Home Improvement Product Reviews

Great, but lost a star for bad directions and no screws, August 2, 2011

This is a great unit, but the directions that come with it are very bad. Not that it takes a rocket scientist to install it, but still, I’d like to see clearer directions. Also, it didn’t come with the required screws…??? Still, though, it’s a great unit.

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GREAT BUY!, July 24, 2011

By 

Wanda L. Wheeler (Beulaville, NC, US) – See all my reviews

  

This is an efficient unit. Cools really well without using a lot of electricity. Has a nice design.

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WA-1211S – Even better than expected!, July 26, 2011

By 

Lisa Curll (Ohio) – See all my reviews

  

The current Amazon description does NOT do this unit justice! What it tells you is the following:

Energy star Window Air Conditioner
12000 BTU cooling Capacity
3 fan speed
Washable Filter
Temperature Range from 62-86 F

Now, let me tell you what this unit REALLY offers!

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PROS:

First, it has a remote control. This is a big thing for us… we don’t like to have to keep getting up and down whenever we want to change a setting… and settings it has! With the remote, you can not only change the temperature, but also set the timer, fan speed, sleep mode, and operating mode (cooling, fan, “drying” – which I’ll get into in a moment…, or AUTO)

It has a timer! You can set your air conditioner to shut off after a certain amount of time – up to 24 hours in half-hour increments (one-hour increments after 10 hours). This is great for those of us who “accidentally” fall asleep while watching a movie or something with the air conditioner on… it saves a ton on electricity!

The vent is adjustable so you can direct the air. Pretty standard, but Amazon doesn’t mention it.

Digital temperature display – again, probably seems obvious, but again, Amazon doesn’t mention it.

About that 3-speed fan they mention… that would be Low, Medium, or High… but you can also choose “AUTO”, which will alter the fan’s intensity for you depending on demand.

The filter is not only washable, the unit actually tells you when it needs cleaned, so you don’t forget to check it.

It has this thing called “SLEEP” mode… where it apparently slowly rises the designated temperature by 4 degrees over a 1 hour period, then runs at that temperature for six hours before returing to the original temp. I suppose this would make it quieter when you’re sleeping, but we don’t intentionally sleep in the room we have this in, so it’s not such a big deal to us.

Lots of other modes! Here’s a description:

FAN mode – works like a fan by bringing air in from the outside.

AUTO mode – a “smart” air conditioner! Instead of just flooding your room with constant cold air until icicles form, this allows you to set a temperature and stick to it. This may be a standard function in newer air conditioners, but the one we’ve been using in our bedroom for years didn’t have this, so you’d wake up freezing in the middle of the night. In AUTO mode, the AC starts cooling whenever the temperature in your room hits 4 degrees above your desired temperature, and it switches to FAN mode when the temp drops 2 degrees below that. This seven-degree range may seem broad, but it keeps your air conditioner from constantly turning on-and-off-and-on-and-off, like my grandma’s nursing home AC used to do.

COOL mode – standard air conditioner mode. This is similar to AUTO, except that you only have a two-degree range. The booklet offered this example:

Assume you set your temperature to 70 degrees.
- in AUTO mode, it will COOL to 68 degrees, then FAN to 74 degrees, then COOL again…
- in COOL mode, it will COOL to 70 degrees, then FAN to 72 degrees, then COOL again…

Basically COOL is the same as AUTO except it’ll switch more often.

Then there’s DRY mode – now this is neat… your air conditioner acts as a dehumidifier, removing moisture from your home, which can make it seem drier without having to spend as much on electricity.

Finally, there’s an ENERGY SAVER mode, which can be selected from COOL mode. When your desired temperature is reached, it stops cooling, the fan runs for another couple of minutes, then it “cycles” for two minutes every 10 minutes until the room temperature gets above the set temperature, at which point it COOLs again.

Oh, and it plugs into a regular outlet. This is great, because at the time we needed an AC, all the stores in our city were sold out of everything but 220s, which (I recently learned) do not fit normal outlets.

