Air Conditioners Tips

Sunpentown WA-1220H Portable Air Conditioner Product MPNMPN:SUWA12BTUPOD Other FeaturesMoisture Removal (Pt/h):2.71Filter:ReusableC...

Sunpentown WA-1400E Portable Air Conditioner Product MPNMPN:WA1400E Other FeaturesMoisture Removal (Pt/h):4.75Filter:ReusableCoolin...

I bought this product to use in a 200 sq.ft. 4 season room or sunroom. I was looking for a product to both heat and cool. I currently have a small ceramic heater that does fine until the temperature gets to 40 outside then the room is somewhat chilly to read a newspaper (63 degrees) — I had no cooling unit — the room was unusable in summer.

The options were a portable heating/cooling unit, such as this one, or a PTAC unit like a lot of motels have. Prices between the two were not that much different, however,the PTAC required 220v service, cutting a hole in a wall and of course an electrician — which would have put the final cost around $1000. So I opted to save some money and time and go with this portable unit.

All the research I did on portable units pointed to this brand as being the most energy efficient. I read opinions that were both negative and positive for this type of unit, but weighing those opinions and the approx. $500 cost difference, I decided to purchase the portable (also time constraint - winter was fastly approaching and I wanted to spend time in my sunroom and enjoy being surrounded by nature and snow and HEAT!).

A lot of the reviews mentioned the fact that the window exhaust kit was insufficient and needed beefing up — $30 at Home Depot not a big deal. I opted to buy a bigger than required BTU because the winters are cold in Pennsylvania and in the summer the room gets a lot of afternoon sun.

What NONE of the reviews or information from the manufacturer or even any company selling these units, the unit is a heat pump. My impression was that it was a ceramic heating unit and an air conditioner (requiring venting in summer only).

Now what a heat pump is, is a compressor that operates as a cooling unit in summer — takes the hot air and converts it to cold air and takes the cold air in winter and converts it to hot air — which means the unit must be vented year round through a window or wall. Also, a MAJOR disadvantage, heat pumps DO NOT work below 40 degrees!! Our winters are much colder than that.

The decibel rating for the unit is 51 decibels. What that means to most folks is nothing - but to convert that to everyday terms is equal to louder than a vacuum cleaner. The unit is extremely noisy. You couldn’t carry on a conversation comfortably nor get a good night’s sleep if used in the bedroom. Wall air conditioners are way, WAY quieter.

So I have wasted my money - no returns from Best Vacuum where I purchased it nor any satisfaction guarantee from the manufacturer. I am stuck with the loss of nearly $500. So I will donate it to the local firehouse and get the tax write off.

I wanted to write this review for others so they don’t waste their money. Buy a window or wall unit and a couple of ceramics heaters or spend the extra money and get a PTAC unit.

Hope this helps with your decision making.

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