BLACK+DECKER Smart Portable Air Conditioner, 14,000 BTU for Rooms up to 700 Sq. Ft., Smart Portable AC with Follow Me Remote and Window Kit, BPACT14WT, White

After doing quite a bit of research, I decided to purchase the Black & Decker 14,000 BUT Portable AC. This unit is fantastic. I bought it for use in my 12' x 14' office. The office has two persons (my wife and I) and many computer systems (7 large servers, a couple of desktop systems, numerous battery backup units, numerous monitors, etc). To make matters worse, the office unfortunately gets full sun for more than 5 hours throughout the day. Though we have a central AC, the thermostat is in the family room ... so either the office is comfortable and the rest of the house if 68 degrees ... or the house is comfortable and the office is 86 degrees. Moreover, cost goes way up if we keep the office cool ... even if we were OK with the rest of the house cold like the north pole.Before this unit------------------Before we received this unit, the office would run anywhere from 82 - 86 degrees many times higher during summer. With this unit, we were able to keep the office easily at 72 degrees (much colder if we wanted).Shipping & Packaging-------------------------Shipping was great. The unit arrived in perfect packaging and was free from any scratches, dents or any other marks. Unpacking was very straight forward. As a reminder, the unit needs to be upright. Per the documentation, they suggest the unit be left upright for at least 6 hours before use ... preferably 24 hours. I decided to wait the 24 hours since I did not know how the unit was handled during the shipping process.Operation------------The unit pushes some seriously cold air. Like all AC units, when it starts-up, cold air does not come out immediately. But within 30 seconds of starting, it was blowing freezing cold air. Within 5 minutes the room cooled down and during the day, it maintained the temperature with ease (we set it for 72 degrees). In fact, we did set it down to 65 degrees and it would run until the room reached that temperature ... that was just simply too cold for us.Quiet-------This unit was much quieter than we expected. Even when on video conference calls using speaker-phone, there was no issue. Others on the call could not tell the unit was running. I am not saying the unit is stealth quiet, but the noise level was surprisingly low ... on-par with the fans from my computer servers.Why Returning?--------------If the unit was so great, they why would I return it? Well there were two issues with the unit I did not like: 1) Placement and 2) SecurityPlacement----------------Based on the layout of our office along with the servers, desks, multiple monitors, etc ... there was no real convenient location to put the unit. So how did we know the unit works well? I temporarily moved desks / computers out of the way so I could mount the hose and pass-through to the window. Originally, I had planned on drilling a hole in the wall (this is a 6" diameter hose!!!) and putting a one-way flange & baffle with a fine screen mesh to ensure no outside critters could get in. I bought this with the intent of installing it somewhat permanently. Even with this in mind, where I could place the unit would not be close enough to the flange for the exhaust hose. I could buy additional hose extensions but because of the diameter of the exhaust hose, I just could not easily run the hose behind desks, etc. Keep in mind the hose does not make 'right-angle' turns either. Also, the exhaust hose is rather sturdy - which is actually a good thing.Security----------The window mounting assembly is actually quite easy and seemed to work well for the intended purpose. As a reminder, I only ran the unit for a few days so not sure what the long-term durability of the hose and mounting assembly would be like. In any event, I am very security conscious. I did not feel the window mounting option allowed me to secure the window effectively enough to prevent someone from pushing the baffles in and then getting inside the office and our home.Who is this unit for ?------------------------This unit works exceptionally well especially for someone that needs to cool down a reasonably large room quickly and quietly. This probably would work great for 2nd floor (or higher floors) homes where outside access to the window would be limited or non-existent.I have decided to order a Mini Split AC instead. It will allow me the flexibility of placement and will enable me to maintain the security aspect.

It does the job! Thank goodness for this backup when my central is on the fritz and I’m waiting for my AC guy to fit me in.It is a bit noisy, but not more so than your typical window unit. It was easy to install and I admit, I did it the lazy way without much thought to using the foam sealers that were included.Originally I placed it on the floor but didn’t like how much bend resulted in the exhaust - luckily I had an easy way to elevate it. The unit is about 60 lbs so it took a bit of effort to lift it, but it has two nifty grips on the side.The unit looks great and seems like it can fit almost anywhere. Good air flow and intuitive controls. Recommended!

I had an old LG Portable Air Conditioner I loved for 10 years and it finally died on me during the recent heat wave. My living room is 168 square feet, and my old AC was a 8,000 BTU model (5,000 SACC). I would put that on 60 and my room was ice cold in less than 30 minutes and then I could turn the unit off and relax for a few hours before having to turn back on.I figured since I needed a new A/C I should get a bigger one, and then I could cool down some of my other rooms too. I have two bedrooms off the living room that are 100 sq ft each, so the total room I need to cool is a little under 400 sq ft in total. 14,000 BTUs should be more than good enough to do that I thought.That couldn't be further from the truth. I got this machine hooked up, and I let it sit for 48 hours before turning it on just to make sure everything was fine. Once I turned it on the cold air felt amazing standing in front of the machine, I left the two bedroom doors open and left the room to let it cool down. I keep a temperature gauge in my living room and it said it was 86.9 degrees in the room. I figured in one hour it should be ice cold when I got back. I come into the living room after an hour and it is 83 degrees. I figured that can't be right, and I put my hand in front of the machine and it was still cold air, but no idea where it was going as it wasn't in any of my three rooms. I shut both bedroom doors thinking this must be able to cool off 168 sq ft by itself.I left for another hour only to come back and the living room was 79 degrees now. I checked the outside temperature and it was 76 outside now. After 2 hours of the A/C being on it was still warmer inside than it was outside.I figured since it was cool outside let's switch it to fan mode, that will bring the cold air from outside and at least keep it cool too, but my room went back up to 83 degrees. Somehow made it warmer inside!I then thought well maybe it's because the device is new. Let me keep the A/C on all throughout the night and we'll see what the temperature is in the morning. Woke up this morning and checked the thermostat to see that it was 73 degrees in the living room after having the A/C on all night long.I don't really know what the problem is, but I am going to have to return this or something. I've checked for leaks, I've double checked the window to make sure that's fully sealed, there's nothing I can see causing this. I would not buy this A/C if I was you. It's supposed to do up to 700 sq ft and it can't even do 200.