Whynter Portable Air Conditioner 14,000 BTU with Dual Hose Dehumidifier & Cooling Fan for 500 Sq Ft Rooms, Includes AC Unit Window Kit, ARC-14S (9,500 SACC)

First of all this air conditioner changed our lives! When I first was in the market for a portable air conditioner I was very careful to research, research, and research. Yes I was slightly uneasy about ordering an air conditioner online, but called Amazon directly and asked about my options if after I purchased it and it didn't work well for us about the return policy's. Amazon ensured that if it didn't work out then I would be able to return it in its original packaging and because of its size they would have a shipping company come pick it up which I thought for a return they would try to make it as hard as possible to return. So Amazon is a win win in my eyes. My only issue was that this is listed as a Prime eligible product and with my limited Prime knowledge I assumed I would receive it in 2 days which I didn't. I took about 5 so that was a little disappointing. I am very glad I purchased this earlier than the summer or we would have been in trouble just in waiting in a hot house on this thing. Back to the unit… So set up was easy. I allowed for it to sit in an upright position overnight only because I was unsure how the shipping company handled it and wanted to be sure I did everything in my power to continue its longevity. (This is also listed in the directions) The hose connections were easy enough and because I have a taller horizontal sliding window I had an opening that I had to fill with particle board which wasn’t too hard to do. After I set it up I plugged it in and let it sit. The set up pamphlet does recommend buying a special filter to put into one of the hoses which honestly I haven’t done because I haven’t made an honest attempt to find them which I am sure you could at a Home Depot or Lowes. From what I have heard you can also buy insulation tape to cover the hose that produces a lot of heat, but this hasn’t been a problem for us. The Cooling… The cooling is pretty amazing. After reading several reviews I second guessed my decision about purchasing it because it seems like people have great success or great failure. However on our end this AC has cooled our lower level 2 story house amazingly!! Our house is less than 15 years old so it is insulated pretty good, but because our house is North facing we get most of our heat in the back of our house. This cooler sits in the front and cools a vaulted ceiling living room, kitchen and small dinning, hallway, and half way cools the master bedroom on the same floor. All of this area is about 1200 sqft give or take. I originally purchased this to cool the living room, kitchen, and dinning room, which is all open floor plan about 420-450 swft btw, but it cooled even more than I expected. To keep track of the temperature I tried looking on my thermostat for my Heater and it was almost always higher than what it really was I am guessing because it wasn’t cooler in other places in my house. It even kept us cool in 100+ degree weather. It was about 109 outside and the cooler kept it about low to mid 70 in the living, dining, and kitchen. As a side note we purchased a Frigidaire 5,000 BTU 115V Window-Mounted Mini-Compact Air Conditioner that cools a room upstairs and we usually leave the door open just in case it will help with the over all vaulted ceiling space. The Frigidaire is rated for a small room of 250 sqft so I don’t think it is helping too much with the living space, but so you have the full facts to make an informed decision I just wanted to add that in there. This unit is also great and I plan on writing a separate review for this one. However the sum up on the cooling factor for the Whynter is awesome!! We have owned it since the end of May so I can’t speak for its longevity so only time will tell. It is totally worth purchasing for sure! Con’s Honestly these con’s don’t really matter to me because the AC works so well, but I will add them in case they matter to you. As for the noise, yes it is loud. My house usually isn’t pitch quite so it doesn’t really bother me, but if you think about it there is an AC in your house! Central air conditioners are put outside for a reason. THEY ARE LOUD! So to me this doesn’t really stop me from using it. My dish washer is very loud, but you don’t see me scrubbing dishes by hand so I don’t have to hear the noise. Same goes with any other loud appliance in my house. Maybe if it was loud and didn’t cool my house I’d have a problem. The vent on the AC is nothing to be impressed with. I have read that the vent shoots the air straight up. I don’t seem to have that problem. Yes there aren’t very many ways you can control where the air goes, but you can direct it up and down. If you don’t want it shooting straight up you can move it down a notch and it isn’t. Not sure if people thought this would prevent max air flow, but we don’t seem to have a problem. Now the remote is another problem. I have read that if you use the remote you have to keep using the remote because if you switch to the buttons on the unit the remote doesn’t know what the unit knows. This is very true and annoying. However because of where I have the unit positioned behind my couch the remote can’t find the signal to the unit because it is blocked so we pretty much don’t use the remote. Again, not an issue for me because the unit works so well and the only reason I have to push a button is to turn the unit on or off. Not an issue. As for draining due to the dehumidifier. We live in a dry state with low humidity so this hasn’t been a problem. No sure how I would drain it if I needed to, but I have found plenty of YouTube videos on this unit so I am not concerned about it at this point. Portability. Now this is a portable unit per say, but it isn’t really practical to roll around the house for us. I initially thought we could use it for our open floor plan area by day and in our master by night, but to move this, then refit for a different sized window and then do it all over again and again every morning and night it would be a pain in the butt. However if we leave our master bed room door open it cools down enough to be comfortable instead of otherwise sweating as we did before. This AC really did above and beyond what I expected! Now would I recommend this to others?? Heck yes!! It does a great job cooling and we turn it on early in the day so that it keeps the house cool and we don’t have to worry about being uncomfortable. I am able to cook and this AC still can keep the house cooler and us comfortable. We are able to cook/bake for short amounts of time and still be comfortable in 90+ degree weather, but in the 100+ degree weather we found cooking is not an option if we want to stay comfortable and not sweat. We also have blackout curtains and blinds that help to insulate the heat which makes a huge difference so for those that this AC is not working for I would question placement of the unit as well as how insulated your house is not just in between the walls but for window coverings too. We found that using brown colored vertical blinds blocks out the heat way better than the white ones did. I also suggest another unit portable or window-mounted unit to help work together with this unit. If you want a cooler house and don’t want to foot out the bill for central air you should think about other ways to keep it cool because even 2 of these units would be cheaper than central air for us! Hopefully you find your solution because this was it along with the Frigidaire 5,000 BTU 115V Window-Mounted Mini-Compact Air Conditioner for us!!! Good luck and sorry for the unorganized review!

