By 

Davey Williams “davey williams” (los angeles, ca USA) –

  

The Soleus LX-140 is actually the third portable AC we had in the household. The fist, a discontinued Hampton Bay model worked well and is still operating in a second bedroom. The next, the Sunpentown WA-1010e, was terrible, could only cool the room by about 4 degrees, and broke after a year.

On to the Soleus. The most important thing in a portable AC is obviously cooling ability, and the Soleus lives up to its claims of being one of the more powerful units available. At 14,000 BTU, it has proven capable of getting my 150 sq ft bedroom down to 70 degrees on hot nights, and on sweltering summer days when it’s in the upper 90′s, it can drop the temp around 15 – 20 degrees if we completely shut out any sunlight and leave the unit runnign on high. This may not seem like a huge drop, but it’s about the best one can expect from a portable unit. It is also capable of cooling our larger 300 sq ft master suite, although it maxes out at about a 15 degree drop when it’s hot and sunny. Unlike most of the other portable ACs we have looked at and used, this one does produce a steady stream of pretty cold air, and while it is massively huger and more expensive than window units, it rivals them in cooling capacity.

Features – The unit has three fan speeds on all the settings and includes a dehumidifier and heater mode in addition to AC and fan. There is temperature control on the main unit that allows you to select anywhere between 61 and 95 degrees, which is a nice feature since some portable ACs just run and run until you are freezing in the middle of the night. If you set the Soleus to 71 degrees, it will run in AC mode until the room cools down, then it will switch to fan mode until the room warms up again. This is a nice feature that not all portable ACs have. There is a timer setting that can be accessed from the main unit, and allows you to run the unit for a specified number of hours. See the remote control section below for info on the ‘time of day’ timer. It’s not the quietest unit in the world, but most of the noise is a result of the air being pushed through the unit rather than the annoying refrigerator noise you get from some. Light sleepers might not like it, but it drowns out the noisy neighbors with its rather non-offensive white noise. It could also stand to have better circulation features. There is a ‘swing’ mode on the remote that makes the vent rotate in an up and down direction, but it does not move side to side and the up-down differential is not all that huge.

Exhaust and drainage – The unit comes with two 6 ft plastic hoses that need to be stuck out a window so that it can exhaust the hot air. The dual hose method is supposed to make the unit work a lot better, and between the dual hoses and the high power of the unit it seems to perform superior to any other unit we have looked at. The hoses are a bit wide and cumbersome and could stand to be insulated, but they do the job. While the manufacturer claims the unit does not usually need to be drained, I find their statistics a little optimistic. While I don’t need to drain it when I am using it at night to drop the temp from 80 to 70, on really hot and humid days the water reservoir will fill up and need to be emptied every 2 days. Unfortunately, a big design flaw is that there is no automatic shut off on the unit. While the ‘drain unit’ light will come on in plenty of time, if you ignore it for more than a couple hours the water will start to seep out the bottom of the unit and it will just keep running. I did this once overnight and woke up to find about a gallon of watter puddling on the hard wood floor with all the electrical cords lying in it – not the safest of situations. A second design flaw is that the drain is on the very bottom rear of the unit. If you place it on the floor, only a very very shallow pan can catch the water. There is a rubber hose that comes with the unit that can be used to drain the water either out a window or into a bucket, although either option feels a little poor white trash to me.

Power – At 1500 watts, the unit is a bit of a power hog. All AC units are, and when it’s 110 degrees outside the electricity expense is well worth it. However, it should be noted that many circuit breakers and fuse boxes can be overloaded when you throw this unit on with a bunch of other stuff. We had to find a plug on a breaker that was separate from our other main electronics, because running this unit, a tv, stereo and computer all on one breaker was not going to work.

