8000 Btu Air Conditioner

By Author: Filiberto Allison
Total Articles: 53
Comment this article

It's usually better to have and not need than to need and not have. It definitely is with portable air conditioners. Not having sufficient cooling power is frustrating and expensive. Most people seem to get that. But on the other hand the answer to the title is "no". It is surprising how many calls I get from people who want a 14,000 BTU portable air conditioner, but don't know how big their room is, and haven't thought about the heat load in the room. I'm glad they call, because getting the right tool is basic for any job, providing cooling, and they need help! Because overkill on power is usually unneeded and again, pricey. One really needs to think about these issues when looking for the best unit.

For most manufacturers of residential units, the 14,000 BTU portable air conditioner is their most powerful. They typically range from about 8000 up, often in 2000 BTU increments. The BTU rating is criticIt's usually better to have and not need than to need and not have. al because it tells one the cooling capacity of the unit, the higher the number, the more air it can cool in a given time period. The bigger the room, the ...
... more air, and the more power that is needed. Many manufacturers will list a "maximum" or "up to" square footage in their product description, but be careful with those numbers. It's not quite that simple. Those numbers are derived from testing under ideal conditions, which rarely exist in the real world. Certainly not in my house! One must think about ceiling height and heat producers like electronics and large sunlit windows in the room as well, because high ceilings and heat load increase the work load on a portable ac. One wants to make sure and get a unit effective enough that it has "cycle off" time, so the unit doesn't run continuously, and that often means moving up in power by one increment over the recommended number. But one need not go crazy with it. There's no need to put a 14,000 BTU portable air conditioner in a 100 square foot room, where 8,000 BTU's would be sufficient, unless it is a server room or has some other massive heat load. As one might expect, the more power, the more expense, and I don't like to see people waste money needlessly.

On the flip side, the last thing one wants to do is undersize. The unit will then run constantly trying to reach the desired temperature. It will not last as long and will run up some pretty high energy bills to boot. Some applications are just too big for a residential unit. Even a 14,000 BTU portable air conditioner is not going to be adequate for a room of say 600 + square feet. A large window or through-wall unit or a mini-split system would be a better choice in that instance. And for business applications there are commercial portable units that are much more powerful.

Another consideration is the heat function, which is basically a reversal of the cooling. In some units, the heat function has a significantly lower BTU rating than the cooling function, and therefore may not be adequate even if the cooling is. So one should take note of that when evaluating different models. The best way is by looking at the specifications, which should have all the details you need to compare, and will also give the actual BTU rating, not rounded up for advertising. And if you have any questions,

Have you been looking for extra on 8000 BTU Air Conditioner? Go to Jason G. Tanner's blog page now for extra data on 8000 BTU Air Conditioner without delay.