melanieannemason wrote:The area I'm wanting to air condition has no outdoor walls...it's in a school, and has rooms surrounding it. The custodians told me it would take thousands of dollars to get AC in the area. I was hoping to find something small to just help out...it gets incredibly hot in there. Any other suggestions would be very much appreciated.

If you are lucky and have drop ceilings all the way to an outside wall, you might be able to run a long hose up in the ceiling to an outside wall or down into a classroom with a window. However, even if you could do this I am not sure how well the small fan in this AC would exhaust the air.

Also for people buying this unit you should get the Exhaust Hose as close to the window as possible since it gets very warm an send heat back into the room you are trying to cool. You can also buy some insulation to put around the exhaust hose. I agree that two hoses are better than one.

I would like to see woot sell the heat pump version of these portable units.

I also own this or a similar model from Costco. It works and is relatively quiet, but it doesn't cool the room very fast at all (takes an hour at least), and definitely doesn't get 'cold', regardless of how low or how long you set it. Not really at all what I expected.

Mine used in an upstairs bedroom. I'm in north TX.

Ednoria wrote:How would it install in a crank window? I can't picture how it would fit.

I fashioned a replacement screen
for the crank window that was closed except for the section where the exhaust goes. I used two spring curtain rods orienting the
window panel with the exhaust hole vertically. the hose attaching to
the panel and the hole in the panel in line with the hole in the replacement scree ,(essentially a solid window with a hole lined up with the exhaust - made out of wood or plexiglass).

You crank open the window that has the exhaust port and torn on the AC.

radi0j0hn wrote:

The whole "bucketless" design concept is flawed. There is an inner tray which (supposedly) fills and then the hot air rushing over it carries the moisture outside via the vent.

Some of the Sharp units (I'm not 100% certain about this one) will circulate the water over the condenser coils to help evaporate the moisture out with the exhaust air.

Hmm, checking the owner's manual, page EN-28 says "...it evaporates water condensed during cooling operation within the unit through the exhaust air outlet. Although water flowing sound may be heard, this is normal" which seems to confirm.

Still, in a humid environment, expect to have to empty the drain pan at times.

I'm getting one. I hope to be able to keep the central air set higher and then only cool down my bedroom more at night.

Does anyone have experience running this off of a portable generator during hot, humid summer power outages?

This is exactly what we are looking for to cool the bedroom on nights we lose power. Since our power can't seem to stay on whenever it storms.

Gonna keep checking the reviews throughout the day and possible order one.

looks like the hose is relatively short, necessitating it being close to the window. Can I run some hose extension or splice another hose section onto their existing hose? If I run 10 more feet, the AC would be able to cool the area I would be in instead of the whole room.

I miss Woot. I've tried to like the new format, hoping that it would grow on me but I have to call no-joy. I am not sure what it is, maybe the spirit of the Woot World has been killed and now all exist is the shell of what used to be. Seems to happen whenever one company buys another, the acquiring company introduces its own ideas, turning knobs and flipping switches without really understanding how the who thing works.

There are a few things everyone should know before they buy this unit. I bought one because we live in the Northwest where there is no central air and we have an infant who gets really grumpy when hot. If a window unit will work for you, I'd recommend that, but this unit helps with unusual windows. We have large, horizontally sliding windows in the bedroom. That's where this thing comes in handy because I just don't see how we could even install a window unit. Here's what I think you should know:

- It's heavy and awkward. Good luck getting it up stairs
- The device comes with large exhaust hose. The unit runs more efficiently when that exhaust hose isn't stretched out.
- Draining the unit can be awkward. You can roll it to a bathroom, but unless you have a drain in the floor, it might be a challenge. The drain plug is at the bottom of the unit and that means it's about 2 inches off the ground. You'll need a siphon/pump hose to get it to drain into a bathtub or shower because you're likely not lifting the unit.
- You might have to cut on the plastic sleeve to get it to fit right in the windows.
- It makes a good bit of noise. Especially since the actual compressor is basically inside your house. However, I personally feel like it's soothing like some good white noise.
- It's a pretty good sized unit. Imagine R2D2 hanging out in your room. Just not quite as talkative.
- The oscillating louvers are a nice addition.
- We have a large master bedroom and this thing seems to do the trick. Don't expect to freeze to death, but it will cool the room adequately.

lwang wrote:looks like the hose is relatively short, necessitating it being close to the window. Can I run some hose extension or splice another hose section onto their existing hose? If I run 10 more feet, the AC would be able to cool the area I would be in instead of the whole room.

