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) Security Placement ---------------- 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.

Me llegó el día de hoy, y apenas empecé a hacer algunas pruebas y todo excelente !! Funciona correctamente, enfría bastante bien, a comparación de otro aire que tenía marca Hisense, es un cambio total, lo tengo en una recamara de 4 x 4 y en cuestión de 20 a 25 mins disminuyo 2 grados la temperatura, está bonito, y funciona perfectamente con Alexa !! Actualizaré más adelante, pero por el momento todo excelente !!

Très efficace

Super

2nd Edit: This AC has been going STRONG for 3 summers in a row! This is the one to get. Also got another one from this brand with less BTU for our bedroom and this is the second summer it's going strong! Edit: Reviewed June 21st, it is now August 14th and it is still working AMAZINGLY. I found that since it is so humid in the summer in MN that the water accumulation needed to be drained constantly so we have ended up just keeping the drainage hose in the unit and having it empty continuously into a large container that we just dump out daily and sometimes twice daily. I think it could probably break the machine to have too much water accumulate in it, I’m not sure what would happen if it was full and was worried that would happen and it could leak into other parts of the machine so for now in these humid months we are just letting it drain 24/7. This is a great ac unit and dehumidifier, you definitely need it. It is very powerful and has literally saved my spouse and I from having to move in with my mom during the super hot weeks because we can’t afford $5000 for a new ac unit. It is amazing that on 100 degree days my living room is actually COLD! This is a really good AC unit, it works perfectly. I got it for our downstairs (we live in a smallish townhouse) living room/kitchen area. Not sure how many square feet our downstairs area is but I would guess less than 700. We got the 14,000 BTU unit that covers up to 700 sq ft. It runs constantly and yes is loud but I really don't care as long as it works, and it does. We have been keeping it set at 68 degrees and it basically just runs for a while then shuts off for a while and runs again, continuously throughout the day and night to keep it at that temperature. The only window we have in the downstairs of our townhouse is a sliding door, so we had to get a kit for the hose to run out of and for the whole height of the door opening to be covered. It is soooo hot and humid outside, but inside our house it is crisp and cool. We had to get this because our regular AC unit is completely broken and unfixable, its just too old and it quit on us. I bought this on 6/7 and it's now 6/21, I know that's not a super long time to know if it's going to keep working but I absolutely will edit my review if it stops working for any reason or becomes less effective. The remote is nice, I like having that option to change it, but I really don't have to use it much. From 6/7 to 6/21 with it running nonstop, we checked the water drainage compartment and it only had a small amount of water, like basically 1 or 2 shot glasses worth. Not sure how the nonstop use of the unit has effected our energy bill, will have to update on that when I get the bill.