No tradesperson required — but the difference between a well-installed portable and a badly installed one is enormous. Poor venting was behind most of the "it doesn't cool" complaints we heard in fifteen years of selling these machines. Follow the steps below and yours will perform to spec.
1. Position the unit
As close to the window as possible: the shorter and straighter the exhaust duct, the better. Every bend and every extra metre of hose lets heat radiate back into the room. Leave at least 30 cm of clearance around the intake grilles, keep the unit on a hard level surface, and plug it directly into a wall socket — not a powerboard, as compressors draw serious current on startup.
2. Fit the window kit
Every portable ships with a slider kit for the window. Extend the panel to fill the opening, sit the duct connector in it, and close the window against it. Measure your window before buying the unit: most kits suit sliding windows and sashes within a set range, while casement (crank-out) windows usually need a soft seal kit instead.
3. Seal everything
This is the step people skip and regret. Any gap around the kit lets hot outside air pour straight back into the room you're paying to cool. Close gaps with the supplied foam strips, weather seal, or a purpose-made window seal kit — the single cheapest performance upgrade in the category. On a 38° day, a sealed window is worth several degrees inside.
4. Sort the drainage
Modern units are self-evaporative: they exhaust most condensate out the duct with the hot air, and you'll only empty the reservoir occasionally in humid weather. Check your model's manual for its drain plug location, and if you're running dehumidify mode hard, consider a continuous-drain hose to a floor drain or bucket.
5. No suitable window?
Sliding-door vent kits span full-height door openings; through-wall venting is possible but crosses into handyman territory; and venting into a ceiling cavity or another room simply moves your heat problem around the house — avoid it. If no venting path exists at all, an evaporative cooler (which needs no duct) may be the better machine for that room, climate permitting.
Running it well
Close doors to the cooled room, drop blinds against western sun, and set a realistic thermostat — every degree lower costs roughly 10% more power. Rinse the filter monthly during the season; a clogged filter quietly steals capacity. Then read what it costs to run to keep the bills honest.