I wouldn't. The longer the hose is stretched out the less efficient the device is. Basically you're increasing the surface area so heat can dissipate back into the room before it has a chance to make it outside.

tommytheduck wrote:Does anyone have experience running this off of a portable generator during hot, humid summer power outages?

Replying to myself, I think the biggest problem with that would be the noise of the generator coming in through the window that would need to be opened in order to vent it.

But since we would be running the generator anyways for the fridge, etc, I guess we'd hear it no matter what.

When's the last time we had a front-page Woot under $50? $20?

There used to be good, awesome deals on here. Alas, not so often anymore.

rag15 wrote:this AC unit needs an exhaust to outside. Seeing that this "portable" unit is more or less tethered to a window, why not just install a window unit instead? Window AC is far more efficient than a "portable" unit.

With a window unit you have to remove the screen and sometimes support it from the outside. This will also work with different styles of windows. Like ones that slide from side to side instead of up and down.

wis wrote:

The other post is correct. The longer the hose the more heat you put back into the room. The other problem is you are pulling hot are in from outside the room which getts exhausted as a by product to keep the compressor cooled. The other type of window AC places the hot side outside the room and pulls outside air to cool the compressor and again exhausts it to the outside and only cool air is recirculated in the room makeing the AC work more effectivly.

I own the predecessor of this model, with the same BTU rating. I have had it for three years now. I bought it for about the same price on EBay directly from Sharp, refurbished.

Pros:
1) Quiet: You won't find quieter portable AC unit anywhere else. The Japanese really knows how to make their appliances unintrusive; I'd testify to its "library quiet" claim. And even at its "mega cool" (continuous maximum cooling), it's still quieter than any box-fan on high. No kidding.

2) Easy installation for difficult location: We have those push open windows with a bug screen and the condo does not allow window air-conditioner (obviously for safety reason). I just measured the bug screen size, and the size of the hose's vent and had a plastic screen fabricated to fit over the bug screen. After that, installation took no more than 15 minutes.

3) Cool small space quickly: My condo is already LEED certified so the insulation is great. Using this air conditioner, the living room would cool down very quickly (30 minutes for a 400 sq. ft. space).

4) Almost zero maintenance: The evaporative bucketless condensation feature works. Beautifully. Only on one occasion did I need to use the very simple pumping feature to empty the water from the unit. It's so easy, too. Hold down a button, put a bowl next to the drainage opening, and voila. Done in a minute.

5) Reliable: Three years now, and it has never skipped a beat.

6) Craftsmanship and build-quality: It's beautifully designed with attention to detail that would make you think that if Apple were to build an air-conditioner unit, this would be it. It's substantial, solid and everything gives a feeling of a good quality product. Using a car analogy, the Sharp air-conditioning units would be like an Infiniti or an Acura. It quietly disappears from your decor.

In short, after three years of ownership, I highly recommend these Sharp to everyone.

Cons:

Not many, and mostly are nitpicking. Or calling it "advice to using it optimally may be more accurate.

1) The exhaust hose gets hot: This effectively would lower the efficiency of the cooling (since you are heating the room back up). An easy fix for me was to wrap the exhaust hose with a long winter wool scarf around the hose as insulation. This made a difference; and the hose actually looks rather stylish now (being fashionably vain myself).

2) Cooling power is enough only for small space: But that we already know looking at the BTU value. It's not really a cons, just want people to have reasonable expectations.

Overall

Highly recommended - for the price, it's hard to find better. Do read the manual when you get it, so you know how to work it nicely.

krybaby01 wrote:I miss Woot. I've tried to like the new format, hoping that it would grow on me but I have to call no-joy. I am not sure what it is, maybe the spirit of the Woot World has been killed and now all exist is the shell of what used to be. Seems to happen whenever one company buys another, the acquiring company introduces its own ideas, turning knobs and flipping switches without really understanding how the who thing works.