Portability – The unit is moderately heavy, although it does have wheels to make portability a little easier. The photos in the ads hide that it is a little deeper than you might think, and it’s foot print is a rather large 20 x 20 inches. There are two exhaust hoses that reach about 6 ft in length, so it needs to be right under or right next to a window. We purchased a small table at Ikea for it to sit…

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http://www.333bestbuy.com/2012/air-conditioner-btu-koldfront-eight000-btu-ultra-small-portable-air-conditioner.html#comment-7 J. Bosch Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:40:11 +0000 http://www.333bestbuy.com/2012/air-conditioner-btu-koldfront-eight000-btu-ultra-small-portable-air-conditioner.html#comment-7 <div style="margin-left:0.5em;"> <div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;"> 318 of 330 people found the following review helpful: </div> <div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;"> <span style="margin-left: -5px;"><img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/common/customer-reviews/stars-2-0._V192240756_.gif" width="64" alt="2.0 out of 5 stars" title="2.0 out of 5 stars" height="12" border="0"/></span> <b>What you need to know about Portable Air Conditioners before you buy</b>, <nobr>September 16, 2009</nobr></div> <div style="margin-bottom:0.5em;"> <b>A Kid's Review</b><br/></div> <div class="tiny" style="margin-bottom:0.5em;"> <b><span class="h3color tiny">This review is from: </span>Koldfront 8,000 BTU Ultra Compact Portable Air Conditioner (Kitchen)</b> </div> Hello everyone! <br/><br/>Portable air conditioners work by taking the air from your room, cooling it, and blowing the hot air out through an exhaust hose attached to your window. <br/><br/>But blowing hot air to the outside creates negative pressure inside your room which, in turn, pulls in more hot air from the outside (the amount of air blown out is equal to the amount of air pulled in). It is kind of self defeating. <br/><br/>The portable air conditioner is able to cool your room as long as the air it exhausts is hotter than the hot air pulled in, then there is an overall cooling effect. But as the temperature outside increas, a small A/C unit may not have enough BTU to to cool the air enough to compensate the hot air being sucked in. <br/><br/>I made the mistake of using a traditional web based cooling calculator to estimate the amount of BTU's needed for a portable A/C. If I had read the web page more carefully I would have noticed that these BTU calculators are for window/wall mounted air conditioners. The major difference between a window A/C and a portable A/C is that the window unit has its heat exchange coils outside and does not create negative pressure in your room (in other words, the cold air in the room is not directly diluted by warm air being sucked in from the outside). Without the negative pressure, there is no hot air being pulled in, so the amount of BTUs needed to cool the room is much less. Of course, even with a window A/C, warm air still seeps into the room but at a lower rate. <br/><br/>I estimate that I would need at least 50% more BTU in a portable air conditioner than that shown in web based BTU calculator for my needs. So instead of the 8,000 BTU Koldfront unit, I should have gotten a 12,000 BTU portable air conditioner. <br/><br/>Note: some portables A/C have two hoses, one for the exhaust and one for the intake so they do not create negative pressure. These units are more effecient and the web based BTU calculator should apply. <br/><br/>Here are the key takeaways: <br/><br/>1. Unless you have a two hose model (which maintains neutral pressure in your room), these portable A/C units are inefficient and are more costly to operate than a conventional through the wall/window air conditioner. <br/><br/>2. If you can, try to get a two hose portable A/C unit. But if not, then you will probably need to increase the portable's BTUs by 50% (or 1.5x) when using a conventional web based BTU calculator. CompactAppliance tried to warn me but I didn't listen. What did you expect from a 13yr old? :-). <br/><br/>3. Do buy from a reputable dealer, such as CompactAppliance. They graciously accepted my return without any hassles. Be sure you always read the vendor's return policy (some have reasonable restocking fees but some won't take it back at all!) <br/><br/>I hope this was helpful. <br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><div style="padding-top: 