Anyone had any success using an air cooler in a small office (5m x 4m roughly) that does not require pipes or installation? If so what model?

We are currently boiling in ours but (as per usual) do not want to shell out lots of readies if we are wasting our time.

We used to have a portable air conditioner in an office that just needed a vent out the window and that did a good job.

We have an office roughly the same size with 2 roughty toughty blokes and 6 servers/PCs all pumping out hot air. A B&Q unit for £250 stopped us sweating like squaddies in a spelling test. Can’t find it on their website anymore though.

sweating like squaddies in a spelling test.

😀
The original saying was “sweating like a paratrooper in a spelling test”.
It still works though, and it still makes me smile.

Fill your bin with cold water, take your shoes and socks off, roll up your trousers, and put your feet in the bin, covering your ankles.

Blinkin’ brilliant – had to do it when I worked in a rented office with rubbish portable air con units that did nothing – so hot the company even bought lcd monitors instead of crt monitors back when they were really expensive.

Try an evaporative cooler. Work to a degree. use water, lots of water. No need for a hose out of an open window. Wont be the same as a split a/c unit. But if you don’t want to spend money……..

This sort of thing?

Yep, something like that will work. You may need 2 of them, depending on heat load and personnel.

Evaporative cooling will send the humidity sky high.
They maybe ok in eviroments with low humidity, but in the uk were we’re pretty damp most of the time, they don’t work well..
When you need it the most, that’s when it’ll be the least efficient..

As Somouk said, just get a portable unit off ebay & either vent it through the window, or if you want a neater job, core drill the wall to the correct size & vent it through that. The smaller units use a vent the same size as most domestic clothes driers, so if you want to do a proper job you can get all the fittings from B&Q..

As Somouk said, just get a portable unit off ebay & either vent it through the window

we had one of those on every window but it was still hot, hence my bin idea, which works really well as it cools your blood at your ankles so makes you feel a lot better. Also good in the summer in the garden…

We took on a customer, with data centres using larger evaporative coolers. Yes, they increase humidity and , yes they work to a degree, as I said, but they made a slight impact on the room temperatures and in a delicate location they were in, made it bearable. Yes, we are looking to install proper aircon, but the fact is that they work to a point.

Portable units are pretty crap as well, but they should see you ok for a short term fix, just get the correct size. They’re usually underpowered, so for your room (the room calc is about 2.5kw ‘standard’ conditions) i’d get something between 3 to 4kw & vent it properly. Just be careful that your electrical supply is suitible.

The feet in a bin of cold water may also sound bizzare, but it will also work 😀 as long as you can get past the ‘elf & saftey aspect!..

Thrustyjust- i’m not disputing that evaporative coolers work, they make sense for certain applications, they’re just not ideal for comfort cooling. 2 rooms at the same temp but with 2 different humidities will ‘feel’ very different. If thats all someone has then fair doo’s, but if they’re going to spend their money then they may as well buy something that would be more suitible for their needs.
In my experience anywhere thats got evaporative cooling for any sort of critical enviroment, have eventually also ended up putting in de-humidification.

Fill your bin with cold water, take your shoes and socks off, roll up your trousers, and put your feet in the bin, covering your ankles.

For added comfort add some fine sand to the bottom of the bin, turn on a bright daylight lamp, and keep a tall iced Piña Colada on your desk 😀