AC-Reviews.com – Your Source for Air Conditioning Reviews

Even though it’s officially summer, it seems like everyone is trying to find ways to shave off their cooling bill.  After all, who’s not trying to save money nowadays?  I have a few friends who are trying to tough out the summer heat without using their air conditioner, but when temperatures creep into triple digits, it’s not that easy to keep the AC off.

As you may already know, I’m a big proponent of spot cooling with portable air conditioners.  Using a portable unit to cool just the room you’re in is a smart choice because it prevents you from cooling your entire house using your more costly central system.  Furthermore, a lot of portable air conditioner manufacturers are doing what they can to design more energy-efficient models in this energy-conscious age.

In any case, while looking through my local energy company’s website the other day in order to find a rebate for a refrigerator, I found out that they also offer incentives for purchasing energy-efficient portable room air conditioners.  For purchasing a qualifying model on their list, you get a $20 rebate.  The portable air conditioners they recommend all have an EER (Energy Efficiency Ratio) of at least 11.9, which is considered excellent for a portable air conditioner.  Take a look at the list here.  Judging from the list Southern California Edison provided, it looks like the only brands that qualify are DeLonghi, Sunpentown and NewAir right now.

After doing some additional research, I’ve found that Pacific Gas & Electric up in Northern California has a similar program, as well as well as conEdison in New York.  So before you go shopping for your new portable air conditioner, check with your local electric company to see if they’re giving out rebates on qualifying units.

Let’s face it: with energy costs as high as they are, it’s important for us to think of ways we can lower our bills, particularly in the summer when our ACs are on full blast. One easy way to make the most out of your air conditioner is to supplement your existing central system with a smaller, more portable cooler.

One of our friends has been doing this for the past 3 summers and has seen a good decrease on his electricity usage year over year.

When he first moved into his Southern California home 2 years ago, he found that he couldn’t keep his 1,800 square foot house cool enough with his ancient central system. In his upstairs home office alone, he had 2 computers running at all times, overhead lighting and a giant window located near the ceiling, leaving the second story of his house scorching in the middle of summer. During the hottest months of the year, if he tried to cool his house using only his central system, one side of his house would always be several degrees than the other. So to eliminate hot and cold spots in his house, he decided to purchase a 14,000 BTU portable air conditioner to supplement his existing system.

The portable unit he purchased cost approximately $500, and to him it was a great purchase because he was able to even out temperatures and save money on his electricity bill at the same time. The portable air conditioner didn’t require permanent installation, and he’s able to move it from room to room when it gets really hot. Having the portable air conditioner moved to his bedroom at night keeps him cool while the occupied portion of his house is set to 80 on his thermostat.

Since his initially investment, he claims he’s seen a drop in his bills by at least 15% year over year and the portable air conditioner is paid for.

Most portable air conditioners will range anywhere from $250 to $600, and more cooling power also equals a higher price tag, so choose a model based on what your specific needs are. As a general rule, match up the square footage of your room with the right BTU rating:

10,000 BTUs = 250 square feet
12,000 BTUs = 350 square feet
14,000 BTUs = 450 square feet

Keep in mind that if your room or area is near a large window or kitchen, you’ll have to size up, so your mileage may vary.

Hi readers,

Although it seems like this site was briefly put on hiatus, I’m back into the swing of things. To celebrate, we have a brand new product review for this month!

As you’ve read on this blog before, portable air conditioners are quickly becoming increasingly popular due to their convenience. For those who live in small apartments or condos without central air, a portable AC can be a godsend in the summer heat. But what you also need to know is that portable air conditioners aren’t able to provide as much cooling power as a central or even a window system. So if you’re looking for a lot of cooling and are OK with having a window unit installed in your home, a window air conditioner is the way to go.

