Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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32 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
High maintenance/Pathetic design/Leaks all over, July 6, 2005
This unit will cool your place by 10 degrees within a reasonable amount of time (e.g. 30 minutes) but you will also need to empty the drain pan (for water) every hour or two/if that long/or else your carpets will be soaking wet from the drain pan that overflows. Even when you DO empty it on time, the design of the pan makes it very easy to spill water all over the place and DON'T forget the cheasy hose! Once you pull the drain pan away from the air conditioner, it continues to leak water all over the floor through that cheasy hose.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Works pretty well, but may require some customization, September 8, 2006
This may be a handy man type item which might require some tools, materials and ingenuity to set up and get working conveniently. The first thing I did after unpacking the unit was to head to Ace Hardware and buy 4 feet of extension hose for the condensation drain. I spliced that to the supplied hose, using a 5 inch piece of a different hose available at ACE. I read elsewhere that the condensation would be evaporated off and exhausted with the hot air, and it was necessary to drain the unit only during very humid days. In So Cal it requires draining every hour (35% - 60% humidity this week). At first the unit didn't seem to generate as much condensate as quickly as it does now, and the water was hot. It now drains a lot of water and it is cool; perhaps something is already broken? I have a doggy door which I fit into a sliding glass patio door. I cut a piece of ¼ inch plywood to fit the opening, and cut holes for the drain, exhaust, and a power cord - all leading to the outside patio (the power cord is for a generator - see other review) and screwed that into the opening. I set the air conditioner up on 4"x 4" blocks, stacked 2 high (7" total), and attached the exhaust and the drain hoses through the plywood to the outside.
It is necessary to set the A/C unit up on a platform to run the drain to the outside, or to put a larger water bucket under it to catch the condensate, or to direct the drainage to a shower or floor drain (the drain is about 2" off the ground). If you leave the plug in the drain, the compressor will stop when the reservoir is full (about an hour); the fan will continue to run, circulating hot air. If you use a larger exterior water bucket it will fill up within a few hours, but when it gets full there is no way for the unit to know, so it will continue to run and the water will overflow the container. According to the write up, it removes 38 pints of water a day - that's 5 gallons. I think that any air conditioner, which is not drained to the outside, would have the same problem in a humid area.
I set it up on the blocks, vented and drained to the outside, and ran compressor 24 hrs a day for 5 days (during a heat wave when the central air broke). I'm still using it until I get the central air fixed, but not 24 hours since the heat wave broke. I'm using it to cool much more than the 17-x-20 foot room mentioned in the specs (a TV room bordered by the kitchen and living room). In the morning the TV room is in the low 70's. I start the A/C and set the thermostat to 70, close the bedroom doors and let it run. By late afternoon the outside temperature has overwhelmed the unit (on a 100 day, inside temp in the TV room rises to around 85). I'm not done experimenting, I think I could improve on that by blocking off the kitchen and living room with shower curtains. I tried moving it to the bedroom at night, but I've mounted a window fan there for the summer, and it's not convenient to try to vent it. Since condensation is a problem even on a platform with a large external bucket, it would require getting up every 2 -3 hours to empty (again my unit may be broken, until I get it looked at this is my experience with it). It's also kind of heavy and bulky to be moving through the house (on carpet) and lifting onto my platform every day.
If you can set it up so it drains to the outside, or the shower or a floor drain, and don't overwhelm it, it works pretty well. The vent aims the cooled air at an upward angle, and louvers are adjustable only side to side - there is no side to side oscillation. I have found little use for the remote, but it's a nice option. After shutting off the compressor, you must leave the unit off for 3 minutes or the compressor will not turn on again.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Poor construction, faulty compressor, will never buy again., July 12, 2008
I have had 3 of these units over the past 3 years; however, I only purchased one of them. I purchased this item about 3 years ago. It worked great for about 8 months. I didn't even have to drain the water. It just worked. Then, the compressor blew out. Because it had a 5 year warranty on the compressor, I called the company, and they actually sent me out a new unit. I can definitely say that my experience with their customer service was great. So, I got the new unit a few days later, plugged it in, but the compressor on that one did not work, so they went me my third one, which was about a year ago. Today, the compressor on that one went out.
In addition, there is a very significant design flaw. When you do have to drain the water from the unit, the drain is almost on the bottom of the unit. When you unplug the hole in order to attach the drainage pipe, water leaks (floods) out of the unit. My carpet has been soaked numerous times over the past year. For anyone who does actually buy this unit, I would recommend (1) build a box about 6 inches high which is large/strong enough to place the unit on top of, (2) connect the drainage hose permanently (use duct tape if you have to, that's what I did), (3) place a bucket at the back of the unit and put the other end of the drainage hose into the bucket. This way, the unit can drain continuously and you don't have to worry about it flooding the carpet or floor when you pull out the plug when it is full. Just let it drain continually.
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