I found this air conditioner to be perfect for my garage. It is solidly built, feels like a quality piece of equipment, and the casters are durable and roll smoothly even on concrete. Setup was straightforward, and the dual-hose design makes a noticeable difference in performance compared to single-hose units. Cooling power is excellent. It takes the edge off the heat quickly and makes the garage comfortable enough to actually use, even during workouts or longer projects. Noise levels are very reasonable — more like steady white noise than anything distracting. The controls are intuitive and easy to use, and the remote is a great feature when the unit is positioned out of the way. I also like having the heater option for colder months, which makes this a true year-round solution. Overall, this unit feels well thought out and well built, and it does exactly what it’s supposed to do. For anyone looking to condition a garage or similar space without installing a mini-split, this is an excellent option. Highly recommended.

To start, I never had any portable AC’s before. I recently moved to CA and the place I moved into does not have central AC. So as CA turns into an outside oven again and my house turns into a sauna I needed something to cool it down. I invested into two AC units, this one and a cheaper Soleus Air 8k BTU one. I will be comparing the two after using them for about 4 weeks now. My rationale behind this purchase: I use the Whynter in a fairly open space, from a small dining room, connected kitchen and connected big living room. I purchased the highest BTU rating I could find for the price with a good rating and at the time it was this Whynter. I figured I would need most of the BTU’s I could find as I am using it to cool a little more than the directed sq ft. The unit itself: The unit is solid, well built and seems to be made of very high quality material. The hoses are very sturdy and definitely of higher quality then the Soleus ones. Where the Soleus seems hose seems wrinkle a quicker and tends to lose its shape, the Whynter one is sturdy. I take the window kit off sometimes and have been moving it around the house for different setups to see where I could get the maximum cooling. Taking down the window kit and collapsing and expanding the hoses almost every day seem to have 0 effect on the hoses. The hoses stay in shape, no wrinkles, no tears, nothing. Window kit however seems out of place with the rest of the unit, lower quality plastic and missing utility (read more below). The AC itself though is HUGE, I forgot to check the measurements prior to ordering and was kind of surprised when the package came in. It’s like the half the size of an average refrigerator and pretty heavy. It’s definitely not that portable and does hog up quite some space. Sure it’s got wheels and the wheels do their job just fine. However I wanted to place it in the living room to see what it would do there, but my living room is lowered and there are 2 steps down from the rest of the house. No way I’m trying to get this thing down (and up again) those steps by myself. Compared to the Soleus that (with a much lower BTU rating!) is super small and lightweight, very portable this Whynter unit is not that super portable. That said I can totally understand the size, this machine packs some serious cooling and all the power needs to come from somewhere. The more power the bigger the unit. Oh yeah, it comes with a remote. I don’t know why, it’s a very limited in functionality, super simple remote. All the controls on the unit itself are good enough; I don’t use it at all and will probably loose it. Compared to the Soleus one that has allot of functionality on the remote itself, including a display, timers and settings that aren’t available directly on the unit. The cooling: This unit cools well, I’ve tried two things: cooling a bedroom where I could close the door, within the directed sq ft and my 3 open area’s well above the directed sq ft. I tested the bedroom by letting the room itself heat up well above 30 C (86 F), rolled the unit in and start it right up. The room I tested is about 6x6m (20x20 ft), has the full afternoon hot sun, just blinds (closed), no outdoor sunscreen and about 38 C (100 F) outside temperature. I closed the door to the rest of the house and set the Whynter to about 22 C (72 F) and let it run. In about 30 to 40 minutes I could hear the compressor shut off and just the fan running, which means the Whynter cooled it down to the temp I set it on. The room was fresh and cool when I walked in, it easily cooled it down in a short amount of time. From time to time I could hear the compressor run for about 5 to 10 minutes again to provide the room with another shot of cold air and shut off again. Perfect. Cooling my 3 open areas however is a bit different. I knew the Whynter was never going to cool this down as easily as the smaller bedroom. Technically it requires allot more BTU’s to cool then the 14k of the Whynter. However I seem to be able to keep a 9 C (18 F) degrees difference with the outdoor temperature. Some tricks required though (read more below), like an outdoor sunscreen, supporting fans for air circulation and a further reach (Vornado’s are awesome in pushing air around) and starting the AC when the room is still cool in the mornings. It runs all the time in a setup like this, as the unit never reaches the configured temperature anymore, I don’t mind that it’s a fair trade off against sitting in a sauna and waiting for someone to throw some water on the stone. The room remains fresh and much more bearable then without the AC. The AC actually performs beyond my expectations. I did not expect it to keep my space cool at almost 1,5 times the advertised sq ft. The noise: It’s an AC and well AC’s make noise. The noise level is loud, but given this has 14k BTU cooling power I also expected it to make noise. The noise may be loud but I do not find it annoying, it doesn’t have any high pitches, rattles or grinding noises to it. Compared to the Soleus unit that sounds like a hamster is trapped in it with its training wheel. It’s a white noise, low static sound of the fans and a fade sound of the compressor. Sure you will have to pump up the volume on your TV if this is in the same room (or wear headphones) and you probably do not want to do a conference call within 3 ft of the AC when it’s running. But it is manageable. The less good: Okay, so I am very satisfied with the Whynter. Why did I give it only 4 stars and not 5? There are 2 things that annoy me enough to deduct one star: 1> The window kit is made of out cheap