e. acts as a regular fan without cooling or heating the room. This mode has nothing to do with the fresh air intake from the street. If one requires exactly conditioner with an opportunity to ventilate the room, it is better to clear up before buying if the model supports blowing ventilation.

By the way, by virtue of their design, mobile air conditioners even without a supply ventilation function facilitate air supply into the room. It is connected with the fact that operating conditioner takes the air from the room for blowing around of the heat exchanger-condenser. The air heated in this way is discharged into the open air, which reduces the air pressure in the room. The hose can also be installed in the lower pressure zone through gaps in the structure gaps in windows, walls, gaps in the door, etc . d. The air from the street or from the neighboring rooms will leak in. That is why producers of air conditioners recommend to leave the door ajar for improving ventilation in the room with a mobile conditioner.

Most of mobile conditioners are equipped with strainers of coarse mechanical filtering which retain the poplar fluff, dust and other big particles of dirt. The task of filters is to protect heat exchangers from contamination. More fine air filtration in mobile conditioners is less common than in split-systems. However, even in this segment there are models with additional filters such as sorbent charcoal, HEPA, antibacterial, etc. d. These filters can be washable or replaceable depending on the type . Besides filters, mobile conditioners often include air ionizers – these simple devices balance charged particles in the room by increasing the concentration of negative ions.

INSTALLATION

As it was already said, installation of mobile conditioner is not complicated and does not demand any specialists. It is true, here too there are some nuances. For example, a choice of the device installation place in the premise is limited by the hose length – in many models it is rather short, that is why the device should be placed near the window. It is not recommended to lengthen a duct: the air conditioner fan power may not be strong enough to circulate air through a longer duct, as a result hot air will accumulate inside the duct. All this can lead to overheating of heat-exchanger or compressor, emergency shutdown or even – in the worst case – breakage of the compressor. For the same reasons, the ducting must not be connected to the ventilation system either. It is also unacceptable to bend the hose too much during installation, because in this case the air circulation will be obstructed. but you have to take into account not only a certain length of the hose but also the specifics of its position – for example, the angle of the tilt of the device itself. Objects close to the house with an air conditioner must not block the air inlet grilles. It is important to follow the installation instructions because each model has its own design features.

There is also a problem with the hose routing. Mobile conditioner as well as split-system as well works most effectively in closed space – in a premise with closed windows. If a window is opened the cold air will rush out of the room and the warm outside air will take its place. Therefore, it is better not to lead the hose from the air conditioner just through a half-open window or a pane, but to fix it in a hole in the stopper specially adjusted to the sizes of the air outlet nozzle in order to achieve maximum productivity of the device. A blanking panel would block the rest of the window from letting the outside air in. However, the manufacturers also allow inserting the hose into a small gap in a half-open window for this purpose the special adapters with a long narrow nozzle that many devices are equipped with can be perfectly suitable they can be fixed even in a very small window gap . In this case, a certain amount of outside air will get into the room, which will also improve the ventilation of the room. But this would also reduce the cooling capacity, since the incoming air would have to be cooled to a comfortable temperature.

The hose does not have to be installed exactly in a window opening. It is also possible to lead it out into a specially made through hole in the wall. But this type of installation is not so easy and requires compromising the integrity of the wall. But it can be done, for example, in summer houses or in places where there are already ventilation holes in the walls.

Some users, striving to avoid noise of mobile conditioners, resort to a trick: they install the body of the device on the balcony, and for chilled air supply into the premise use the duct, fixed in the window leaf of the window facing the balcony. It turns out that the air conditioner is actually in the street and makes noise there, and the glazing protects from the noise. However, such experiments with installation can have unfortunate consequences. In the closed space of a balcony the device will overheat, as there is no possibility to take away a stream of hot air from a conditioner, and this can cause a breakdown.

In addition, the temperature on the glazed balcony especially if it is the sunny side is usually even higher than on the street. If a balcony, on the contrary, is not glazed, the conditioner will be exposed to influence of precipitations and street dirt dust, fluff and so on . d. , which also often causes malfunctions or a shortening of the service life. In any case, when installing on a balcony, there is the problem of temperature differences. The thing is that inside the room, the mobile conditioner takes the air in the room, cools it and returns back. The temperature in the room gradually decreases, the load on the unit also decreases, because it is no longer necessary to cool very hot air. If the mobile air conditioner housing is placed on the balcony, the device will have to take in and cool the hot outdoor air all the time. This causes both low efficiency of cooling and high power consumption. At last, installation outside the room and fixing additional air pipes to the device can cause the refusal of the manufacturer’s warranty, and that means that in case of the conditioner’s breakage you will have to fix it at your expence. That is why any experiments with operation of the mobile conditioner which are not described in the manual can be performed by users only at their own risk.

Another thing to consider is the power supply for the model. As any air conditioner, a mobile device requires rather high current when the compressor and motors are switched on and creates load on the mains. Before installing an air conditioner one must be sure that the electrical system is capable to maintain such appliances, and if it is possible, one should provide a grounded socket powered by an automatic circuit breaker. It is also undesirable to use extension cords with high-powered models.

EXECUTION

Easy servicing and maintenance are not less important advantage of mobile conditioners in comparison with split-systems. For example, split-systems require annual check-up – checking of duct tightness and operation parameters, cleaning of outdoor unit, etc. d. To a great extent the necessity of such inspections is connected with the fact that in air-conditioners of this type the line is being assembled directly on site – copper pipes are connected by soldering or rolling. It is also possible to have a leakage of coolant from the system, that is why its condition should be controlled. Unlike split-systems, mobile conditioners are fully factory-wrapped, their contours are hermetically sealed and do not require technical checkup and refrigerant charging in the process of operation. Thanks to it servicing of such appliances is reduced to minimum.

One of the main duties of the user is to clean the filters. The volume of air that goes through them is big, dust and other debris accumulate in great quantities, that is why they need to be cleaned regularly. This is not hard to do – the filters are usually removable and can be vacuumed or even washed in water and dried.

Specialists recommend to clean it every two weeks or more often depending on intensity of air conditioner operation and dirtiness of air . If a model uses filters with limited lifetime for example, HEPA , they must be replaced with new ones from time to time. One should not neglect these simple rules – excessive dustiness of filters and heat exchangers can lead both to the appliance productivity reduction and compressor breakage, not mentioning the risk of development of different harmful microorganisms bacteria, molds, etc. in dust accumulations. d. .

When any air conditioner is operating in a cooling mode, there accumulates condensate on the internal heat-exchanger. If in split-systems it is drained to the street through the drainage hoses, the mobile conditioner has a different situation. Some motors collect condensate in special tanks, which users have to empty periodically. At the same time more and more mobile conditioners on the market have a function of condensate evaporation – they release it together with the hot air stream outside. At very high humidity levels the appliance may not be able to evaporate all the condensate, that is why even with these models the manufacturers provide the option of removing the humidity with a hose to a separate container – just in case.

MOBILE AIR CONDITIONERS