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Haier HPAC7M Portable Air Conditioner Product MPNMPN:hpac7m Key FeaturesAC Type:PortableCooling Capacity:7000 BTU/hrRemote C...

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WHY I BOUGHT A PORTABLE IN THE FIRST PLACE

I live in an old house in the Upper Midwest. During a typical summer, there are only perhaps 10 days out of the year when I really need AC, either because of heat, humidity, or obnoxious neighbors. Having considered the cost of installing central air (no small part of which would be the required structural modifications) room AC made a lot more sense given the infrequent need.

But in an old house, even a room AC is a commitment requiring some modifications, and I wasn’t sure which room would be best. Did I want AC primarily to cool my home office space, the living/dining area, or was the bedroom more important? So, a portable seemed like the perfect solution since I could (I thought) easily move it around.

YOU DON’T KNOW UNTIL YOU TRY

I neglected to mention that my office is on the second floor, and the bedroom is in the first. One trip up and down the steps with this 70+ pounder was enough to dash the dream of blithely moving it from floor to floor! (What on earth had I been thinking???) It was going to have to reside one place or the other, and downstairs won since it’s a lot easier to move my computer down to the dining room during a hot/humid spell. Which sorta defeated the whole idea of it being “portable.”

Additionally, getting the vent hose set up in the window is a rather putzy, awkward task, and I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to be wanting to move it from room to room throughout the day. Also, it overwhelmed my bedroom: it was too noisy, AND that vent hose adds quite a bit of heat to the room. You wouldn’t want to have to sit or sleep near it.

Now that I know I’m not going to be hauling it up and down the stairs, and that it’s too noisy for me to use comfortably at night, if I could turn back time, I wouldn’t buy a portable. I would just get the quietest window AC I could find, put it in my common area, and sleep on the living room futon on those hot muggy nights. However, since I DID buy it, I will continue my review of the pros and cons of this specific model.

PROS

1. Cools great!

The Haier cools quickly and efficiently. Within 10 minutes I’d gone from thinking “this heat is going to suffocate me” to “hey…this isn’t so bad.” Theoretically, a 7000 BTU AC will cool 250-300 square feet, but it actually cools my entire living/dining/kitchen (about 600 square feet) quite well. And I didn’t need to set it on “High” to maintain that level of comfort.

2. The automatic evaporation system means there is no water pan to empty (or worse, to overflow.)

3. Simple to operate, intuitive controls.

CONS

1. Too Noisy for Me.

Unfortunately it’s terribly noisy…for me anyway. (Sorry…I’ve been unable to find a decibel rating.) I realize “noisy” is subjective so let me say this: if you’ve ever turned off a room air conditioner in a motel or hotel because it was too noisy, you won’t sleep with this one running. Even earplugs didn’t work. The only times I ended up using it at night were when it was insufferable (like 90 degrees with 100% humidity at bedtime AND my neighbor had decided to build a bonfire and fill my house with smoke.) But even then, I eventually gave up and turned it off.

In fairness, I’d suspect the noise is the nature of any portable, because unlike non-portables (where much of the critter is hanging outside your window) everything is right in the room with you. But I can’t say for sure. I would just highly recommend you listen to one before purchasing. Unfortunately, I did not.

***UPDATE 7/25/06*** Due to an incredible stretch of hot humid weather AND the whacko neighbor who insists on nightly bonfires, I gave this another go at night. I discovered that if I put the AC in the window of my dining room, then put a Vornado fan just inside the doorway of the bedroom (which is off the dining room), the cool/dry air is pulled into the bedroom. With earplugs, I’m actually able to sleep in comfort now that there’s a wall between me and the AC to muffle the noise.

FINAL OPINION

If you’re not so sensitive to noise, and really do need a portable unit for one reason or another, I think this would be an excellent choice. I have no complaints at all about its cooling ability.

SPECIFICATIONS

Voltage and Frequency: 115V / 60 Hz

Input Power: 950 W

Cooling Capacity: 7000 BTU

Moisture Removal (pints/hr): 2.2

Coolant: R-22

Timer: 8 hrs

Operating Temperature Range: 64.4F - 100F

Unit Dimensions (inches): Width 20 2/5…Depth 14 1/6…Height 29.5

Net Weight lbs. approximate: 71.5

NB: You cannot use with an extension cord.

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