Customer Reviews

Soleus AirŽ 12000 BTU Portable Evaporative Air Conditioner

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is in Amazon twice, so I'm reviewing twice. Bought for specs - reasonably met cooling expectations given the conditions in which I use it. Heating was abysmal. Just after warranty expiration the exhaust squirrel cage fan blades disentigrated. Called Soleus to buy a new part. Once thru phonemail hell, the obviously new customer service person, although trying to help, finally found out Soleus no longer sells parts. But, for $45/hr they'll troubleshoot and fix it. Just bring it in. They're in El Monte - I'm not. I believe the cheap plastic fan case warped allowing contact with the blades. Lousy customer support. Because this is manufactured in China I cannot find a replacement unit thru normal channels. So I bought a New Air AC1600H based upon many reviews. Not here yet. Stand by.

I had a Soleusasir unit that had to junked after 14 months when it leaked all over the floor. Since there is no local network to repair it. It must be sent back to Texas. The time, trouble, and expense are not worth it since the unit is poorly made. Avoid buying it. It's not worth the money.

I bought my unit off Craigslist so it was already used one season I believe. I've had it two seasons now myself and it's still running just fine, altho I've come across a few problems that needed resolution. Keep in mind that even tho I live in San Diego, this unit runs A LOT since I have it specifically to cool my pet chinchillas. Chinchillas HAVE to be kept cool as they could easily have heat stroke in temps above 75°F.

Firstly, what I LIKE about this unit:
1) It's been very reliable
2) It has a temperature setting that turns the compressor on and off as the room gets hotter or colder, therefore it's more energy efficient
3) Altho still pretty loud, as far as portable A/Cs go, it's quieter than others (46db)
4) Easy setup (for the most part)
5) It has a remote (altho I rarely use it)
6) Washable filter is great and it seems pretty tough - same filter has lasted through several washings. I think it's made of a plastic mesh.
7) This thing is a trooper if you have an open floorplan... the area mine is cooling is 1000SF (it sits at one end of the space in the breakfast nook - it cools the nook, the kitchen, the living room AND a bedroom if the door is left open). The Soleus keeps the space at a very reasonable mid-70s temp when it's 85-90°F outside. Some days the only thing I run is the dehumidifier and that both takes the moisture out of the air AND cools the space beautifully.
8) I find it cools the space better when the louvres are oscillating than when they are still.

What I've found challenging:
1) This is its third season and it's been having a problem with leaking all over the floor. Fortunately I have tile floors so I simply empty the water reserve and clean it up, but as this seems to keep getting worse, not sure if this is going to turn out okay. Right now I'm emptying the reserve twice a day and sometimes I'm still having to clean things up.
2) Supposedly it empties the water itself through the exhaust hose... not sure what is causing SO MUCH water but I think the "empties itself" is a lie because I've always had to empty the reserve by hand, especially in dehumidify mode
3) Having a thermostat is nice but it only turns the compressor on and off - not the entire unit. The fan runs constantly as long as the unit is on.
4) When you move the unit to get to the drain plug, the hoses tend to disconnect themselves because the pegs used to secure them are not very good
5) There is no insulation on the plastic part that goes in the window so unless you rig something up yourself, you're leaking a lot of air around the vent thingy. For that matter, I had to get a board cut to fill in the rest of the window space as well, but perhaps that's normal as I don't think any of these things fit a window perfectly anyway.
6) The timer to turn it on or off doesn't give you a clock option (altho I haven't been able to find ANY portable unit that offers that option). The timer is basically "turn on in X number of hours" or "turn off in X number of hours." The timer is only good for one switch as well... for instance, you can't set it to go off in 2 hours then back on again in 4 hours. You can only use one option at a time.
7) Louvres do not oscillate unless you specifically push the oscillate button for them. For instance, if you're using the timer to turn it on, it will NOT also turn on the oscillation.

I have three portable A/Cs in my 1440SF condo... the Soleus, one 10K BTU Royal Sovereign, and one other 9K BTU off brand. The 9K unit is really not needed, but I have it in the second bedroom in case guests want to sleep with the door closed. The Royal Sovereign was where the Soleus is now and didn't do the job nearly as well as the Soleus which is why it got moved upstairs (and honestly, I'm considering replacing it with another Soleus). The Soleus definitely does its job the best of all of them.