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CONS:

It’s heavy. The UPS guy dropped it off and I couldn’t get it inside until my husband got home. Also, the instructions tell you to screw it into your windows. My windows aren’t made of wood, and I don’t really want to drill into them anyway, so we chose not to do that. I’ll let you know if it slides out or anything, but I think it’ll be fine. We might prop it up outside with a 4×4, we’ll have to see.

Installing it was really pretty easy, given that we didn’t really follow the instructions. If you follow the instructions, best of luck to you.

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Please comment if you have any questions! I was leery about purchasing this unit when there weren’t ANY reviews ANYWHERE, but we did… and I’m glad we did!

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Performs like it should, August 19, 2011

By 

Casey Calouette – See all my reviews

  

No complaints. Unit works very well and cools down a few rooms in no time flat. The “auto” mode is especially nice. Only complaint is the vent switch. There is no marking to define if you are in the right position or what position you may be in. Other than that it functions well with a minimum of noise.

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Great product !, March 6, 2012

It has a remote control. This is a big thing for us. It has a timer! You can set your air conditioner to shut off after a certain amount of time. The vent is adjustable so you can direct the air. Pretty standard.

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So far wonderful, March 14, 2011

By 

Laura Smith “justresearch” (justresearch) – See all my reviews

  

I haven’t had this dishwasher more than a few months so I can’t speak on durability. I live in a small apartment on my own and had never had a dishwasher before. I decided against the countertop models because living in a small space, I really didn’t have any kitchen counterspace to spare anyway; but I figured I did have 18 inches of floor space where I could put this dishwasher and I would be able to use the top of it as a counter. So I figured this would in fact be more space saving than those countertop models which take a lot of counter space. I ended up being right about this at least as far as my apartment is concerned.

Cleans well. I never expected a tiny model like this to clean as as well as some bigger models out there, but it does. I expected to have to pre-rinse everything that went in the machine. Most of the time I find I don’t even have to do that to get a squeeky clean result. But it’s recommended that you do pre-rinse. The wheels are plastic, but they roll easily. The hoses are designed to attach to your faucet so you can store this anywhere and just roll it to the sink when you want to use it. If you want to keep it in the same spot at all times, you better make that spot right next to your sink because the hoses are short. Maybe only 3 feet long. If like me you can’t keep it next to your sink you have to roll it to your sink each time which hasn’t been a problem for me. It comes with a 1 year warranty. The worst thing about this dishwasher is the accompanying manual which is the worst manual on a major appliance I’ve ever seen. It would not answer some of my most basic questions. I spent over an hour trying to figure out where a piece that came with the machine was supposed to go and finally resorted to posting photos of it online to see if anyone could tell me. (it was too late in the day to call Danby customer service). Most people that had dishwashers had no idea what the cone piece was for. Found out that it’s actually a salt dispenser for the dishwashing salt (which I don’t use anyway as my water really isn’t that hard). Other things the manual doesn’t mention: The Red button on the faucet attachment is to release water pressure so that when you add and remove the attachment you don’t get sprayed with water. Also you can remove the metal faucet adapter and attach it to the faucet and leave it there. Your faucet will work same as always and then whenever you want to use the machine you can just pull the plastic ring on the white faucet attachment on the hose downward (exposing the metal dots) to attach it to the faucet adapter already on your sink. Easy Peasy. Before I realized this I was struggling to screw on the metal attachment while it was still connected to the hose as I didn’t know there was a more appropriate way to do it. It makes me nervous when a manufacturing company doesn’t take the time to write a decent manual for their product, but in the end all I cared about was that this thing cleans well and doesn’t take much energy doing it. According to the papers it came with it only costs about 30 bucks a year to operate if you use it 3-4 times a week! My energy bill came with no unpleasant surprises. Since this isn’t a small, cheap item, before buying I spoke (online) with 4 other owners of this model over a period of 2 weeks to see if they had any issues. One person said that their indicator lights didn’t always work right,but all of the owners including him said they were still happy with their purchase 2-3 years later. I use the machine about 3-5 times a week. The strongest cycle takes 3 hours. I let it run right before I go to sleep and I wake in the morning to clean dishes. After contacting a few sellers decided to purchase from ‘Today’s Concept’ because they responded to my questions in a timely manner and were very helpful and not all the sellers even bothered to respond to my questions. I know the sellers are always changing on Amazon, but I was happy with their service so I figured I might as well mention them. I would buy from them again.

