Cleveland — If you didn't spend your 4th of July inside to avoid the heat, many of you were likely going back and forth between the grill and your home to get a little A/C.
But is that cool cutting into your budget? Or perhaps the cost has keep you from buying one?
In any case, Consumer Reports ranked the hottest window air conditioners that won’t break the bank, so you don't lose your cool this summer. Some were priced as low as $150.
Chris Regan from Consumer Reports says the most important part of their test is obviously seeing how well they're going to cool your space.
In their study, they grouped the A/Cs into three main sizes, based the size of the room you need to cool and on BTU’s, which stands for British Thermal Units. It essentially tells you how quickly and effectively a unit can cool a room.
Small A/Cs are best for 100 to 300 square foot-rooms.
Medium...for 250 to 400 square foot-rooms.
And large A/C's should cool 350 to 650 square foot-rooms.
But none of that matters if the air conditioner can't quickly and quietly cool a room.
So in the Consumer Reports special lab, the A/Cs had to lower the temperature inside this chamber to a set point of 75 degrees.
Sounds easy, but testers put them to work in a room that's 90 degrees, with nearly 60 percent humidity.
Another factor in CR's scoring: An accurate thermostat.
"How accurate that thermostat is saves you money. If the air conditioner is thinking that it's still trying to hit 75 degrees, even though it's actually at a room temperature of 71 degrees, it is running longer than it needs to and wasting electricity," says Regan.
The best air conditioners in the Consumer Reports tests can cool a room in about 15 minutes or less, keep the temperature consistent, and the best part, won't kill your wallet.
Like the Amana AMAP061BW for a smaller room of less than 300 square feet, which you can get for less than $200.
For a medium-sized room, Consumer Reports recommends the GE AHM05LW which you can find for as low as $150.
And for larger rooms, up to 650 square feet, the LG for about $350 gets the green light.
But if you just have to be outside, may I suggest the wearable air conditioner, called a Blu Snap, which was designed for motorcycle riders.
"It's very cool so it gives you a very comfortable feeling like you get in an car AC,” says Shubham Thakur of India, who uses the helmet.
At only $29 dollars the battery powered cooler is a real head-turner.
Now you may be wondering about portable air conditioners. Consumer Reports gives them the thumbs down. They're expensive and in their tests, CR says even the biggest units struggled to cool a room below sweltering.
Here are the reviews from Consumer Reports:
Click here for information on BluSnap Helmets