plastic. It is not in the same build quality as any of the rest of the Whynter AC and the hoses. I have sliding case window that are 44” high and I have to use both of the extension panels. The fact that you have to screw the extensions on with two, actually too small, screws is quite a downer. Other than that the window kit is barely long enough to fit into my 44” windows. According to the instructions you have to ‘cut’ the extensions if your window is smaller to the size needed. The fact that the AC is portable means I want to move it around and not all windows are the same size. Unscrewing and re-attaching the extension panels are just too much of a hassle to easily move it and if you where to cut it you would be out of luck. Which kind of defies the fact that this is supposed to be portable. Compared to the Soleus AC unit, which came with a brilliant window kit, the Whynter one is just a joke. The Soleus one has butterfly bolts on both extension panels, so you can quite easily chose the length and is about 60” (I could even fit it in my sliding doors). I wish Whynter could come with a similar window kit as the Soleus one. 2> The exhaust air duct. It is situated on top of the unit and can blow directly up or with a 45 or 15 degree angle. I guess this is fine if you want to use it for just one room. However the reach of cold air of this unit is not very far and in my case I want to direct the air to a specific location. Having an exhaust air duct that is from the middle of the unit and that blows straight forward out of the unit with more guiding capabilities I could get allot more cool air on the specific spots then right now. Instead I have to use Vornado fans to push the cool air out further where the unit itself can’t bring it. Conclusion: The unit is well built, hoses are sturdy, It is slightly heavy but it rolls well enough to move it throughout the house. It makes noise, but none of the irritating rattles or squeaks that annoy me. It’s more static low humming and blowing of the fans. The window kit is a bit wonky and isn’t up to the same standards as the rest of the material. But the unit cools really well for me, it works like a charm and way beyond my expectations. Tips and tricks: - Keep the heat out. That what doesn’t come in doesn’t require cooling. I picked up a white sunscreen from ikea that you can setup to avoid direct sunlight into my living room. This made a huge difference. - Avoid direct sunlight, close those blinds and curtains. So that the room itself doesn’t heat up that easily. - Use extra fans to get the cool air where you want it to go, create a proper air circulation, I picked up two Vornado fans and they do a great job. - Start the AC when the room is still cool. Keeping a room cool requires less cooling than cooling down a hot room. I start the unit at around 10am/11am before it heats up outside and it can keep a bigger space cool. - Try to avoid generating more heat where you can. Things like running a dishwasher (they have heated dry’s at the end of the run) or using the kitchen generate allot of extra heat. That extra heat requires extra cooling on top of what the AC is already facing from the outside.

My 39 year old central air chose July in north Texas to give up the ghost. It's hot in Texas! I needed something NOW! This unit arrived slower than I would have liked, but good things are worth the wait. First thing: at 73 pounds, this thing is HEAVY. I'm a smart, fairly strong 60 year old lady, so a heavy duty wagon and those handy dandy plastic straps on the box helped me get it up and down a few steps, and inside my toasty warm house. With all the packing material and accessories, that BIG box weighed close to 100 pounds! The box was about the size of a medium sized stand up freezer. Unboxing was stunningly easy. The unit and accessories were packed vary well in a double box. Cut the plastic binding straps, and the top box lifted neatly off the inner box. The inner box lifted up off the accessories box and the Styrofoam protection for the unit. The actual air conditioner was covered with Styrofoam on top, and double padded in the box bottom. Box corners were reinforced with heavy duty corner pieces. Getting the unit out of the box was astonishingly easy. I really never had to lift the whole thing once I had gotten it to my kitchen for unboxing. Very well conceived and executed shipping containment. Everything arrived undamaged. Assembly: In theory, it is easy. The video on Amazon made it look like a breeze. In practice; not so much. The window adapter came with 3 identical sized pieces. Apparently this thing is intended to fit an enormous window. Mine are just average size. I couldn't use anything except the one piece with the two pre cut holes for the hoses. I'll have to take one of the extra pieces to a home improvement store and get some kind person to cut it in thirds. In the mean time, I used the cardboard box flaps from the accessories box to fill in the gaps. The two hoses that came with the unit are HEAVY DUTY plastic. These things are probably indestructible! Attaching the connector pieces for the hoses to the unit and the window panel was straightforward. The tabs on them line up and click into place with minimal effort. Attaching the hoses to the connectors, well now..... let's just say they are held into the connectors with a wish and a prayer. Inside the connectors, there are what look to be raised plastic threads. You'd think a simple press and twist, and viola, held in place. You'd be wrong! Any attempt at making these hefty hoses "click", screw, or even stay in place is folly. I wrestled with them for quite a long, very sweaty, while to no avail. I finally got them stuck in place. They are currently held in place with desperate hopes and dreams, soon to be duct tape. After futzing with the hoses for WAY too long, I finally had a tenuous connection achieved. Not daring to move anything, I gently turned on the unit, and yes, raised the vent to the open position (in that order). Oh the glory! This air conditioner is a HOSS! I set the temperature to 70°, fan on high. The compressor kicked in and instantly I am in LOVE! This baby has been pumping out a magnificently strong stream of frigid air non-stop since then. I've been enjoying it continuously for 8 days. My home was built in 1900, so sturdy thick walls with wood floors. It has all new double pained windows. All the rooms interconnect, as houses from those days did, before air-conditioning was even a dream. Every room has windows. Around 1450 square feet with 10 foot ceilings throughout. This one unit cools my southwestern corner bedroom