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Great size – Great Performance, December 19, 2010

I have owned Danby Products before and have never been disappointed. This is a well built machine at a great price. It does have a long cycle but I’ve never had a built in so I don’t really have much to compare it to other than doing by hand. the Normal Wash setting runs about 2.5 hours from start to finish. But it is very quiet compared to what I have heard in friends homes. I live in a small home and my bedroom is right next to the kitchen. I am able to start the washer before I go to bed and not hear a peep. It is like having my own magic elves doing the dishes while I sleep. Of course, nothing is perfect and I will say that the “drying” mechanism doesn’t always mean that I wake up to dry dishes, but it seems that it depends on the dishes. Ceramic type dishes dry very well while plastic seem to be what holds the droplets of water… Also, top rack doesn’t seem to get the benefit of the heat like the bottom rack. Secondly, I’ve read tons of reviews on a variety of websites (competing sellers, nexttag, etc) and a lot of the problems can be avoided by reading the manual, which is not an easy feat since the manual is not all that clear on some things. The number one thing I’ve read is what is the funnel for… well, if you open the machine and pull out the bottom drawer, you will see a great big dial looking thing next to the water arm… that is where you would put water softener salts (if you live in a hard-water area)… Unscrew that cap and the funnel use is obvious. Third, If you don’t think the adapter will fit your faucet, know that the quick-release adapter has threading on inside and out, if your faucet has threads on the outside, just take the big fat washer out of the adapter and you will see the inner threading (don’t forget whenever you work with water, you MUST use thread tape). Now the machine does heat your water but I have an older home and don’t have the strongest water pressure. I alleviate this by turning on both the cold and hot taps full blast and it seems to be working. I will continue to buy Danby products because what the manual doesn’t cover, usually common sense and a little examination of the machine takes care of and I’ve never been disappointed in the quality of workmanship.

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Oh dear god thank you for this machine!!, May 12, 2011

By 

A. Christian-Richardson (Florida, USA) – See all my reviews

  

Love this machine! LOVE IT. I have been 5 years without a dishwasher and this little thing is perfect for me and my husband.

There are issues. If you don’t have a well you’ll have no clue why there’s a salt reservoir, and with the crappy manual you’ll have to read the reviews that tell you that the white topped, clear middle, screw off cap on the left is where you put salt into the bottom pan. Then you’ll have to learn that the salt you need is only sold in 40 lb bags (minimum) at Home Depot which isn’t a big deal if you are like me and have a well and buy that stuff all the time. For those who are curious look at the user uploaded pictures, I’ve got a bag of pellet salt that you’ll need and my brine tank that needs to be cleaned. X(

EDIT: As of today I have filled the brine tank of the dishwasher to the top and the salt light is off!

As for cleaning, it works, it has a stainless steel interior which will keep it from stinking after a few years of hard labor. Bad side: it takes 3 hours to clean however you can pause the wash and throw something in and let it go again. To pause, just press the start button on the right, the wash will stop and you can open the door. To start again just press the start button, there will be a 5-7 sec lag, don’t be worried.

Of note: the top washer arm isn’t meant for hard cleaning so don’t put a nasty pot up there or it’ll need another go, or you could bite the bullet and clean it yourself you pampered snooty pants.

If you’re single or it’s just you and your partner this is the right machine for you. It can handle a small party for dishes or a good large meal of pots. But if you have 5 kids and a lazy husband who can’t rinse out a cup you’re going to need a built in washer.

Edit: Another issue. There is a shallow dip in the soap dispenser cap for pre-cleaning. I have found that the globules of soap land on my dishes and don’t wash off well. It leave a white residue after the wash is over. It’s easy to remove since it’s only soap but now I put pre-wash soap on the lower part of the door. I’m not sure if that decreases the effectiveness of the pre-wash but it solved the white stain problem.

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