Buying Guide · Portable Air Conditioning
Portable Air Conditioner Without a Hose: What Works in the UK
No real air conditioner can cool a room without sending the heat somewhere. Here is what the "no hose" products on sale are, when they work, and the hose-free options that do cool a room.
Last updated: 4 October 2026
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If you have searched for a portable air conditioner without a hose, you have probably found dozens of them on Amazon for under £100. None of them is an air conditioner. They are evaporative coolers: a fan blowing across a wet pad. On the right day they help. On a humid night they make things worse.
Quick answer: a portable air conditioner with no hose and no vent does not exist, because the heat it takes out of the room has to go outdoors. You have three real choices. An evaporative cooler for £55–£90 if your hot days are dry. A Midea PortaSplit for about £1,100, which replaces the hose with a thin pipe through the window gap. Or a fitted system from about £1,500. If your real problem is a window the hose kit won't fit, there are ways round that too.
On this page:
Is there a portable air conditioner without a hose?
No. An air conditioner doesn't make cold. It moves heat from one place to another, and the hose is where the heat leaves. A typical 12,000 BTU portable unit takes about 3.5 kW of heat out of the room air and adds roughly another 1 kW from its own compressor and fans. All of that goes out through the hose.
Take the hose away and the same machine blows cold air out of the front and more than that amount of heat out of the back, into the same room. The net effect is a 1 kW heater. That is physics, not a design choice, and no manufacturer has a way round it.
So every real air conditioner has a route to the outdoors. In a portable unit it is a hose. In a split system it is a pair of thin refrigerant pipes. In a through-the-wall unit it is two holes behind the casing. Our guide to how air conditioning works covers the detail.
What "no hose" air conditioners really are
Listings that say hoseless, ventless, windowless or "no installation" are almost always evaporative coolers, also sold as air coolers. A fan pulls room air through a pad soaked from a water tank. Some of the water evaporates, which takes heat out of the air, and the air comes out cooler and damper.
Four signs you are looking at an evaporative cooler and not an air conditioner:
Watch the wording. Some sellers call these "portable air conditioners" in the title and "air cooler" in the small print. Our guide to unbranded portable air conditioners shows how to check a listing in 30 seconds.
The hose-free options compared
These are the ways to cool a room in a UK home without a hose hanging out of the window, from cheapest to dearest. Running costs use the October 2026 price cap of 26.32p per kWh.
| Option | Typical cost | Running cost | Cools the room? | Needs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fan | £20–£150 | Under 2p an hour | No. It cools you, not the air | A socket |
| Evaporative cooler | £55–£90 | 1–2p an hour | A little, on dry days only | An open window and water |
| Midea PortaSplit | About £1,100 | Up to 29p an hour | Yes | A window that opens, and somewhere outside it for the outdoor half |
| Through-the-wall unit | £1,500–£3,000 fitted | About 18–30p an hour | Yes | Two 160mm holes in an outside wall |
| Split system | £1,500+ fitted | 8–13p an hour | Yes, and quietly | An outdoor unit and an installer |
| Portable with a hose, for comparison | £250–£700 | 26–36p an hour | Yes | A window or wall vent for the hose |
Evaporative coolers: the "no hose" unit that might suit you
An evaporative cooler is cheap, light, quiet and costs pennies to run. Whether it works depends on one thing: how dry the air is. Below about 50% relative humidity it works well. Between 50% and 65% it is marginal. Above 65% it mostly adds damp.
We checked the recorded weather for summer 2026. In London, 54 of the 59 days that reached 25°C had dry afternoon air, and a cooler would have blown air about 7°C below room temperature. In Manchester it was 19 of 24. In Glasgow, none of the five hot days was dry enough. Nights are more humid everywhere, so expect roughly half the daytime effect in a bedroom.
PELONIS 5L 3-in-1 Evaporative Air Cooler
No hose · two ice packs included · remote · 2-year warranty
Our pick from the evaporative coolers we compared: fan, cooler and humidifier in one, with a sleep mode quiet enough for a bedroom. Before you buy any of them, put your postcode into the checker in our evaporative cooler guide. It uses recorded weather for your area to tell you how many hot days were dry enough for one to help.