thoroughly. I use a couple of tower fans to move the air out into the house and it manages to cool about half the house to around 74° at night. It's been around 100° every day this past week. I am impressed! The unit face, just below and anterior to the vent, gets cold enough, so I notice a light film of condensation developing atop it after about 8 hours. Otherwise, everything seems dry. I had read that condensation can sometimes be an issue with the unit. So far, I haven't noticed anything more than the superficial film of moisture. The control panel is intuitive and easy to use. The unit comes with a remote which I will likely never use. I suppose a remote is a nice feature but why? The controls on the AC are easy to access and work great. This unit also comes with a nice cover for storage when the AC is not in use. The cover has a pocket on it for storing the instructions and window adapter. The window adapter also comes with 2 round covers to snap into the outlet holes should one wish to leave the adapter in place when the unit is not in use. Thoughtful, though redundant. The AC is relatively quiet on high. It is a steady stream of sound blocking white noise. Because I only have the one unit working like a Trojan, I honestly can't tell you what it sounds like when the compressor kicks on and off regulating temperature. I am impressed enough with this unit to have ordered a second one. I'll update my review as time passes.

Failed Compressor: warranty refusal ----------------------------------- I bought one of these units and used it for less than a week while my central air conditioner was being repaired. The unit was able to cool a small room and that was enough until the repair was completed. A year later at the beginning of summer I tested it and it still worked. This year I tested it and it did not work. So, I emailed Whynter Customer Support and this is my account of what happened. Summary ----------- Whynter refused to honor the three-year warranty on the compressor. Before that became obvious, Whynter Customer Support did every thing they could to delay, frustrate the process, and waste my time. Most of the questions and instructions from Whynter Customer Support were virtually non-sensical, designed to obstruct, nearly absurd. This went on through many emails, many questions, including instructions for taking the machine apart for internal cleaning. I was able to get the machine about 90% apart for cleaning, but it was very difficult. After that, Whynter support asked me to try the unit out in a larger room. The unit does not blow cold air and somehow moving it into a larger room is going to fix it? Then they wanted a picture of the unit and its setup in the window. The unit does not blow any cool/cold air at all. Adjustments to the window, the room, or the exhaust/intake hoses are not going to change that. At that point I could see that Whynter is a dishonorable outfit and they are not going to honor their warranty. They just tried to waste my time until I went away. So I am posting this here. If you initiate a support request for your Whynter machine, you are likely to go through something exactly the same or very similar. These are the saved emails in chronological order as best I can arrange: 1) Original support request --------------------------- Hello [email protected], I have a Whynter ARC-14S portable air conditioner. The serial number is: I bought this Whynter ARC-14S from amazon. Amazon charged me for it on 1 August 2020. I'd like to register a warranty/support request. The user manual says that the unit's compressor is under warranty for three years. I am still as of today within that three year time frame. The problem is that the unit does not blow cold air. The fan runs but the unit is not cooling. Here is what I've checked so far: * filters are clean * air intake and exhaust are not obstructed * room temperature is about 81 F degrees * cooling mode is on * internal water reservoir is empty * unit's cooling temperature is set sufficiently low * time delay read out is 0:00hr The unit does suck air in from the intake and it does blow air out the exhaust; however, no cold/cool air comes out from the top and the air blown out the exhaust is not hot/warm. When it was working properly, the air blown out the exhaust was hot/warm. So, I'm guessing that the compressor is not actually turning on because the exhaust air is not hot/warm. I have a second Whynter ARC-14S unit that is working properly, so I pretty much know what it's like when the unit works properly. I have central air conditioning here at my home. I used this unit in a small bedroom in 2020 for about a week when my central air conditioning unit needed repair. I didn't use it again, but I periodically tested it and now it has failed. My second Whynter ARC-14S is a backup unit in case both my central air conditioner unit and the first Whynter ARC-14S fail. I think that this unit's compressor may have failed. Can you help? Please let me know what I must do to get the unit repaired. Thank you, --------------------------- 2) First Reply from Whynter --------------------------- Thank you for contacting us about your Whynter ARC-14S portable air conditioner. We are sorry that your air conditioner is not cooling properly. Please let us know what temperature the air conditioner is set to, your current room temperature and the square footage of the room. Please make sure that the filter is clean and that the unit has been drained of any collected condensation. Also ensure that the exhaust hose is as short and straight as possible and that there are no bends or leaks in the hose(s) Please unplug the unit for 3 minutes to reset it; afterward, please provide us with the following information: 1. Set the unit to COOL mode and to the lowest temperature. 2. Confirm the compressor comes on after approximately 3 minutes. 3. AFTER the compressor comes on, confirm that the unit is blowing cool air from the front air output vent and warm air out of the rear exhaust hose. 4. If the unit is blowing air from the front and back, place a thermometer inside of the front air output vent and provide us with the temperature reading after 15 minutes. *Note: The unit has a 5F temperature cushion which when the unit achieves 5F within the set temperature, the compressor does not come on so please make sure that your room temperature is above 67F. This saves energy and extends the life of the compressor. 