The neatest but most expensive option is to have a hole punched through the room’s wall and a good sealing cap fitted to close the gap when you’re not using any air-con. But there is another way, though unfortunately it only applies to houses fitted with a working fireplace chimney. You see, the humble chimney was designed to port hot smoke out of the house, and it works brilliantly with air conditioners, too. I also tested the Russell Hobbs RHPAC11001 Portable Air Conditioner Unit at the same time as the MeacoCool MC Series 7000BTU Portable Air Conditioner and while both are effective units, the MeacoCool MC Series 7000BTU Portable Air Conditioner is best suited to those seeking a compact and lightweight unit that's easy to move around the house or transport. Designed to keep your home and office cool during the hottest months of the year, our air conditioners are designed to be fully portable so that you can use them anywhere in your home or office.

MeacoCool 10,000BTU portable air conditioner for use in the home or the office to provide personal cooling in rooms of around 28m². The reverse Heat Pump allows you to use this unit for heating as well making it useful all year round. To test out its cooling powers, I positioned the unit in a 4.5m by 4.5m room (approx. 15ft square) with higher than normal ceilings. To get the best out of your air conditioner we recommend pre-cooling your rooms – particularly bedrooms – before you need to use them. This means that your room is the right temperature, making it easier to work, sleep and live. This series of portable air conditioners have an Energy Rating of A, making them our most energy efficient air conditioners yet, allowing you to enjoy a cooler summer without having to worry about your energy bills. Not only has the energy efficiency increased, but we have also used the new R290 refrigerant making the air conditioners much more environmentally friendly.The 10000 CH has five modes: cool, fan, dry, heat and sleep. With an added a timer, you can get your room to the right temperature before you need to use it. The sleep mode is one of the reasons why customers love the MeacoCool range: it reduces both the fan speed and the noise level, making sure that you can sleep well even on the warmest nights. And the useful remote control allows you to adjust the unit whenever you need to. The Fan mode is the next in sequence and that’s self explanatory, which leaves one more option: Heat. This is a strange one because it seems to follow the same parameters as the Cool mode, with a temperature range from 16˚C to 32˚C. I set it to 32˚C and it didn’t seem to do anything more than blow air that was roughly the same temperature as the room, about 21˚C. The upshot is that if you want to keep warm, buy a proper blow heater. All MeacoCool air conditioning units come with a 3 year exclusive warrantyonly available from Air Con Centre for ease of mind when purchasing. That said, you don't have to have the unit running whilst you're in the room. At night time you can set the air conditioner to run before going to bed and then turn it off once the room is cooled. This is made easier thanks to the unit's built-in timer function. Portability

Like most air conditioners, the MeacoCool MC Series 7000 uses refrigerant to cool the air, but it does use the more sustainable R290 variant so it’s a little greener than older air-conditioners that use R410A or R22. However, when a heatwave strikes, outside is often hotter than inside, so for some the extra running costs and energy consumption of a portable air conditioner will be worth the added expense for short periods of the year. We’ve also designed the air conditioning unit to be as user-friendly as possible. A timer switch allows you to set the air conditioner to cool a room before you use it – perfect for bedrooms or when entertaining – and a sleep mode option reduces both the fan speed and the noise to help you maintain comfort even in the hottest weather. It also comes with a handy remote control, ensuring you’re always in charge. Introducing the brand new range of MeacoCool portable air conditioners perfect for home and office use providing personal comfort during the summer months. READ NEXT: The best portable air conditioners top buy today MeacoCool MC 7000: Key specifications and priceMeaco have added some great features to the MeacoCool range, to help you create the best environment for work, play or sleep. The Meaco units are perfect for the areas in your home that get the hottest - conservatories, bedrooms, home offices and gyms. They're great in an office environment too, where you want to keep colleagues comfortable and productive. In Cool mode, it hovered at around 667W with the fan speed set to low and rose to around 672W with the fan at high speed. That’s with the temperature set to its coldest level of 16℃, so over time that should fall to a lower level. Its slimline design is also perfect for those who are tight on storage space, as it can easily squeeze into a cupboard, under a worktop, or behind some furniture when it's not in use. Also in the box is a short pipe for draining moisture from the water collection tank and a small remote control. The latter allows you to turn the unit on and off, adjust the fan speed and temperature, switch modes and set the on/off timer. These controls are mirrored on the panel at the front of the air conditioner, along with a simple LED screen that indicates the target temperature. When in Cool Mode on High setting, and with the temperature set as 16, it brought the temperature down by approximately two degree Celsius in a super speedy ten minutes. (This was with the thermometer positioned at the side of the room close to the unit). A really immediate and noticeable impact.

We’ve also added a timer. This allows you to set the air conditioner to operate for anytime between one and 24 hours, so you can set it to come on for an hour before you go to bed, or before you get home in the evening, resulting in rooms that are the perfect temperature when you need them. However, when it comes to portable air-con, size most definitely matters. And besides, in the pantheon of household and office coolers it’s actually not that bad a looker. Yes it comes in hospital white livery, but it’s also aesthetically simple with rounded corners and therefore slightly inconspicuous – if you don’t glance in its direction. What I’m trying to say is that there are much uglier looking units out there. If the heat of summer is getting too much and a fan just won’t do, it might be time to consider buying a portable air conditioner (PAC) to keep those temperatures down. Contrary to what you might think, though, you don’t have to spend a fortune to get effective cooling. I would recommend it to anyone looking to cool down a small bedroom, home office, nursery, or similar over the summer. It doesn’t take up too much space to store either and is very easy to set up and use.We don’t have a sliding door or window for me to try the fixed window plates on, however, this method also looks very straightforward. It just involves sliding the pieces together to fit the size of your sliding door or window and then securing them with the screws provided. Then feed the hose through before closing the sliding door/window to secure it in place. The biggest issue with portable air-con units is the installation process required for efficient cooling. As the law of conservation of energy states, energy (in this case heat) can only be transformed or transferred from one form to another. Hence, you will need to vent the heated air generated by the AC out of the home using the supplied concertina hose and pile of window fittings. But more on that below. MeacoCool MC Series 14000 review: Features