Got an Electriq one too that gets dragged out of the garage every year for a few weeks. Been going for about 6 or 7 years now. It is noisy, and heavy, but it cools our lounge down nicely. I cut some cardboard strips to stick in the gap in the sliding patio doors above the hose, and just pull a curtain across to hide them.
Literally any portable AC unit will be fine.
I went with the cheap option at the time, got a refurbished Elecriq model off Appliance Direct back in 2018, it's still going strong. Blowing cool air at me as we speak! Added another one of the same brand for the bedroom in 2023.
Unfortunately, you've picked the worst possible time to buy as prices are dynamic on these things and when it's hot they'll be expensive, when it's winter it'll be cheaper, but needs must.
The key thing to bear in mind is the output capacity. The BTU (British thermal units) rating.
What you need will depend on the size of your room. But the higher the BTU the better. If you can find a 15000BTU+ unit it'll get even the largest open-plan living space down to arctic temps. You probably don't want to go below 10000 BTU or it'll feel a bit anaemic. Your budget might be a bit low... I'd add £100 to that or you'll probably end up with a pretty low power version.
Also top tip, if you can get a smart one that's got wifi that's a bonus as you'll be Abel to turn it on from the sofa an hour os so before you go to bed and blast the room cold on full power, so when you get in to bed you can turn it down to the lowest setting to maintain that temp so it's less noisy.
The new ones run much quieter. Apparently the medium one is one of the quietest on the market, but I bought the bigger one. What I didn’t realise at the time about the Electriq is that the condensate is used to get a bit more cooling power out of the unit.
DeLonghi. They perform better and are quieter than the budget models.
In the mega summer I got an ElectriQ standalone one. And it did get out 40 degree office down to 25c, but it’s louder than a jet taking off and still not “cold”.
A friend has the equivalent DeLonghi and it’s quieter and much cooler. I should have gone with them.
We moved house and got a proper split system in our loft conversion and it’s WAY better. The nighttime indoor quiet mode is amazing and we just pop a fan at the top of the stairs when it is really hot to blow cool air downstairs.
It heats and air purifies too.
cl530