Back in late August, one of our good friends from Northern California renovated his modestly sized 1,200 square foot condo. Because the temperatures never get too crazy up there, he didn’t see the need to get a central system installed. Instead, he opted for a less expensive window air conditioner for his living room. He ultimately chose the Crosley CAE15ESR, a 15,000 BTU window air conditioner, and I was there to help him install it.

The Crosley CAE15ESR air conditioner looks like a no-frills window unit, but don’t let its looks fool you: this window air conditioner cooled pretty well and came with a lot of nice features. It’s suitable for a decent sized room of about 700 square feet max (around 600 square feet is probably recommended) and it’s pretty quiet. It’s also Energy Star rated. As with most window air conditioners, there may be some concerns about durability, but my friend hasn’t reported any issues yet (it’s been about 2 months). We did appreciate things such as the automatic temperature sensor, full function remote control and sleep mode.

Pros:
• Cools up to 700 square feet
• Energy Star rated
• Lots of cool features

Cons:
• Not too aesthetically pleasing

The Crosley CAE15ESR retails for about $450 and can be found at retailers such as Sears and Air & Water, Inc.

Nowadays, there are so many different brands of pretty much every appliance. How do you know which one is the best? Thankfully, in our current time in history, we have arguably one of mankind’s finest inventions – the internet. Here is what I found on how to find the perfect air conditioner for you, courtesy of the guides from Air & Water and Air-Conditioner-Home.

• Find out how much physical space you have. This step is crucial because you will need to know the type of air conditioner you need according to where you’re going to place it. If you don’t have much room, but you still want to cool down larger areas, you will need a portable AC with a higher BTU rating. Similarly, if you want to cool down smaller areas, you can get either a window AC or a portable one. Of course, you can always use a central air conditioner, but those cost more to install and maintain.
• Find out what your budget is. Depending on the brand you want and the size you need, you’ll have to pay a different price. As previously mentioned, the cost also depends on the type of air conditioner you buy. Don’t forget about maintenance costs, either. Normally, central ACs can be a pain to get fixed, while portable ACs can be much more economical.
• Find out how much area you need to cool down. Simply find out the square footage of your room, home, garage, or even industrial workshop and check out the portable air conditioner BTU chart. From here, you can tell how many BTUs your air conditioner should have. If you miscalculate or simply get the wrong size, you can be wasting a lot of money operating a unit that isn’t right for your personal space.

Websites such as Air N Water (where I’m getting this information from) have special layouts on their sites to guide you through the process, as well. On the sidebars, you’ll see that they have separate categories for BTUs, brand, type, and even cost. It doesn’t get any easier than that!

As we often mention in our posts, portable air conditioners shouldn’t just be cool – they should also be functional. Personally, I prefer the units that have more than just one function so I can use them year round. This is best because it saves me money. Rather than having to buy a different appliance for every season, I’ve got one that works throughout the year! Before, I discussed the benefits of the Soleus LX-120. But recently I found an even better model: the NewAir AC-12000H.

At first glance, the AC-12000H doesn’t seem too different from the Soleus unit. In fact, it really isn’t. However, it actually does most of the same functions better than the LX-120. The NewAir portable air conditioner, like the LX-120, cools down rooms with its 12,000 BTU cooling capacity. It also operates quietly. But where the NewAir model surpasses the Soleus one is its functionality. The AC-12000H features 4-in-1 technology that includes an air conditioner, a dehumidifier, a fan, and a space heater.

Additionally, the NewAir portable air conditioner is much more eco-friendly than the Soleus LX-120. Instead of using the old R22 refrigerant, the AC-12000H relies on the R-410A refrigerant that uses less energy and causes no ozone damage. As a result, the power consumption for cooling decreases from 1350 W to 1141 W. It also uses auto-evaporative technology, which reduces the amount of condensate and eliminates the need to constantly empty the tank! This is mostly convenient for people who, like me, hate getting up and wasting energy every half hour to remove the condensate.