I agree...it's not about not liking change...it's about practical things...for example -- after purchasing today's woot I tried to print an invoice...it's either 8 pages or 11 pages of meaningless garbage depending on portrait or landscape...finally I gave up and used a screen print to try and capture enough to use for warranty purposes if the need arises...it's like there are too many designers and not enough testers for the entire new website format.

tommytheduck wrote:Does anyone have experience running this off of a portable generator during hot, humid summer power outages?

This is exactly what we are looking for to cool the bedroom on nights we lose power. Since our power can't seem to stay on whenever it storms.

Well, as an electrical engineer, I would say that our infrastructure is becoming rather embarrassing. We are way behind almost all 1st world Asian countries/cities and Europe. Power outage in a storm is unheard of over those places... *sigh*

Back to the unit itself. The unit, on its highest setting, consumes 1,100 W. I measured mine and it is an accurate estimation. If your portable generator outputs at least 1,200 W, it can probably power it.

However, I highly discourage such operation since an unattended portable generator is a big safety hazard both for you (exhaust fume) and your neighbors (fire). I am also assuming that the generator will sit outside of your window, which likely makes the air seal rather weak, significantly reducing the effectiveness of a low-power air-conditioning unit like this one.

For outages, I think your better bet would be a box fan or...undressing.

beebokho wrote:I agree...it's not about not liking change...it's about practical things...for example -- after purchasing today's woot I tried to print an invoice...it's either 8 pages or 11 pages of meaningless garbage depending on portrait or landscape...finally I gave up and used a screen print to try and capture enough to use for warranty purposes if the need arises...it's like there are too many designers and not enough testers for the entire new website format.

Why don't you limit your browser to only print the first two pages or something? Plus you can print to PDF and you won't waste a single piece of paper.

Btw, don't discussions like this belong to the "Ask A Question" in Deals.Woot? There is also a link for feedbacks of this "beta" version on the top of this page. Let them know of the printing issue. I think the capable coders at Amazon/Woot can easily take care of that.

casey00001 wrote:Great in the event of power failure, you can still run off strong generator.

how big of a generator are you talking/ I have a champion 1000 puts out max 3500 watts is that going to run this thing?

The manual isn't too clear about this. You just have to manually emplty the water if/when you use the dehumidifier mode, not the air conditioning mode. The air conditioning mode evaporates the water through the exhaust tube in the window, which wouldn't be used in the dehumidifier mode. Hope this helps.

garylapointe wrote:But the manual clearly talks about how to drain it when it gets full. See page EN-26 of the PDF manual. Drain out water within the unit in the following cases.
• When the unit stops operating and the TIMER, AIR CON and MAXIMUM lamps are
blinking, the water tank is full and need to be drained.
• When the unit is not used for a long time

If I put this in the bedroom upstairs, draining it will be very difficult for me.

This is the only thing that concerns me and is stopping me from purchasing it.

Gary

jazzfan61 wrote:how big of a generator are you talking/ I have a champion 1000 puts out max 3500 watts is that going to run this thing?

Yes, that would work. See my post above.

I was looking into purchasing a portable AC unit, but I'm wondering.... Does anyone know how well this would work in a sliding-type casement window with a screen? :/ I have no idea.

I bought one of these last year (same reconditioned Sharp model) and can't imagine living without it. I paid approx. $375 online (I think it was NewEgg), so of course I had to snap up another one here on Woot! for 40% less! Seriously, you'd be foolish not to buy one. If you could find this elsewhere at a comparable price (big IF), consider that you might also have to factor in sales tax and/or shipping more than Woot!'s $5.00. Don't fear the single hose, it works like a charm. And you don't need to worry about emptying the water container (or hooking up a drainage hose) unless you plan on using this solely as a dehumidifier (I'm not sure why anyone would want to). Installing this in my bedroom window and then securing the sash with 4" nails to prevent further opening means that I can leave this semi-permanently installed in my window without worrying about a break-in when I'm away at work. If I'm going to be away for longer than a weekend it take all of 30 seconds to open the sash, remove the one piece exhaust hose unit, and lock the window tightly. Using a window unit is not a viable alternative as it would be too heavy/bulky to install/uninstall every time I leave the house and lock up. Does a great job quickly cooling down the bedroom, is quiet and has an easy-to-use digital remote which is programmable (unfortunately I haven't had the time to figure out how to set it). The remote's greatest feature is a useful "run for 1 hour" button that is perfect for making the bedroom comfy when I get home from work, when I turn in and again when I wake up. REMEMBER TO HAVE SOME AAA batteries on hand for the remote (as it doesn't ship with batteries and there are no controls on the unit itself--you have to use the remote). Come Autumn, the casters make it convenient to remove the unit and wheel it into an out-of-the way closet until the following Spring. Maybe you've had second-thoughts about other items you've purchased on WOOT! but this won't be one of them!

