Would you put a portable AC in a rental?

Question

I know there is a lot of threads about installing but none that talk in depth about portable A/C units...

Backstory: I purchased a 3 bed, 2 bath duplex in Baraboo, WI which rents for $995. Its about 1200 sq ft. It currently has a boiler with baseboard heating. No duct work currently. It seems like the majority of the rentals in my area come with some type of AC. In the past tenants have used window ACs but have resulted in significant water damage in the walls.

Question: I was considering alternatives to window ACs including: central AC, split mini ductless AC, through the wall ACs, or portable ACs (ones that look like dehumidifiers). Central and split mini ductless would run me at least $3900 per side from the quotes from installers. Through the wall is cheaper but an eye sore (for the neighborhood) and pain when looking for replacements.

So I"m wondering why nobody uses the little portable ACs? Particularly ones that is self evaporating so no pan to clean up under. I was thinking of buying them for tenants. Seems like a good investment to avoid costly water damage for poorly installed window ACs?

Ashley Schroeder · Answer

We have experience with both (personally and for our rental)! Portable A/Cs are extremely loud. We have one in our server room (my husband does IT) to keep his servers cool. We took a lot of extra care to soundproof our room and you can still hear the A/C unit (over the servers running which can be loud in itself) outside of our room. When we even left the door to the server room open (when our one A/C was dying), we would have a really hard time listening to our TV at a normal volume level. Another concern we have found, although we use our portable A/C units in a confined space as well as put a lot of demand on it, I feel we are turning over those units every 1-2 years (prices ranged from $400-$700 per unit for our nicer ones). And we try to keep it at 72F, so nothing crazy cold. So this may be why many people don't use them. I would fear how well a cheap version of these would fare.

Due to the build of our SFR property we never placed an A/C unit out there (we initially lived in the home first). We had always used window A/C units in conjunction with ceiling fans. We don't have as many water issues as we had concerns over tenants ruining the window frames due to getting them in and out. We just tell our tenants now that we are more than happy to come out and install the window units, as well as take them out, so that there is no concern over water damage or ruining our windows. Since the units are heavy enough, all of our tenants so far have allowed for us to do the install in spring/summer and take them out every fall. Where our property is located (Suamico, slightly north of Green Bay) we have more concerns over a lot of bugs getting in around the units.

Just our experience with them! Good luck!

Dawn Anastasi · Answer

I have never used portable A/Cs. Many of my rentals don't even have A/C. I only use the central air in my house about 5-10 days per year.

Chris Martin · Answer

@Dawn Anastasi may be of help...

Would you put a portable AC in a rental?

4 Replies