Does A Portable Air Conditioner Use Up A Lot Of Energy Or Electricity?
I have a 9000 BTU portable air conditioner for my room. It has about 115 volts. Does this take up a lot of electricity?
Answer:
Look at the nameplate of your AC unit for an amperage or wattage value. Assuming you don't have that information, here are some other comments. Since the portable unit has a 115 V plug, the maximum load is 12 amps. This is because NEC Section 210-21(b)(2) limits the load on a 15 amp plug to only 12 amps. 12 amps x 115 volts = 1380 watts. Call it 1400 watts or 1.4 kW. For a new portable AC unit, the minimum energy efficiency rating (EER) that can be sold in the US is between 8 and 9. This value varies depending on the unit's cooling capacity. 9,000 BTU ÷ 8 = 1125 watts 9,000 BTU ÷ 9 = 1000 watts Let's assume the actual load is somewhere in the middle and call it 1100 watts or 1.1 kW Look at your latet electric bill to determine the cost of energy. The cost per kilowatt-hour (kWh) is generally in the range of 10¢ to 15¢. Though some cities can be as high at 25¢ or as low as 5¢. Without better data, I will assume your energy costs are 15¢ per kWh. This means that your AC unit will cost 15¢ / kWh x 1.1 kW = 16.5¢ per hour of operation.