what are these AC's EER or its equiv? If they are low, it would probably be cheaper to get a contractor to punch a hole in my wall and put an AC with a sleeve on it.

tommytheduck wrote:Replying to myself, I think the biggest problem with that would be the noise of the generator coming in through the window that would need to be opened in order to vent it.

But since we would be running the generator anyways for the fridge, etc, I guess we'd hear it no matter what.

I would rather deal with some noise than trying to sleep in a very hot room. We have ours for the same reason. Prolonged power outages that come after big storms/Hurricanes whatever. It is the difference in being somewhat comfortable to being miserable. If you have a generator, for the price this makes a good companion and in my case might have prevented a murder or two.... (Heat make the wife crazy.. )

Just put it with the hurricane supplies and consider it an investment. I can tell you from experience these portable A/C units make a huge difference when your power goes out. You can get at least one room cool.

I have this- it works no better than the $129 window mount ones. It does look less ghetto, but there's nothing magical about its ability. At this price, it's a decent buy at best.

CowboyDann's a major player in the cowboy scene. He works at the reservation, drinks and gets mean. He's gonna start a war. He's gonna start a war...

CowboyDann wrote: Here is the Operation Manual

I'll be back with more posts if it's a slow Friday night

viciousworld wrote:I was looking into purchasing a portable AC unit, but I'm wondering.... Does anyone know how well this would work in a sliding-type casement window with a screen? :/ I have no idea.

Ive been using my sharp for 10 years now on a sliding window with no problems.

rag15 wrote:this AC unit needs an exhaust to outside. Seeing that this "portable" unit is more or less tethered to a window, why not just install a window unit instead? Window AC is far more efficient than a "portable" unit.

Is this true? I thought the hose was to pull in outside air to circulate and cool so it wasn't just using the same air in the room?

Can you operate this unit in the same room without using the hose to ventilate the air?

jgtaber wrote:Is this true? I thought the hose was to pull in outside air to circulate and cool so it wasn't just using the same air in the room?

Can you operate this unit in the same room without using the hose to ventilate the air?

why pull outside air (which is hotter than the air in the room) and cool it when you can cool the inside air (which gets cooler and cooler as time goes on). A result of cooling air that goes thru the unit is that heat has to be transferred to something else, in this case, the air that is being exhausted out.

casey00001 wrote:Not practicle, think more in terms of how your clothes dryer vents to the outside. That is how these things work.

Actually, there are some that come with this specific adapter - for people like me that only have sliding doors in their home.

ThunderThighs wrote:

ROLF!
TT (aka PARK BENCH), when you post a photo you really make it count!

melanieannemason wrote:The area I'm wanting to air condition has no outdoor walls...it's in a school, and has rooms surrounding it. The custodians told me it would take thousands of dollars to get AC in the area. I was hoping to find something small to just help out...it gets incredibly hot in there. Any other suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Vent into the ceiling or a room that is adjacent but not in use

garylapointe wrote:But the manual clearly talks about how to drain it when it gets full. See page EN-26 of the PDF manual. Drain out water within the unit in the following cases.
• When the unit stops operating and the TIMER, AIR CON and MAXIMUM lamps are
blinking, the water tank is full and need to be drained.
• When the unit is not used for a long time

If I put this in the bedroom upstairs, draining it will be very difficult for me.

This is the only thing that concerns me and is stopping me from purchasing it.