Please don't think that because you're paying more money, that you're getting a "quality" product. We purchased one of these at a local store. We hooked it up around 10:00 p.m. the evening we purchased it. The outside temps were still in the high 90's and our house was like an oven. The AC unit blew out "cool" (NOT cold) air. We thought maybe it would take a bit for the refrigerant to start working. We let the unit run on the highest fan setting and coldest temp setting over night and all day the following day. The room temperature (small 12 X 15 room) at the end of the day was only 7 degrees cooler than the outside 98 degree temperature...still felt like an oven in that room. We were soooo displeased.

If you're looking for a unit to cool a room, don't get this unit. If, on the other hand, you're looking for a unit with a really pretty display with all kinds of shiny lights and blinking things, then this unit is for you!

Also, when you click on "oscillate," the unit doesn't oscillate...rather, shutters just close momentarily, cutting off all cool air...and this serves what point? Putting it politely, this unit sucks camel *ss.

We've had the Soleus portable air conditioner/heater/dehumidifier/fan for over a year now. I have mixed feelings about the unit that I'll share. First of all, customer service. When the unit first arrived, we'd paid a lot for shipping, but it didn't arrive that promptly. Then, I had questions but customer service was not responsive. When I provided feedback to amazon on this matter, customer service got in touch with me right away. Then they went out of their to help me.

First, the unit is 84 pounds, and the shipping weight is more like a hundred. The delivery person was dying getting it up the stairs. It is a heavy unit, and although I still might have purchased it (because we were dying in a heat wave), I thought it was about 15-20 pounds lighter. Still, even though it's heavy, once out in your home, it rolls around fairly easy for its size and shape. (Not a unit for that kind of purpose -- like some of soleus' smaller units to take from one room to the next -- but an average fit adult can roll it carefully and slowly if they need to, without a lot of exertion.)

Secondly, it turned out that it wasn't so compatible with our window which is a non-conventional shape and size. Which was one of the reasons we purchased it, to begin with. Because our window doesn't take a conventional air conditioner unit. But this is where amazon pressuring their customer service helped. They did communicate at length, at that point, and even had someone adapt the window piece, sending us another one, so that it finally fit. It has never been a perfect fit, but it works, is very handy, and removable easily, so that we can leave the unit by the window, and put it in and out, so that we can open the window on other occasions without a big hassle about removing the elephant trunk vents.

Now, the various features, in brief.

The air conditioner, for us, has worked great. The heater works really well, too, for us, and very quietly. The fan is strong and effective, though loud (good for kitchen stuff, but not a nice quiet fan for a cool breeze). The dehumidifier -- and we have a lot of moisture -- doesn't work -- and not because it's broken. Now I don't know if that has to do with our climate -- Pacific Northwest -- with this unit working non-traditionally on a cooling, instead of heating, principle -- but we see such a small result from the dehumidifier, it's almost not worth mentioning. It's useless.

The weird part about this, we have another Soleus dehumidifier that's just fantastic. Which is how we can see how bad this one is. A small portable that works in the traditional way, easily movable, easy to empty, easy to carry from room to room, and quiet. Just chugging away sucking out gallons of water. -So I'm a bit amazed at the difference in the two products. (Though the air conditioner has really been a tremendous relief for us.)

Now, the problem. Not that much time has passed (a year to a year and a half), and it's getting louder and rattling. Something is apparently amiss with the fan inside. Which I read some other people reporting on.

My biggest concern with this unit is that it's so big and heavy, where would we bring it? And although customer service was very helpful, I think it was because Amazon got on their case, and after all this time, they'll go back to their old ways ...

So I am concerned that we have this big unit, the fan is going to go, it's going to be impossible moving this out somewhere to a repair shop, and if there's even a repair shop that can fix it around here. Hopefully, a teenager will take it apart at that point and figure it out. But it was an expensive piece. The unbearable torture of the heat made it worth it. But it's not a dream machine. So you have to weigh it out with this one, toss the various pros and cons around. And I'm hoping I can redress this rattling fan problem ..

I purchased this item not too long ago before the Summer heat season kicked in. I <3 how it keeps my room cool and I dont have a bucket to empty every 30 minutes like my last Portable AC. What I like the most about it is it's not only useful during the Summer but also winter months cuz its also a Heater to boot. Seems more solid and better quality than my previous portable ACs that I have a feeling I'm gonna be keeping Cool every Summer thanxs to SoleusAir. :D

I purchased this item a yesterday from a local Electronic shop to beat the Summer heat and I Love it ! It cools my entire house wonderfully and I like how it also has a heating feature for those chilly winter months. The price is pretty average but as far as quality and performance I think it's worth it all the way ! Need to keep cool in the Summer ?? Get yourself this AC if you Rent a apartment and cant get a Window AC this is perfect !!