I rated this 3 stars which Amazon defines as "It's OK" which is how I feel about it :)* Size/Weight/Move-ability 10/10 -I think the size and weight are fine, the unit is heavy (~50lbs) but not so heavy that you can't lift it from the box, it does have handles on the side to grab, and rolls in any direction on casters. It's not very large, about the size of a modern dehumidifier or mini-fridge
* Front Panel/Controls 5/10 -The controls are straight forward and easy to use, the exception being that when you're in the "AUTO" mode you can not adjust the fan speed, it's a little odd. The big problem, and why I rate it 5/10 is that there are six SUPER BRIGHT LEDs on the front of the unit, as far as I can tell they serve no purpose whatsoever, they are simply there and they are on whenever the unit is on. When it's bright in the room it's not a big deal, but at night when you're trying to sleep this is a big issue, I'm probably going to have to cut out little wedges of electrical tape or something to stick over them. It comes with an IR remote that lets you control it as well. The display on the front will show the room temperature normally and when you are adjusting the temperature controls up and down it will change to show the desired temp for a few seconds. One note here is that the unit seems to stop cooling even when you're a good 5*F or so away from the desired temp--Example, it was 78* in my room last night and I set the unit for 73* it was running for a while but when the temp hit 77* the compressor shut off for a very long time and the room started to feel hot, temp went back up to 78* and it clicked back on... this may just be a quirk with my unit or something, but my window-mounted a/c will keep running until their ambient temp sensors equal the desired temp setting.
* Window Adapter/Hose 8/10 -This is a single hose model, that means that it sucks air from the room to blow over the condenser (hot part) and then that air is blown outside; something to keep in mind is that you are sucking air from the room which means you are blowing your "conditioned" air outside as part of the normal process, as a result this unit will not cool a room as efficiently as a dual-hose model or a window/wall unit which both use outside air to cool the condenser--so this 10kBTU model will not cool a room as well as a 10kBTU window unit (it might be more comparable to a 7-8kBTU?). The window/hose adapters are decent quality, the only complaint I have is that I wish the adapter were "taller", my window sill is about 1" high, as a result the hose hits the sill before it the adapter hits the base, this isn't a big deal, but just wanted to note it. Another thing to note, some people complain about the window adapters not sealing very well--this one seems to do an OK job, the window just closes on the flat top of the adapter as a seal. The thing to keep in mind w/ these portable a/c's is that having a fantastic seal is not really expected or needed for the unit to operate, you get just as much air leakage around window mounted a/c's. The window adapter, hose adapter and hose are all well constructed and made of good materials--one tip: first screw the hose onto the unit, then screw the wide-mouth adapter thing onto the hose, THEN put the wide-mouth adapter into the window adapter, if you buy this you'll see what I mean :)
* Cooling/Air Output 10/10 -Works great! Very cold air, and it blows the air fast out of the vent, much better then my window mounted units which feel like they just dribble out air sometimes
* Noise 7/10 -First: It makes noise, all air conditioners do, if you need silence to sleep then you need another solution other then window/portable a/c's, I can sleep with the "white noise" of a fan/motor running. The unit is no louder then my 8kBTU window-mount unit when operating with and without it's compressor running; however, the reason I give it a 7/10 is that the unit tends to make more noise when the compressor turns on and off then my window unit does, in addition the compressor cycles on/off very often and for short periods, which exacerbates the issue. So far it has been waking me up, and that's not good, it remains to be seen if I can used to the noise, or this will become an awake-only unit.
* Draining 5/10 -With low room humidity this unit should be able to exhaust most of the water out with the waste air, which means no draining... but with high humidity you need to drain the unit, this an issue on this unit because unlike other units it does not drain into a bucket which can be removed and dumped out. With this unit you need to put a "shallow pan", as the instructions say, under the drain cock and open it... well this pan needs to be really shallow (see my user submitted image) because the drain cock is only about 1-2" off the floor! I can envision this being a real nightmare to empty and I'm not looking forward to really humid days
Overall I think this is a decent portable a/c, and I'm hopeful that it will work out.
Summarized my main concerns are:
1) Does not have a bucket to empty, if it needs draining that will be very difficult w/o a bucket
2) Front Panel LEDs are super bright and always on, makes it difficult to sleep
3) Compressor makes more noise then expected when starting/stopping, this wakes me up at night
Summarized the pro's are:
1) Very good air output--lots of volume and pressure
2) Cold output! Great for spot cooling, move the unit near you and you'll freeze your butt off even if the rest of the room is warmer then you might like
3) Easy to move around on the casters
4) Reasonable price
First of all, it is easy to install. I was worried about the exhaust hose through the window because that seemed complicated and way above my head. I had my brother come over and install it even though he assured me even I could do it :P It took him 20 minutes total. And MOST of that time was setting up the basics like where she wanted it and the direction it faced etc. The exhaust hose was trivial and it fit in her window just fine even though she has a sliding window left to right not up and down. It takes up a small space in the window and from the outside I didn't even see it.
It was heavy for me, but probably fine for most people.
It has a thermometer on the front so it tells you what temperature it is at when you start it and continues to update you as it goes down. It was 95 when she turned it on and within an hour it was down to 83. So basically it cooled her room by 12 degrees. That may seem small but also keep in mind it is constantly blowing cold air so she could point it at herself and it was instant relief the entire time. It has a remote too so she could adjust it from her bed.
I can't remember the wattage of it so check that. It is something like 1200 watts? Our only problem was that most fuses can only handle a total of 2000 watts.(I am typing this from what I was told so forgive me if my numbers are not 100% accurate) It was on the same circuit breaker as my bathroom and my hair dryer is 1200 watts so when I used it it blew a fuse. No big deal once I moved my hair dryer to another outlet.
IMO 12 degrees is worth it, especially since you might even get better results of you don't have all of the electronics she has.
This was also a great price compared to the other models I looked at which got bad reviews.
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Product was ok, but never went lower then 75. I guess when it's in the 90s 75 is cool enough.I recently purchased this item when we got hit with a "heat wave". Homes up here are rarely built w/ air conditioners so there weren't any fans or a/c units to be found in the Pacific Northwest. I purchased this unit to stay cool for a couple of days and it did the job. It was pretty much ready to go once I took it out of the box. I just had to put in the filter (which is plastic so it can be rinsed, dried and reused) and attach the tubing to my window. Very easy to use. I like that you can control it with a remote or with the buttons on the front. I had read that some other units only come with a remote, so if you loose it, you're stuck w/ whatever setting it was last on until you get a replacement remote. This unit has caster wheels and is easy to push around to where I need it. The noise level was quieter than a box fan. Overall, I am very pleased with the A/C unit and I think it served it's purpose very well.Want NewAir AC10000E 10,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner With AutoEvaporative Technology Discount?
I received this unit and it appeared to be of good quality. The set up was simple and I quickly was able to start it up. Initially it seemed to be working fine albeit with a fair amount of noise (which I expected). Unfortunately, I quickly noticed the compressor was cutting out and the unit stopped cooling. That night it was cooler outside than in my relatively small bedroom. I returned the unit the next morning.Save 30% Off
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