5. If no air is blowing from either the front air output vent or the exhaust, please inspect the fans for rotation and any visible damage. *Note: The exhaust fan only operates when the compressor is running. If the compressor is coming on and the unit is cooling some, the evaporator and condenser may need to be cleaned. Please use the attached instructions as a guide to open the housing of the unit for maintenance cleaning if you feel comfortable doing so. You can vacuum the condenser and evaporator to clean and dust; please make sure that the fins are dry when vacuuming. You can also use an evaporator/ condenser cleaner available at most hardware stores for the condenser and evaporator, if they are really dirty. You can clean the base with a vinegar and water solution and draining. Please register your warranty by providing the following: A copy of your purchase invoice or 'Final Order Details' page if the item was purchased from Amazon.com. Please reply or refer to your case number if you have any questions. Thank you and stay safe! --------------------------- 3) My second email to Whynter --------------------------- Hello Jose G., I've attached a copy of my amazon purchase invoice for the Whynter ARC-14S, serial number XXXXXX. > Please let us know what temperature the air conditioner is set to, 70F > your current room temperature 81F > and the square footage of the room. 90 square feet > Please make sure that the filter is clean OK, yes, it is clean. > and that the unit has been drained of any collected condensation. Yes, it has been drained, nothing in it. > Also ensure that the exhaust hose is as short and straight as possible Yes, about 2-1/2 feet > and that there are no bends or leaks in the hose(s) There are no bends or leaks in the hoses. > Please unplug the unit for 3 minutes to reset it; afterward, please provide us with the following information: DONE > Set the unit to COOL mode and to the lowest temperature. DONE > Confirm the compressor comes on after approximately 3 minutes. The unit is blowing air out the exhaust and sucking air in through the intake. If that indicates that the compressor came on, then that happened. The air flowing out the exhaust is not warm or hot and there is no cool/cold air coming out of the front air output vent. > AFTER the compressor comes on, confirm that the unit is blowing > cool air from the front air output vent and warm air out of the > rear exhaust hose. Air is blowing out the front air output vent but it is not cool/cold. Air is blowing out the rear exhaust but it is not warm. > If the unit is blowing air from the front and back, place a > thermometer inside of the front air out put vent and provide > us with the temperature reading after 15 minutes. 81 degrees F > If no air is blowing from either the front air output vent or the > exhaust, please inspect the fans for rotation and any visible damage. > *Note: The exhaust fan only operates when the compressor is running. Air is blowing out the front air output vent, but it is not cool/cold. Air is blowing out the exhaust, but it is not warm. > If the compressor is coming on and the unit is cooling some, > the evaporator and condenser may need to be cleaned. It is not cooling at all. I can do this, but is it necessary if the unit is not cooling at all? Your instructions say to do this "If the compressor is coming on and the unit is cooling some" This unit has not been used much. It is very clean, but if necessary I can follow your instructions for cleaning the evaporator and condenser. Thanks for your help, --------------------------- 4) Whynter's reply --------------------------- Thanks for your reply. We recommend you clean the unit internally and let us know if the unit still not cooling. If so and for testing purposes, please remove the intake hose and cover the window intake port with the cover included. Set the unit to the lowest temperature setting and please confirm the temperature reading on the front vent after 15 mins of running. Please note that we did not receive a copy of your purchase invoice from amazon to register your warranty. Please resend. Please reply or refer to your case number if you have any questions. Thank you and stay safe! Jose G. Customer Support Whynter Innovations Group --------------------------- 5) And my reply --------------------------- Hello Jose G., > Please note that we did not receive a copy of your purchase invoice from > amazon to register your warranty. Please resend. OK, I am re-sending a PDF copy of the amazon purchase invoice. It is attached to this email. I'll email to you the results after I clean the unit internally. Thanks for your help. --------------------------- 6) Then another from Whynter before I dis-assembled the unit for cleaning. Notice that there is still no acknowledgment of receipt of the amazon purchase invoice PDF I sent twice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thanks for your reply. Please let us know if the issue still persists after cleaning the unit and removing the intake hose of the unit. If the unit still not cooling, please provide us with a photo of how the unit was set up at your location. Also, please try to relocate the into a bigger room location and let us know if the unit is cooling. Please reply or refer to your case number if you have any questions. Thank you and stay safe! Jose G. Customer Support Whynter Innovations Group ----------------------------------------- 7) My response to Whynter after the cleaning -------------------------------------------- Hello Jose G., > We recommend you clean the unit internally and let us know if the unit > still not cooling. I cleaned the unit internally and it is still not cooling. There was virtually no dust/dirt inside. This unit has been used for only about a week total back when I purchased it. > If so and for testing purposes, please remove the intake hose and cover > the window intake port with the cover included. Set the unit to the lowest > temperature setting and please confirm the temperature reading on the front > vent after 15 mins of running. OK, I did that. There is no change. It is as I described before. No cool/cold air is coming out the top, non whatsoever. The air coming out the top is the same temperature as the air going in the back. Both are room temperature. With the intake port hose removed, that port is sucking in air at room temperature. And the exhaust port is blowing that air out at room temperature. > Please note that we did not receive a copy of your purchase invoice > from amazon to register your warranty. Please resend. Did you get the PDF copy of the amazon invoice? I think we are now past the point where it should be obvious to you that the condenser has failed. I now ask that you authorize a return/repair and provide instructions as to how we are going to get this unit working. > please provide us with a photo of how the unit was set up at your location. I don't have a cell phone or a camera. And there is nothing unusual to the setup. It is as described in previous emails, both hoses connected through a window. > Also, please try to relocate the into a bigger room location and let us > know if the unit is cooling. With all due respect, a larger room will not fix the compressor. 8) Whynter's final response --------------------------- Thanks for your reply. We're sorry to hear that the unit still not cooling. For further assistance, can you please provide us with a photo of how the unit was set up at your location? Please reply or refer to your case number if you have any questions. Thank you and stay safe! Jose G. Customer Support Whynter Innovations Group

