Seattle HVAC: Koldfront 8,000 BTU Ultra Compact Portable Air Conditioner

Koldfront 8,000 BTU Ultra Compact Portable Air Conditioner

Product Details

Shipping Weight: 59 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
ASIN: B001THVNUO
Item model number: PAC8000S

By : Koldfront
Price : $349.00
You Save : $99.00 (28%)

Consumer Critiques

Hello everybody!
Portable air conditioners perform by taking the air from your room, cooling it, and blowing the hot air out by means of an exhaust hose attached to your window.
But blowing hot air to the outside creates unfavorable pressure inside your space which, in turn, pulls in even more hot air from the outside (the amount of air blown out is equal to the quantity of air pulled in). It is sort of self defeating.
The portable air conditioner is in a position to cool your room as extended as the air it exhausts is hotter than the hot air pulled in, then there is an overall cooling impact. But as the temperature outside increas, a modest A/C unit may not have adequate BTU to to cool the air adequate to compensate the hot air being sucked in.
I produced the mistake of employing a traditional web based cooling calculator to estimate the quantity of BTU's necessary for a portable A/C. If I had read the web page way more meticulously I would have noticed that these BTU calculators are for window/wall mounted air conditioners. The key distinction among a window A/C and a portable A/C is that the window unit has its heat exchange coils outside and does not make negative pressure in your space (in other words, the cold air in the room is not straight diluted by warm air getting sucked in from the outside). With out the negative pressure, there is no hot air being pulled in, so the amount of BTUs essential to cool the room is considerably less. Of course, even with a window A/C, warm air nevertheless seeps into the space but at a lower rate.
I estimate that I would want at least 50% extra BTU in a portable air conditioner than that shown in web based BTU calculator for my desires. So as an alternative of the 8,000 BTU Koldfront unit, I must have gotten a 12,000 BTU portable air conditioner.
Note: some portables A/C have two hoses, one for the exhaust and a single for the intake so they do not develop negative pressure. These units are way more effecient and the net based BTU calculator need to apply.
Right here are the important takeaways:
1. Unless you have a two hose model (which maintains neutral pressure in your room), these portable A/C units are inefficient and are much more costly to operate than a standard via the wall/window air conditioner.
two. If you can, try to get a two hose portable A/C unit. But if not, then you will in all probability need to boost the portable's BTUs by 50% (or 1.5x) when making use of a standard internet based BTU calculator. CompactAppliance tried to warn me but I did not listen. What did you count on from a 13yr old? :-).
3. Do decide to buy from a respected dealer, such as CompactAppliance. They graciously accepted my return without having any hassles. Be positive you always read the vendor's return policy (some have reasonable restocking fees but some will not take it back at all!)
I hope this was beneficial.

So, I live in a studio. Not quite significant at all. You would consider this air conditioner would be in a position to manage keeping it cool. Nicely, not so substantially.
Regardless of how low I set it, or how lengthy I kept it operating, it kept my studio at 78 degrees. It was in fact a better deal to shut it off, open the windows/door and let the air circulate. It truly got cooler in there as soon as I did that.
Moreover, the hose you connect to the window vent is an eye sore, and isn't flexible enough to let your spot the unit somewhere convenient. So you finish up getting to leave the A/C unit in the middle of the space instead of neatly in a corner or against the wall considering that the vent hose doesn't allow otherwise.
This is pretty much the worse purchase I have made in a Extended time. Worse of all, it doesn't even make sense for me to return it. The seller charges as 12% "re-stocking fee". Furthermore, I would want to carry the huge 70+lbs box up and down stairs to get it back to my perform so UPS can pick it up. The box is very flimsy once you remove the nylon ribbons that it comes sealed with, and doesn't truly let you to transport it without spending some capital on repackaging.
So yeah, I am stuck with a $300 70+lbs paper weight. Superior occasions.
[EDITED 07/30]: So I was contacted by the seller (CompactApplience) and their conclusion was that my studio was also massive for the 8,000 BTU rating. They actually let me return just the A/C unit without having getting to worry about packing all the awkwardly-shaped pieces, and reimbursed me for almost everything, like shipping. Despite the fact that I've decided NOT to try a unique unit with a higher BTU rating, I'm leaving this critique right here so that hopefully men and women seeking into shopping for this or any other unit are conscious of the importance of contemplating the size of the space you happen to be attempting to cool down when you pick out the unit BTU. I was remotely aware of that, but didn't appear as well much into it, and you saw what occurred... Luckily for me, the seller handled the scenario superbly nicely. A pleased ending, immediately after all. :)