The only downside to the AC-12000H is its price. It costs $439, which is a little pricey. But I guess the price isn’t really that bad, since you end up saving tons of money throughout the year from the energy-saving benefits. Plus, you get to protect the environment from ozone and pollutants!

You can easily find the NewAir AC-12000H on Air & Water’s website.

It’s technically heater season but in keeping with the overall theme of the site, we decided to review a portable air conditioner / space heater combination – the Soleus LX-120.

Our editors praised the LX-120 portable air conditioner and heater for its performance and ease of use. With its 12,000 BTU cooling capacity, it’s able to cool down a room of up to 200 square feet. We also found that it was way quieter than most portable air conditioners. The Soleus LX-120 also comes with a remote control plus a dehumidifier function that can be used separately.

But what really makes this portable air conditioner great is the fact that it’s suitable for year-round use. It doubles as a 1350 watt space heater so you can use it in the winter in a chilly room or office. However, the one caveat about this unit is the price. At just under $400, this AC isn’t cheap. Nevertheless, given the quality of the unit, we think it’s worth the price.

The Soleus LX-120 is available via online stores such as www.air-n-water.com.

Although is coming to a close, certain parts of the country are still warm enough for air conditioner. One of the most recent air conditioners I came across was the NewAir ACP-1000E. It’s one of the least expensive portable air conditioners on the market, and it receives a number of recommendations from owners posting reviews to retailer websites. This 10,000 BTU portable AC unit can cool a small room or area of up to about 200 square feet (roughly the size of a typical bedroom) and includes a remote control, dehumidifier function, built-in air purification system, and digital thermostat. Although this unit does utilize auto-evaporative technology, it will still need to be vented out of a drop ceiling, window, or wall. When testing it in my small office, I found that it actually worked quite well (although perhaps a bit noisy). But for its price point, it was a solid air conditioner. With that said, if you need more cooling power, consider the Soleus LX-120 (est. $400).

The NewAir ACP-1000E was purchased from Air-Conditioner-Home.com.

The general consensus among experts is that window air conditioners are more efficient. However, window installation isn’t an option for some homes, condos, and apartments, so a portable air conditioner may be the only choice.

Portable ACs often serve as an alternative to window or wall air conditioners or as a supplement to central cooling systems. They’re ideal for apartment buildings that don’t permit window units or for homes with windows that cannot accommodate permanently installed window AC units. Installation doesn’t require any heavy lifting, and because these portable AC units are usually mounted on rolling casters, you can theoretically move them from room to room. Nonetheless, installation does require that you place the unit close to a window because you’ll need to run the exhaust hose outside.
Despite a large number of units on the market, we actually found relatively few portable AC reviews and comparisons. Most credible reviews actually come from owners.

My parents were actually shopping around for a portable air conditioner for my brother’s dorm room a few months back. They were able to find quite a few models under the $500 range, but there was little to no reviews on many of the products we saw. They eventually settled on the DeLonghi PAC A110L and bought it Lowe’s based on the few reviews they did find.
So far it works fine and looks great, but it was a little bit on the pricey end (a little over $500 with tax). I really wish there were more consumer resources for portable air conditioners on the lower end.

My girlfriend has a smallish apartment that, for some reason or another, was designed to face the sunrise. She loves the sunshine but constantly keeps the blinds closed in fear that it’ll heat up her studio home. During the summers, as I found last year, it gets hot, really hot. It doesn’t help to add that she lives in the Inland Empire, away from my comfortable Orange County tastes, and her apartment complex doesn’t offer the conventional central AC that I’m used to. I spent many weekends with her in hot sweltering heat…and my only condolence was to go to the public pool.

Since her apartment was already small, we wanted to purchase something that would compliment her living space. Other portable AC units are pretty huge and the footprint is often sizable. We went to Target online and had a Haier CPRB07XC7 shipped to us. Unfortunately, the Haier unit requires a working remote to program and it wasn’t working right out of the bat. We made a trip to Target that day to inform them of the non-working unit, and we went through a pretty extensive process to get what we needed: a working AC unit…which we needed out of the box!