10px; clear: both; width: 100%;"> <div style="float:left; padding-right:15px; border-right:1px solid #CCCCCC"><div style="padding-bottom:5px;"><b class="tiny" style="color:#666666;white-space:nowrap;">Help other customers find the most helpful reviews</b> </div><div style="width:300px;"> <a name="R3SQSA7D2AJA2L.2115.Helpful.Reviews" style="font-size:1px;"> </a><span><span class="votingPrompt">Was this review helpful to you? </span><a rel="nofollow" class="votingButtonReviews" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/voting/cast/Reviews/2115/R3SQSA7D2AJA2L/Helpful/1/ref=cm_cr_ifvoteyn/190-0892175-7091150?ie=UTF8&token=5EDF1BB62EE557427191A58E1039D723B543FD35&target=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hbWF6b24uY29tL3Byb2R1Y3QtcmV2aWV3cy9CMDAxVEhWTlVPL3JlZj1jbV9jcl9pZnZvdGVyZHIvMTkwLTA4OTIxNzUtNzA5MTE1MD9fZW5jb2Rpbmc9VVRGOCZzdW1tYXJ5PTAmYWxpbmtDb2RlPXhtMiZ0YWc9c2V4eWxpbmcwMy0yMCZ2PTImbGlua0NvZGU9eG0yJmFzaW49QjAwMVRIVk5VTyZ0cnVuY2F0ZT01MDAwJmFraWQ9MVlSQ0JLNzI5MVNSUTFNOVk3UjImc2lnPXV2V3I4NzY1MTc5TFhRWTVJaFdkSTFOQWpISVpKM3JmaThkVXpwM2ZZTGMlM0QmZXhwPTIwMTItMDItMDFUMDclM0EwNiUzQTQyWiZhdGFnPXNleHlsaW5nMDMtMjA&voteAnchorName=R3SQSA7D2AJA2L.2115.Helpful.Reviews&voteSessionID=190-0892175-7091150"><img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/reviews/btn-yes-sec-md._V192249951_.gif" width="35" alt="Yes" style="vertical-align:middle;" height="18" border="0"/></a> <a rel="nofollow" class="votingButtonReviews" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/voting/cast/Reviews/2115/R3SQSA7D2AJA2L/Helpful/-1/ref=cm_cr_ifvoteyn/190-0892175-7091150?ie=UTF8&token=7CE3551485D74AE73C19FE21FDA25FABB5C727EA&target=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hbWF6b24uY29tL3Byb2R1Y3QtcmV2aWV3cy9CMDAxVEhWTlVPL3JlZj1jbV9jcl9pZnZvdGVyZHIvMTkwLTA4OTIxNzUtNzA5MTE1MD9fZW5jb2Rpbmc9VVRGOCZzdW1tYXJ5PTAmYWxpbmtDb2RlPXhtMiZ0YWc9c2V4eWxpbmcwMy0yMCZ2PTImbGlua0NvZGU9eG0yJmFzaW49QjAwMVRIVk5VTyZ0cnVuY2F0ZT01MDAwJmFraWQ9MVlSQ0JLNzI5MVNSUTFNOVk3UjImc2lnPXV2V3I4NzY1MTc5TFhRWTVJaFdkSTFOQWpISVpKM3JmaThkVXpwM2ZZTGMlM0QmZXhwPTIwMTItMDItMDFUMDclM0EwNiUzQTQyWiZhdGFnPXNleHlsaW5nMDMtMjA&voteAnchorName=R3SQSA7D2AJA2L.2115.Helpful.Reviews&voteSessionID=190-0892175-7091150"><img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/reviews/btn-no-sec-md._V192249949_.gif" width="35" alt="No" style="vertical-align:middle;" height="18" border="0"/></a> <span class="votingMessage"/></span> </div></div><div style="float:left;"><div style="padding-left:15px;"><div style="white-space:nowrap;"><span class="tiny"> <a name="R3SQSA7D2AJA2L.2115.Inappropriate.Reviews" style="font-size:1px;"> </a><span class="reportingButton"><nobr><a rel="nofollow" class="reportingButton" href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/voting/cast/Reviews/2115/R3SQSA7D2AJA2L/Inappropriate/1/ref=cm_cr_ifvoteyn/190-0892175-7091150?ie=UTF8&token=BD555F585805973A99DAE7F9C16BC671412DA306&target=aHR0cDovL3d3dy5hbWF6b24uY29tL3Byb2R1Y3QtcmV2aWV3cy9CMDAxVEhWTlVPL3JlZj1jbV9jcl9pZnZvdGVyZHIvMTkwLTA4OTIxNzUtNzA5MTE1MD9fZW5jb2Rpbmc9VVRGOCZzdW1tYXJ5PTAmYWxpbmtDb2RlPXhtMiZ0YWc9c2V4eWxpbmcwMy0yMCZ2PTImbGlua0NvZGU9eG0yJmFzaW49QjAwMVRIVk5VTyZ0cnVuY2F0ZT01MDAwJmFraWQ9MVlSQ0JLNzI5MVNSUTFNOVk3UjImc2lnPXV2V3I4NzY1MTc5TFhRWTVJaFdkSTFOQWpISVpKM3JmaThkVXpwM2ZZTGMlM0QmZXhwPTIwMTItMDItMDFUMDclM0EwNiUzQTQyWiZhdGFnPXNleHlsaW5nMDMtMjA&voteAnchorName=R3SQSA7D2AJA2L.2115.Inappropriate.Reviews&voteSessionID=190-0892175-7091150"></a></nobr></span> </span> <span style="color:#CCCCCC;">|</span> <span class="tiny"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R3SQSA7D2AJA2L/ref=cm_cr_if_perm/?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B001THVNUO&nodeID=&tag=sexyling03-20&linkCode=xm2" target="_top"></a></span></div><div style="white-space:nowrap;padding-left:-5px;padding-top:5px;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R3SQSA7D2AJA2L/ref=cm_cr_if_cmt/190-0892175-7091150?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B001THVNUO&nodeID=&tag=sexyling03-20&linkCode=xm2#wasThisHelpful" target="_top"><img src="http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/comment-sm._V192250344_.gif" width="16" alt="Comment" hspace="3" align="absmiddle" height="16" border="0"/></a> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R3SQSA7D2AJA2L/ref=cm_cr_if_cmt/190-0892175-7091150?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B001THVNUO&nodeID=&tag=sexyling03-20&linkCode=xm2#wasThisHelpful" target="_top">Comments (15)</a></div></div></div><div style="clear:both;"/> </div> <br/></div>

