( 2 reviews )
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Posted: Jul 31 2009
In comparison, my 500W window AC runs cooler, but this 620W portable is so much more convenient. In my area, we need an AC only for few days a year; it was a pain to mount/unmount the window AC in summer/winter. So this one is perfect here, just plug it to the power and window and we have a good night of sleep. It uses only 620W (300W less energy consumption than other portable ACs in this class), so we set it to the lowest temperature and let it cool continuously. The noise level is acceptable; we place it on upstairs and can barely hear it downstairs. Ran it for 24 hours and no need to drain water. In case the light says the tank is full, don't drain the water too much as the water tank is used to cool down the machine for better efficiency. I also cover the hot hose with thick cloth. During a heat wave, we start it in the morning with all windows closed and it keeps our house to 87F while the outside is 105F. Without this AC, temperature would be 91F even at downstairs, too high to stay with and upstairs would be simply baking. 87F is OK, especially for a day or two only. After the sun goes down, we still leave it on but open all the windows. This helps hugely on a heat wave in a otherwise cool area like Oregon vally. Hard to live without it. However, I think it is useless in a hot area like Texas. The window mounting kit was missing, called SPT and a gentaman told me it would arrive in 3-5 days. What a customer support! While I'm waiting for the kit, I simply cut a hole on a small flat box and it works like a charm. Unless your wife is a neat freak who asks you to unmount a window AC every winter, then don't buy a portable AC. The latter is significantly less cool than the former. But if you're as lucky as me and your area is not hot enough to worth a central AC, then you'd better get this.
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Posted: May 30 2008
We have the WA-1220M model of this product (virtually identical). If you stand right in front on it, up to about 5 feet away, it's nice. However, it has several drawbacks: 1. It isn't very good at drying the air; evaporation is needed for effective air-conditioning (whether in your car or your home). 2. It must be drained of the water it does pull from the air, and draining the unit is very cumbersome. It comes with a small flexible plastic tube that has to be connected to the rear bottom of the unit; the other end must be lower in order to drain or the unit really does very little and although there's an indicator light that will come on if the unit is quite full of water, it's very rare that the light comes on (and it only does so LONG after the unit has stopped cooling the air). We have taken to wrapping a large towel around the far end of the tube to collect water that drains, but basically you must tilt the heavy unit backwards to try to drain it. This is not particularly effective but it must be done. 3. It has wheels, but it doesn't roll easily (it's hard to push or pull it in a straight line and the wheels are so small even getting over a low rug is difficult. 4. Moving the unit up or down a single step can be accomplished by one person but since the entire unit is made of very smooth, slippery plastic (it has handles but they're very shallow & not helpful), it's more safely accomplished with two people. 5. Consider that this unit, while mobile, sacrifices a good window seal. The large exhaust hose (which pumps the hot air outside) resembles a telescoping dryer hose that easily falls out of the backside of the unit and is awkward to extend evenly. The unit comes with a smallish piece of foam with a cutout hole for the hose. However, you are left with having to find some way to block the rest of whatever window you choose to put the hole into. We use a large carboard box panel and cut a hole out of, then duct-tape the box into the window opening to block out air seepage. As you can imagine, it looks pretty tacky. We wouldn't buy this again.
