Portable Room Air Conditioners

LurkNessMonster
Sun, 22 Jul 2007 23:50:43 +0000

I don’t have experience with these in a dorm room, but I had a Pinguino years ago, and it was a beast. First of all, these ACs are hard to vent. You have to stick the exhaust tube out a window. That of course means that the window has to be open a bit, which allows the cool air to escape and the hot air to enter, defeating the purpose. I ended up having a special window panel made up by a local hardware store.

Second inconvenience: My Pinguino had to be filled with water in order to run. Maybe the newer models are different. So I had to lug the water container into the bathroom to fill it in the tub. Not fun at 3 a.m., and that’s when I ended up doing it because the water would run out at approximately that hour each night. Ah, memories!

Third drawback: It tended to leak.

So if I were you, I would check out these machines carefully. My experience may not be valid anymore because I bought the Pinguino used, and it was about 15 years ago. Maybe they’re better now! I sure hope so.