[By the way, i add "technical explanations to this review and an additional comment i put in, but i recommend you find the response a much more knowledgeable person than myself added correcting my technical data, as he actually understands the mechanisms involved, and i offer all my "technical" speculations out of total naivete'] New notes, simply after owning unit through summer in los angeles: Unit still works great, as it did after 30 days when i wrote the clumsy verbose review below. the machine works AAA+. [November 2011, still works awesome and has been on, nonstop, since spring. Use it just as a nice fan to bring cool air into room when it's cool outside, also. Handy, if one needs to close the windows to lower street noise, for example, but still wants fresh air coming in. Works amazing for that just as amazingly as it works for cooling. Anybody have one of these units that also comes with the heat pump? i'd be very curious how well that works. i would have bought one but Amazon didn't carry them and i wanted the extra guarantee of buying through Amazon as i was so nervous reading all the terrible reviews about every single portable A/C offered. (though there are very very good reviews also, but the negative reviews made me very nervous. but my unit, yet again, has worked awesomely]. [i think the ducting connections, where the duct snaps onto the machine and at the window, could be designed a bit better, and i hope they improve it, but my machine has been on 100% of the time since i bought it, day and night. Was almost 100 farenheit yesterday and it works great in my big studio apartment] So far this unit works awesome. I will also, below, explain the advantages of a two duct unit, and particularly the advantage of a two duct (hose) unit that has the capability to also act as a single duct a/c. That confused me, and i will explain the crucial significance of this below, and why I believe for myself and many people living in areas where it gets quite hot, having a dual hose unit that has the ability to switch back and forth into operating off only a single hose, sometimes, and a double hose, at others, is a HUGE advantage. Forgive some repetition below, i simply don't have time to edit right now, but thought i'd post this. maybe i'll clean it up later and simplify) it works totally awesome. the duct kit works just fine, doesn't fall out of the window like i think some reviewer said, works great. However, it is the ducting and where the ducts join the fittings in the body of the air conditioner which seem the poorest made part of the c/c and one wonders why they didn't build it with a bit more precision. why in an expensive piece of equipment go a little cheapie at that point, i.e., the fitting of the ducts, which does not fit perfectly, but still has worked functionally perfectly for me? i guess because in one sense this is an expensive piece of equipment, but on the other hand it is not that much money $450 is what i paid, but even at $600 or more, for the amount of equipment in this substantial serious air conditioner. My very high quality Epson inket archival printer cost about $1800 and was worth every penny. This air conditioner looks every bit as complex and substantial to build, so especially at $450 to $650 or so, they probably have to cut costs where they can, as well as "exploit" (in the good and also the bad senses) foreign labor, such as in China. again, it gives "work" and income to China, which is good, but might be reinforcing paying their laborers very low wages and then obviously has heavy impact on our own national labor force... but let me sidestep these issues, simply to say it seems like a lot of equipment for the money. i've noticed a few possible glitches happen in 30 days, but nothing consistent enough to report, and i will try to buy one of the extended warranties Amazon offers through Square Trade. i think that is probably a very very good investment. i hope the warranties are as good as most of their reviewers say. another thing i would say is that it is difficult for consumers like myself to make expensive decisions like this. it involves a lot of fear and stress. like many, i read tons and tons of reviews on all the air conditioners and there are a lot of bad reviews out there for every product, so it makes it all quite scary. in the area of photography, though, an area that i'm much more expert in, i see cameras that i know and use each day, such as my Canon Digital Rebel, getting a tiny percentage of horrible reviews along with the high percentage of good reviews, so i guess we have to find out what are rare malfunctions and what are typical. i've taken about one quarter million exposures with my camera and it works great, and yet there are people that have bought some lemons of the same model, and then others who simply were baffled by operational procedures (easy enough to be baffled), etc. and these latter small percentages give my camera horrible reviews. i am SO happy i never read any reviews before buying my camera as i would have freaked out reading the small percentage of bad reviews. do you see my point? there will always, i guess, be some bad reviews, and i think it is simply stressful figuring out if those people got very very rare lemons, or if those bad reviews mean one should avoid the product. on top of it, to me, it looks like there are a lot of fake good reviews on products written in stereotypical language. so it's confusing, yes? i recommend buying the extended warranty and i'm hoping they are good. anyone who might want to reply to this comment regarding the Square Trade Warranties, i would be interested. planning to buy one within a day or so on this unit. sorry for the consumer digression on these topics. BACK TO THE A/C at hand: so far this Whynter dual hose 