Gary

I have a Sharp portable A/C unit similar to this one being sold on Woot! and I operate it in a 2nd floor bedroom. I drain it before putting it away for the season by placing the unit at the top of the stairs with its backside facing the stairs. Then I open the drain valve and drain the water into a plastic dish pan placed one step below the A/C unit.

melanieannemason wrote:The area I'm wanting to air condition has no outdoor walls...it's in a school, and has rooms surrounding it. The custodians told me it would take thousands of dollars to get AC in the area. I was hoping to find something small to just help out...it gets incredibly hot in there. Any other suggestions would be very much appreciated.

Perhaps you can vent the hot air out thru the ceiling or roof?

antwillia1 wrote:CowboyDann's a major player in the cowboy scene. He works at the reservation, drinks and gets mean. He's gonna start a war. He's gonna start a war...

Always love a modest mouse fan.

Also to clear things up, I wasn't asking how much more expensive this would be than my old unit, I know that thing was an energy hog. I was wondering how much this would be more than fans or something. Glad to see this thing is an energy sipper at 25 a month.

Nice post, thanks!

lll0228 wrote:I own the predecessor of this model, with the same BTU rating. I have had it for three years now. I bought it for about the same price on EBay directly from Sharp, refurbished.

Pros:
1) Quiet: You won't find quieter portable AC unit anywhere else. The Japanese really knows how to make their appliances unintrusive; I'd testify to its "library quiet" claim. And even at its "mega cool" (continuous maximum cooling), it's still quieter than any box-fan on high. No kidding.

2) Easy installation for difficult location: We have those push open windows with a bug screen and the condo does not allow window air-conditioner (obviously for safety reason). I just measured the bug screen size, and the size of the hose's vent and had a plastic screen fabricated to fit over the bug screen. After that, installation took no more than 15 minutes.

3) Cool small space quickly: My condo is already LEED certified so the insulation is great. Using this air conditioner, the living room would cool down very quickly (30 minutes for a 400 sq. ft. space).

4) Almost zero maintenance: The evaporative bucketless condensation feature works. Beautifully. Only on one occasion did I need to use the very simple pumping feature to empty the water from the unit. It's so easy, too. Hold down a button, put a bowl next to the drainage opening, and voila. Done in a minute.

5) Reliable: Three years now, and it has never skipped a beat.

6) Craftsmanship and build-quality: It's beautifully designed with attention to detail that would make you think that if Apple were to build an air-conditioner unit, this would be it. It's substantial, solid and everything gives a feeling of a good quality product. Using a car analogy, the Sharp air-conditioning units would be like an Infiniti or an Acura. It quietly disappears from your decor.

In short, after three years of ownership, I highly recommend these Sharp to everyone.

Cons:

Not many, and mostly are nitpicking. Or calling it "advice to using it optimally may be more accurate.

1) The exhaust hose gets hot: This effectively would lower the efficiency of the cooling (since you are heating the room back up). An easy fix for me was to wrap the exhaust hose with a long winter wool scarf around the hose as insulation. This made a difference; and the hose actually looks rather stylish now (being fashionably vain myself).

2) Cooling power is enough only for small space: But that we already know looking at the BTU value. It's not really a cons, just want people to have reasonable expectations.

Overall

Highly recommended - for the price, it's hard to find better. Do read the manual when you get it, so you know how to work it nicely.

viciousworld wrote:I was looking into purchasing a portable AC unit, but I'm wondering.... Does anyone know how well this would work in a sliding-type casement window with a screen? :/ I have no idea.

That is the reason we bought a portable. It worked great in our sliding window. We had to build a little extra at the top out of some Styrofoam insulation, but it was way better than building up the whole rest of the window from a standard window unit. You don't have to take the screen out with this type of air conditioner.

boring product description...did they change or something? I used to love reading these things, but lately...they seem lackluster...is it just me getting older and intolerant of imperfect writers? Or is it just me?

Portable units flat out SUCK if you live in an area with 100* temps. Always get the biggest window you can!!! With much disdain, we purchased one for a room that had no other option. The Whynter arc-14sh had the best reviews overall, but is still disappointing:

http://www.amazon.com/review/RS4N7CMRVTUYU/ref=cm_cr_pr_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B002W87P9C&nodeID=&tag=&linkCode=