30 days later we received the new remote, and finally put the CPRB07XC7 to use. Although it’s a nice unit, I found that the 30-day wait was really unecessary. On the Target online store, I’ve read that many other customers have had the same problem with the remote…and at first I thought that it was just one of those things that “wouldn’t happen to me”. Perhaps Haier should rethink a remote-less design for convenience! Thankfully, it’s still working as of today. Just hope the remote doesn’t break again.

I have heard that nowadays they ship the unit with two remotes…who ships any appliance with two remotes? Must be a very dire sign that even the company doesn’t have much confidence in their product…

So I’ve been frantically searching for an evaporative cooler in an attempt to be more “green.”  One of my coworkers purchased a portable unit from Air-N-Water.com and while I’ve bought from them before (their eBay store, to be fair), there have been a few negative customer reviews for them on the internet.  As an air conditioner reviewer and seeing as they mostly carry cooling products, I wanted to see if the company could clarify some of their CS issues.  I sent the following e-mail to their company in the hopes of their response:

Hi,

I’m interested in purchasing a swamp cooler from your company, but noticed that there are a few negative reviews from your company online — most of which involve damages that occur during shipping and the quality of your products.  I just wanted to know what happens if a product gets damaged in transit and how well your evaporative coolers really work.  Your staff has been helpful in the past and I’m thinking of purchasing a unit from you.

Thanks,

Alex

I received a prompt response within 24 hours and here’s what one of their staff members sent me:

Dear Alex,

As part of our ongoing efforts to provide a better customer experience, we thank you for your feedback and are aware of some of the negative reviews our past customers have left us.  We’re glad that you found our sales staff to be helpful and accommodating as we do try our very best to provide exceptional and personalized customer service to each and every one of our customers.  We’re also pleased that you have not let negative www.Air-N-Water.com reviews prevent you from purchasing from us.  Here are our responses to some common Air-N-Water.com complaints you’ve pointed out:

Air-N-Water.com Complaints Regarding Damages Occurring During Transit

Unfortunately, due to the size and nature of the products the company carries, damages occurring during the shipping process can occur.  Air-N-Water works hard to make sure shipments leaving the warehouse are packed properly so as to prevent damages.  However, should this occur, we recommend our customers follow these procedures.

For UPS / FedEx / Postal Shipments

If the shipment shows outward evidence of damage, open the package before signing the delivery form. Notify the local UPS distribution center or Post Office. Do not alter the carton or the damaged goods until an inspection by the appropriate agency has been made. The package will be picked up and returned back to Air-N-Water.com. The merchandise will be repaired or replaced at our expense.

Freight Shipments

If damage or loss is evident, Air-N-Water.com requests the customer indicate it on the carrier’s delivery form. Do not refuse the shipment – simply file a claim immediately with the carrier and then notify Air-N-Water.com.  Keep all packaging materials and the damaged goods until inspection has been made.

Air-N-Water.com Complaints Regarding Defective Merchandise

Many of the negative www.air-n-water.com reviews you’ve pointed out in your e-mail are related to the effectiveness of the evaporative coolers we carry.  While it’s true that evaporative (or swamp coolers) are great at providing efficient cooling using much less electricity, they’re most effective in hot, dry climates with low humidity levels.  Examples of such areas would be the American Southwestern states.  Unfortunately, some customers happen to purchase these products expecting them to cool just as well as central AC systems, and this simply isn’t possible.  We’ve created a very helpful portable cooling guide for our customers and suggest you take a look at our humidity chart to make sure an evaporative cooler will work in your area.

Again, I thank you for taking the time to e-mail us and for letting us respond to some common Air-N-Water.com complaints.  We hope you will decide to use us for all of your future cooling, heating, and purification needs.

Sincerely,

Gordon Lee

Air & Water, Inc.