If you’re looking for portable air conditioner solutions for your home, business, warehouse, or other location, consider your options and some pertinent information before you make the move. Units can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on what kind of model you get, so make sure you know what you want before you make the purchase!

Some sellers out there offer air conditioning units not for residences but rather businesses and larger buildings. Know if you’re doing this for your home or for a large area instead. Look for a seller that caters to your specific environment.

You also need to be aware of what features your space will require. For instance, if you’re in a basement-like setup and have no place to ventilate condensed air, a water cooled unit would be a better choice for you instead of an air cooled machine.

How big is the space you’re looking to cool down? When shopping for a unit, you’ll find that it’s often listed in the specs what size room you can cool with the machine. If you only want your 8 by 10 foot bedroom to be cooled down at night, you definitely don’t want to purchase a machine intended for a 300 square foot space, and vice versa.

Also take into consideration how cool you’d like the room to be. If you’re purchasing something for your home environment, the exact temperature you cool to probably isn’t as relevant, but it will matter to you if you’re purchasing for something like a computer room, where your equipment has to be kept at a certain temperature to be running optimally. Many units bottom out at about 65 degrees F (18 C) but lower temperatures can be found if needed.

Do you need a lot of mobility with your unit or no? If you’re planning on using the machine as a permanent fixture more or less, you can buy a unit weighing thousands of pounds and not meant to be moved around on a regular basis. If, however, you’re looking to find something that you can take from room to room with you throughout your house, you’ll obviously want something smaller and more mobile, preferably with casters.

And you can also choose between the two main types of machines: water cooled systems and air cooled systems. Some of the advantages of water cooled over air cooled are that they’re often cheaper and more efficient, but depending on your actual needs an air cooled system might be the better choice for you.

If you’re looking for a way to air condition a space without punching a hole in the wall or installing a central air conditioning unit, using a portable air conditioner might be the best option for you. Take into consideration what your needs are and how you intend to use this machine in order to help you make the right decision about what style and model will be best for you.

Morgan White likes to write reviews for best portable ac units and relevant articles. He has reviews for Whynter portable air conditioners, Haier portable air conditioners, Alen portable air conditioners and more.