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List Price: $349.99
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Purchased this unit a few weeks ago to cool a small office room (about 120sf). I was skeptical when I bought it because I was unsure how well portable AC units could be. The unit works really well and is very nice looking. The blowers are somewhat loud but given the small size of my room that is to be expected. It's not annoying loud. My only complaints were the poor documentation regarding the drainage. There are two drainage outlets. The upper one requires a garden hose attachment. This is only required if you are using the unit in the dehumidifier mode (which I am not). The instructions about this one were clear. The second drainage port is very small at the bottom of the unit. There were no specific instructions about this. It has a soft rubber cap. Once a day I place a shallow tin (pie tin) and drain the water. This is really important otherwise you will have a leak on your floor. Ideally you would hook up some type of small tube to drain. The only problem is that this drain is only about an inch above the floor which makes draining somewhat clumsy.
You do need to vent the unit and it comes with a good length, expandable, 6" thick plastic vent tube. I believe it stretches to 6 feet. Also comes with a window adapter.
Aside from the drainage issue, the unit seems very well made and works wonderfully. Comes with a remote control which I have not used.
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WARNING-
There is NO REASON to drain the water from the bottom outlet during normal conditions.
Modern portable units REUSE the condensation water to their advantage (for evaporative cooling). The only time you would drain is if you need to move the portable system.
BACKGROUND-
My house has central air, but my computer room gets hot on it's own, and central air doesn't kick in since the average house temperature isn't hot enough for it to kick in. So the solution? Get an air conditioner for just the computer room. I have a vertical sliding window, and that makes getting an affordable window air conditioner quite difficult. I settled for this portable AC.
INSTALL-
Installation of the window pane didn't take too long, and was generally easy. Only issue is that although the pane was more than long enough (maximum length of 48.5"; minimum of 26.6"), the amount of non-adhesive and adhesive seal was insufficient to make rounds around the window, resulting in gaps for outside air to freely come in, as well as potential bugs.
Another issue is that the window pane has holes on it for screws that I'm not using (since this is meant for both vertical and horizontal window panels; so I'm not using the horizontal screws), and again, this will result in the outside air to freely come in, as well as potential bugs.
Both issues are solved by getting more seal, and/or taping it up.
Note that sound and heat/cold radiation will be more with this window pain, since it's just one sheet, as opposed to double-panel windows, which insulate very well.
In addition to the window kit, an L-shaped metal hinge is included so that you can block the window from sliding, since you can't lock your window anymore (for vertical sliding windows), for security.
ACCESSORIES-
The duct is of better quality than I imagined. It's very hard, and will not crinkle easily, and can do tight turns (although this is not recommended in the manual). It however does not come with any insulating material, so you may want to get a cover for it to insulate the heat better. The duct ranges from 15" to 55" in length.
The remote is also of better quality than I imagined. It has a small LCD display with backlight that shows the current settings, and you can change any of these settings using it. I expected a non-LCD remote with just buttons on it. It uses 2 AAA batteries, of which are included.
COOLING-
It cools. Very well. Outside temperature is 70F, house temperature is 77F, room temperature was 89F while installing this unit. After about an hour, room temperature is down to 75F, of which I am happy of (and will keep around there).
This unit features fan-only mode and cooling mode, with cooling mode having two options: manual and auto. Manual, you control everything, fan speed and temperature. Auto, it controls it by itself to get it down to the temperature you want it at, and keep it there (so if it's hot, it will blast the fan at full 'till it gets to lower temperature, then start using slower fan speed for quieter operations).
It also features sleep-mode, in addition to timers, which increases the temperature every half hour for 7 hours, then decreases it back to what you set it at (so you can save energy by not using it as much when you're asleep).
Power consumption, in the manual, says it uses 8.4-9.1A @ 115V input, and estimates a power usage of 560 Watts for cooling.