Midea PortaSplit: a real air conditioner with no air hose
This is the closest thing to what most people are searching for. The PortaSplit is a split system you fit yourself. The indoor unit stands on the floor on wheels. The compressor sits in a separate box that stands on the ground or a balcony, or hangs outside the window on a bracket sold separately. The two are joined by a fixed, flexible line 2 metres long, which passes through the gap of a slightly open window.
Because no room air is blown outside, none is pulled in to replace it, which is the main weakness of a hosed portable unit. The compressor noise stays outdoors, and the unit heats as well as cools. Midea rates it at 3.5 kW of cooling with an efficiency ratio of 3.2, which works out at about 1.1 kW of electricity at full power.
Midea PortaSplit 12,000 BTU
No air hose · heats and cools · 39 dB in silent mode · A++
The catch is the price, and the outdoor half. You need a window you can leave slightly open and a safe place for a heavy box within 2 metres of it, which rules out many upstairs flats. The whole unit weighs about 45 kg, and the 39 dB figure applies to silent mode only. On 4 October it was £1,099 on Amazon, with other sellers from about £1,000. It has been as low as £950, so check the price before you plan around it.
Fitted air conditioning with no hose
If you own your home and want cooling every summer, two fitted options have no hose at all.
Through-the-wall unit with no outdoor unit
One box on an outside wall · two 160mm holes behind it · nothing mounted outside
Everything is in one indoor casing, which breathes through two holes drilled through the wall and covered by small grilles outside. It is the usual answer where an outdoor unit isn't allowed or there is nowhere to put one. Units such as the Olimpia Splendid Unico range cost from about £790 to £2,300 before fitting. It is less efficient than a split system, and flats, listed buildings and conservation areas still need consent for the holes.
Split system
Wall unit indoors · compressor outdoors · fitted by an F-Gas engineer
The quietest and cheapest to run, at 8–13p an hour against 26–36p for a portable unit, and it heats in winter too. Our installation cost calculator gives a price for your home, and the split air conditioner guide covers brands and running costs.
Can't fit a hose to your window?
Many people searching for a hose-free unit don't mind the hose. The problem is the window. The flat plastic slider in the box is made for sash and sliding windows, and most UK windows open outwards on a hinge. There is usually a way to vent a normal portable unit, and it costs far less than the alternatives above.
Casement window seal kit
For side-hinged and top-hinged windows, the most common UK types
A fabric seal that sticks round the frame and zips shut around the hose, so the window can stay open a few inches without letting the heat back in. It peels off at the end of summer, which makes it suitable for renters.
For tents, campervans and garden offices, the EcoFlow WAVE 3 vents through two short ducts and can run from a battery. It is small, at about 6,100 BTU, and was out of stock at EcoFlow's UK store when we checked on 3 October 2026. It is covered in our best portable air conditioner guide.
Which should you choose?
| Your situation | Best fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Renting, hinged window, a few hot weeks a year | Portable unit with a casement seal kit | Real cooling for £250–£400, and nothing permanent |
| Dry area, small budget, cooling at a desk or sofa | Evaporative cooler | £55–£90 and pennies to run, if your postcode check comes back dry |
| Bedroom, most nights, noise matters | Midea PortaSplit or a split system | The noisy part is outdoors and no hot air is pulled in |
| Own the home, use it every summer | Split system | Lowest running cost, and it heats in winter |
| Outdoor unit not allowed, or nowhere to put one | Through-the-wall unit | Nothing mounted outside, only two grilles |
| Room with no window and no outside wall | Fan, or evaporative cooler with the door open | No route for heat to leave, so real air conditioning is not possible |
Frequently asked questions
Want cooling with no hose at all?
A fitted split system costs 8–13p an hour to run and has no hose and no window kit. Get free quotes from F-Gas certified local installers.
Get Free AC Quotes →Related Guides
Published 4 October 2026. Prices and stock checked on 3 and 4 October 2026 and will change. Running costs use the October 2026 Ofgem price cap of 26.32p per kWh. Weather figures are our own analysis of recorded hourly temperature and humidity for June to August 2026 from Open-Meteo. Through-the-wall unit prices are from UK retailer listings and an installer guide. Some links on this page are affiliate links.