14,000btu portable air conditioner works awesome. also it is not some horrible eyesore, but the opposite, it certainly at least appears strongly and aesthetically made. i always wonder about people talking about the aesthetics of these things... makes me suspicious that they are planted raves for a product, but it's worth reporting the machine APPEARS well made and similar in aesthetic impact to my $1800 Epson archival inkjet printer). Oh, REGARDING DUAL DUCTS: i think one thing to know on this, that baffled me: The advantage is that you can draw cooler outside air, or not create a negative pressure, whatever that is... The cooler outside air i understand and i like that. But I think ideally you want the DUAL DUCT UNITS THAT ALSO OPERATE AS A SINGLE DUCT UNIT, meaning you can disconnect the second hose or duct, the one bringing in outside air. (you never would disconnect the "exhaust" duct when air conditioning, as that is getting rid of the hot air produced by the motor(s)...) TO CONTINUE ON THE DUAL DUCT SCENARIO AND WHY HAVING THE OPTION TO OPERATE AS A SINGLE DUCT UNIT IS IMPORTANT: if it is scorching outside, let's say it's 110 degrees farenheit, but that inside the building or house it's 95 degrees farenheit, then you probably want to disconnect the outside air intake duct from the back of the air conditioner and put a cap on it that they provide, and on the duct you've disconnected. Then you are drawing from the cooler inside room air, instead of the superheated outside air. (they tell you to, and it is obvious, to disconnect at the back of the a/c rather than at the window... you can do both if you have two caps). THE POINT: you are then drawing your incoming air in from the room which is only, in this example 95 f. as opposed to the 110 f. inferno outside. thus the machine only needs to cool air that is 95 f., not 110 f. which might be (or likely is) pushing these machines past their limit. they only claim to cool down max temps of 95f, i think on this Whynter, and the parallel Edgestar machine i think says 90 f. i chose the Whynter after much going back and forth). So you try to intake air from wherever it's the coolest air in a high heat scenario. if you get home at the end of the day, and left your a/c off, and it's beginning to cool a bit outside but it's still 95 to 100 degrees inside your house and then your going to cook on the stove on top of that, you want to DEFINITELY be ducting your air in from the OUTSIDE where it has cooled off. is that clear? if not feel free to ask me to clarify through replying to this, as i found it very confusing trying to figure out the pros and cons of two-duct systems as some reviewers fault them for having problems and i think the main problem is that if you are ONLY able to duct from the outside and you run into situations where it is, again, very hot outside (e.g. 95f +) and cooler inside, but you are stuck getting your air from the superheated outdoors. so, i made sure that on this unit, by researching and talking to their techs, that you could definitely disconnect the outside intake duct, and the unit would then take air from inside the room. Some dual duct units advertise this capacity clearly: Saying it will operate on one duct or two. Therefore, this is the obvious advantage of two ducts where you CAN operate off one or two. clear? hope so. good luck everybody. this consumerism stuff is high stress. Whynter 14,000 BTU Dual Hose Portable Air Conditioner (ARC-14S)

Update: Now that I've had this for more than a month, I want to set something right. My first review mentions the compressor not activating unless it I set the A/C unit 10 or more degrees lower than the room temp. That was true, however, It turns out that there was a cold air draft hitting the bottom of the unit, tricking the thermostat in to thinking that the room was colder than it actually was. so that was no fault of the A/C unit. I have since corrected that issue and now the unit is spot on accurate. I have a weather station beside the A/C and it confirms that whatever temperature I set the air conditioner to, it keeps the room exactly that temp. I now like this unit more than ever, as the rest of my house can reach 85°-90°, whichever room I have this in, stays as cool as I can tolerate. So, to summarize, I love this unit and absolutely recommend to anyone who needs a portable unit that this is a great option. If the need should arise for another in the future, I will not hesitate to purchase another Whynter Portable Air Conditioner. I've only had this for 3 days but so far it is working wonderfully for my needs. I bought it for my bedroom that is only about 175 square ft. I have central A.C. but it doesn't work very well especially on days >85 degrees. It was simple and quick to install the hoses in the window and it comes with everything one needs for basic installation. The air gets really cold and keeps the room at a comfortable temperature, A little lower than what is considered perfect room temp as I like it cooler on scorching days. A couple things I have learned that may help others are: 1) The vent on top doesn't do anything as far as aiming the air because there is about a 1-2inch gap in front of it. I know that it's like that so when the vent is down, the air can still blow out but it lets all of the air out of that gap and none really blows through the vent. To fix this, I filled that gap with weather stripping and it works perfectly. 2) Since there is a 5° cushion as explained in the manual, to keep my room at 70° - 71° requires me to set the A/C thermostat to 64° - 65° otherwise the compressor won't turn on until my room is really hot to me. and yes, I know that is more than 5° but I've been trying to get the optimal temp and settings for my comfort and have noticed that according to my digital thermometer that the compressor will not activate a lot of the times until my room temp is around 73 -74° and The A/C is set to 64-65°, so it's more like a 9-10° cushion. Finally, the quick start paper that explains how to run the hoses specifically states that to attach the end connectors to the hoses, you must turn clockwise but inside the manual, the exact same diagrams and explanation says to turn counter clockwise. The quick start guide is wrong, you must turn counter clockwise. None of the aforementioned things are what I consider problems just little things I've learned in a couple days and the A/C unit functions well and keeps me cool. Considering the cost, if it lasts several seasons, I will stay happy with my purchase and will definitely recommend. Should anything go wrong, I will update my review.

