Home Improvement Product Reviews

Tepid, June 1, 2010

By 

Christopher Deweese (Kansas City) – See all my reviews

  

  

The NewAir portable AC definitely works. Lots of cold air comes pouring out of this thing, but it may not be exactly what you’re looking for. It’s good for some things and not so good for others. Let me explain.

I have an office/media room on the top floor of my house. It’s basically an attic/loft that gets pretty warm in the summer. Central air is pumped into the room, but not much air comes through the vents. My homeowner’s association will not allow window AC units, so I thought this would be an excellent alternative. The unit is portable and the window exhaust vent is not noticeable from the outside. The unit looks nice and is sturdy. I like the remote control and the digital thermostat on the front of the unit. It rolls nicely on it’s casters. Hooking up the hose and exhaust vent was easy. However, my expectations may have been too high.

First, the room is about 150-200 square feet. The unit is not able to cool the room down much at all. The room is tolerable if you’re sitting with the unit pointed in your direction as you can feel the cool air. That’s about as good as it got. Also, the hose and exhaust vent got really hot during operation. Not sure if the heat radiating out from it canceled out the AC, but it was noticeable. To the unit’s credit, the room has a skylight that acts just like a magnifying glass, so I’m sure some of the heat in the room is the result of it. Plus, there are three other windows with only blinds pulled. Maybe putting some opaque curtains up would help keep the temp down.

Second, the unit is very loud. Even on the low setting the compressor fills the room with a loud buzzing sound. If I’m working at my computer with headphones on, it’s not a problem. But if I’m trying to watch a movie or play video games on the TV it’s downright impossible.

Needless to say, I’m a little disappointed with the unit. I spent almost 0 on this thing and it doesn’t really work the way I wanted it to. There are a few tweeks I can make to the room to help it along, but I guess I’m just going to have to get used to it.

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 Comments (7)

Very nice AC for room cooling., August 25, 2007

I have always used an evaporative cooler since I live in a low-humidity environment. It works really well unless it get over 96 and this year was especially warm so we decided to get an AC for the bedroom, the warmest room. I did lots of comparing, reviewing and trying to figure out exactly what would end up being the best value. I saw this product and it was something I hoped would work.

It came quickly. The company sends you the FedEx number so you can track it and know when to expect it. After opening it, I was glad we went portable instead of window unit. It looks pretty cool and isn’t too huge. The thing for the exhaust in the window looks good when viewed from outside the house. The air comes out very cool and gives instant relief. It isn’t loud. The remote is nice – I didn’t think we would use but we do. Not having to empty the water is a handy feature also.

I am really happy with this AC.

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Great AC unit !, July 7, 2008

This 12,000 BTU unit works like a dream. It blows cold all day, is quiet, and given enough time, it actually cools most of my 1200 square foot house, which is far better than its rated cooling ability. Still, is is designed to be used as a room air conditioner. My only issue with it was the fact that the window kit wasn’t quite large enough for my largest windows in the living room. But all it took was a call to the manufacturer, Amcor, and for plus postage they sent me a second window kit to extend the first one. The result is perfect, exactly what I needed. A hard-working AC unit that can be moved from place to place if I want… or even used in my studio outbuilding. Highly versatile and extremely well made. Would recommend to anyone who doesn’t have or want central air or window units. Finally, someone tagged this product as an evaporative cooler (swamp cooler) which it is NOT. It is a true air conditioner with a powerful compressor.

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