Note: Fan is on at all times if the device is on, presumably to take advantage of the evaporative cooling, so it will never be silent as long as it's on. Be sure to take this into account if you're planning on using this in the room you sleep in.
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I bought this unit for my 180 sq ft home office which needs more cooling power than our central unit can deliver. The room has 3 large east-facing windows which receive full sunlight for at least 4 hours each morning in the summer. It also contains a workstation-class laptop computer, 2 22" monitors, an external hard drive, and several pieces of networking hardware.
With the doors closed this room easily reaches 85 degrees by noon each day in the summer (even with the window blinds closed), while the central AC maintains the rest of the house at 78 degrees.
The first full day I used this unit I left it off and the office doors and blinds closed until 10 AM when the room had reached 84.6 degrees. After running full-blast for 1 hour the room temperature had dropped to just 78.9 degrees and never dropped below 78 degrees until the windows were shaded.
If you have a medium-sized home office this unit will provide more than enough cooling power to negate the effects of your electronics, but if you don't already have central AC you will need a bigger unit.
Keep in mind that the 5000 BTUs of cooling provided is enough to balance out the effects of about 15 100W light bulbs (each bulb produces 341 BTUs of heat per hour). You can calculate the wattage of other electronic devices by multiplying their power source voltage * amps (the wattage is sometimes provided by the manufacturer in the user manual).
Also keep in mind that this is a single-hose unit which creates negative air pressure in the room where it operates. This causes some air to be drawn from other parts of the building to balance the pressure. If you need a portable unit as your primary cooling source you should look for a two-hose unit that maintains a more neutral air pressure.
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We got this for my daughter's room, which gets hotter than most of the house, despite having only an eastern and a northern exposure. On a moderately hot day, in the 80s, it will keep her room comfortable. But if it's in the 90s (when she needs it most!), it just can't keep up. When the temperature was in the mid to upper 90s, the best we could get in her room was 84. And this is a very, very small room (less than 100 square feet). Maybe I'm expecting too much. But sometimes the air blowing out doesn't even feel cold.
On the positive side, it's reasonably quiet (for this type of unit), it doesn't make strange noises (as these units often do), it's simple to operate and easy to install, and it's certainly a lot better than not having any AC at all. But if you often have days in the 90s or higher, I would recommend that you get an AC unit with a higher BTU rating, even if you are only cooling a small space. Conventional window air conditioners are not allowed where we live (so I'm grateful for this type of AC unit), but if they are an option for you, they are much, much more efficient than portable ACs.
UPDATE: After just a couple of months, the unit completely quit working, so I've lowered my rating from three stars to one.
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Don't know what the other bad reviewers are talking about. I got my unit today and it works fine. Put it in the computer room and set the temperature to 75 and in less than 20 minutes the room was cold.
There are five modes: Cooling (AC), Heating, Dry (dehumidifier), Fan & Auto mode. Only the Cooling mode blows cold air and you need to set the machine to it first. Unless the other one-star reviewers actually have a defective unit I assume they are not setting the machine correct.
Pros: 1. Wheels are smooth and did not scratch my hardwood floor, a concern of mine as this weighs about 40 pounds.
2. Blows cold air in under a minute
3. Has a big handle at the top of the unit for easy rolling PLUS two side handles for easy lifting up and down stairs. Sweet!
4. Simple intuitive user interface and the remote is just as nicely designed, too.
Cons: 1. It's big at 28" high & 16" wide. Imagine a large window mounted AC sideways and this is what you got. I thought it'd be as big as a paper trash bin but it's more like a kitchen trash can.
2. The hose from the back of the machine to the window is huge. The machine itself is sleek but the hose going to window won't win any beauty contest.
Not a pro or con but it's as loud as every other AC I ever owned, meaning it quickly becomes background static after a few minutes.
Coclusion: I finally bought a portable AC because come summertime I hated the fact that I lose a window, and sunlight, in the computer room and bedroom. I'm glad I picked this up and my sister is getting one for her home, too.