318 of 330 people found the following review helpful:

What you need to know about Portable Air Conditioners before you buy, September 16, 2009

A Kid’s Review

This review is from: Koldfront 8,000 BTU Ultra Compact Portable Air Conditioner (Kitchen)

Hello everyone!

Portable air conditioners work by taking the air from your room, cooling it, and blowing the hot air out through an exhaust hose attached to your window.

But blowing hot air to the outside creates negative pressure inside your room which, in turn, pulls in more hot air from the outside (the amount of air blown out is equal to the amount of air pulled in). It is kind of self defeating.

The portable air conditioner is able to cool your room as long as the air it exhausts is hotter than the hot air pulled in, then there is an overall cooling effect. But as the temperature outside increas, a small A/C unit may not have enough BTU to to cool the air enough to compensate the hot air being sucked in.

I made the mistake of using a traditional web based cooling calculator to estimate the amount of BTU’s needed for a portable A/C. If I had read the web page more carefully I would have noticed that these BTU calculators are for window/wall mounted air conditioners. The major difference between a window A/C and a portable A/C is that the window unit has its heat exchange coils outside and does not create negative pressure in your room (in other words, the cold air in the room is not directly diluted by warm air being sucked in from the outside). Without the negative pressure, there is no hot air being pulled in, so the amount of BTUs needed to cool the room is much less. Of course, even with a window A/C, warm air still seeps into the room but at a lower rate.

I estimate that I would need at least 50% more BTU in a portable air conditioner than that shown in web based BTU calculator for my needs. So instead of the 8,000 BTU Koldfront unit, I should have gotten a 12,000 BTU portable air conditioner.

Note: some portables A/C have two hoses, one for the exhaust and one for the intake so they do not create negative pressure. These units are more effecient and the web based BTU calculator should apply.

Here are the key takeaways:

1. Unless you have a two hose model (which maintains neutral pressure in your room), these portable A/C units are inefficient and are more costly to operate than a conventional through the wall/window air conditioner.

2. If you can, try to get a two hose portable A/C unit. But if not, then you will probably need to increase the portable’s BTUs by 50% (or 1.5x) when using a conventional web based BTU calculator. CompactAppliance tried to warn me but I didn’t listen. What did you expect from a 13yr old? .

3. Do buy from a reputable dealer, such as CompactAppliance. They graciously accepted my return without any hassles. Be sure you always read the vendor’s return policy (some have reasonable restocking fees but some won’t take it back at all!)

I hope this was helpful.

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