Well, I don't know about you guys, but its already too hot in my little home office to think and a fan just seems to blow warm air around.
Opening a window just lets warmer air in.
Just looked at BBC for the weather for the next 5 days and it's not gonna change much.
I was thinking of popping out and getting one of these (http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/product/product.jsp?PRODID=8090023).
It looks to be one of the cheapest on the market and has a class A energy rating, nothing about the db levels though.
Does anyone know of a decent (cheap) aircon unit or own one of the above?
Has to be portable because I'd like to move it into the bedroom at night, my bedroom is part of an extension with a flat roof and the sun during the day turns it into a grill!
Unfortunately portables are never as good as getting fixed installations, so you'll have to put up with it being noiser, less convenient, less efficient and less powerful than a proper split condenser installation. I had a very similar unit to the one you mentioned before I switched to a fixed installation. It was much better than nothing, but it was noisy. needed emptying regularly and very heavy (so difficult to move from say lounge to bedroom).
One of the biggest problems is that because they are not that effective at cooling, you need them to be in the room for several hours to bring ambient down to your target level - this means that in practice, much as you might like to have it in one room during the day and another for night, you are more likely to do without it during the afternoon and move it in to your bedroom in early afternoon to allow sufficient time to cool room to your preferred overnight temperature.
The other problem is that a unit like that needs to be vented to a window - so you're letting all the hot air back in unless you're careful to pack the gaps in the open window with foam etc. Final problem was that they tend to come with a very short vent hose - about 1m in length. It is essential you work out if this will allow you to get the vent pipe to a window in your home - in mine it was real difficult. Yes you could get an extension pipe, but they charge about £100 for an extra metre and they are non-standard fittings, so don't fit the plumbing pipes available much more cheaply in the UK.
I have tried both and the fixed units are much better value imho. I found an installer who had two cheaper choices - one was a pair of units given to him as a volume bonus by the manufacturer, the other was a pair of units he had decommissioned from a practically new office (nice glass and chrome set up, but no cashflow so he had to take them out just 3 months after installing them). Worth ringing around to see if you can find similar.
I had my bedroom and home office air-conditioned about 2 years ago and I would not be without it - and going to sleep in a cool room is a nightly reminder of its value! I'm having an extension start in 4-8 weeks time (finally) and I have been so convinced by the value of air conditioning I am now trying to get it retro-fitted into the rest of the house whilst the builders have the ceilings and walls down!
TL.