This portable AC unit is an absolute BEAST. I am extremely happy with it! Pros: 1. The main reason for buying an AC, how well does it cool, you ask? Absolutely fantastic! It easily puts out 30-35F colder output air than the ambient temp of the air in the room. Even outputting air lower than 32F, with no problem. The lowest I have seen it output was 27F when the room was at 61F and it has never frozen up on me. When the room is 90F it will easily output 60F, sometimes even lower temp air. All temps checked with a calibrated infrared thermometer. This is fantastic performance! With temps at 96F outside, it will easily keep my 375sqft upstairs room with vaulted ceilings at 75F, and that is WITH a computer system, including three monitors, and a server that all total around 750 watts, trying to make its job difficult! Great performance! That is the whole reason I bought this unit, since this upper story room gets really hot in the summer, even when the computers are not running, and that is where I have to work from home. To get this performance, I insulated the exhaust tube well, so heat does not radiate from it back into the room. It will not work as well if you don't do that. I doubt it could keep the room at 75F when it is 96F outside if the exhaust tube is not well insulated. On days that I know it is supposed to reach above 90F I turn on the AC early in the morning (8AM usually) at its lowest 61F setting, so it will get as cold as possible before the heat of the day, and basically let it run all day continuously, while I work, for it to keep it at 75F. If I don't turn it on early enough, it does struggle keeping it at 75F when it is 96F outside. But if I do as I explain above, starting it early, it will slowly creep up as the day gets really hot. But so far I have never had it go above 75F when I start it early in the morning, even when it is 96 outside (the hottest I have had to deal with, so far, since I bought the unit in July 31, 2021. I live in Orange County California for reference. And keep in mind this is with 750 watts of computer equipment heating the room all day as well. In comparison, I used to have a Soleus Air 14,000BTU unit with two hoses a few years ago. I thought it was decent, but not amazing. So when it broke I didn't bother replacing it. Well working from home because of COVID changed that, and I am so glad I bought this Whynter!! It is WAY better than my old unit. 2. Good noise levels for a portable AC. Quieter than the Soleus Air. On the highest fan setting, it is about as loud as a large box fan on medium settings. The fan is what makes the most noise on this unit. The compressor is quieter than the fan on its highest setting, so it doesn't really sound that much louder when the compressor is on. On the lower fan settings the compressor is louder than the fan. BUT there are some cons with the noise when it cycles if you are using this unit in your bedroom as you are sleeping. See the cons section below for more info on this. 3. I actually love that the air is blown upwards! Unlike a lot of reviews on here, who really dislike that. I have vaulted ceilings on the upper floors, and having the air blow up, will actually keep the room cooler and more even. It might take it longer to cool down a room on initial start-up, but it will keep the temps more even, and won't have to cycle as much when the air is blown up. Since hot air rises, the only way to cool the air efficiently above the height of the unit, is to blow the air up. My earlier Soleus Air could only blow the air horizontally, and it would be nice and cool down low, but at head level standing up it would be significantly warmer, and the room was never evenly cooled well. None of those problems with the upwards air from the Whynter. It keeps the whole room much more cool overall. If you need the cool air blown directly at you, use a fan. I do agree with other reviewers that it would be nice if the unit itself could have the output adjusted more. But I prefer it blowing up, so it is a non issue for me. 4. I like the looks a lot more than any other unit I have looked at. Cons: 1. I loved the AC's performance so much in my office that I bought another one for the bedroom. It is actually cheaper to run these than running my central air that is cooling the whole house, and instead just cool the rooms I am in. I hardly use my central AC anymore, and my electricity bill is much lower as a result. However in the bedroom, which is also around 375sqft, and vaulted ceilings, I ran into a problem that I didn't run into in my office, because it runs pretty much continuously in my office. When the temp in the bedroom reaches the AC temp settings, the unit shuts the compressor off, and runs the fan on the lowest setting for a while, and then shuts off the fan completely. This is terrible because the difference in noise levels is quite drastic when it comes back on, and it will wake you if you are using this at night while sleeping. But this is not even the worst. The worst is that it cycles the fan on and off, even when the temp is not high enough to trigger the compressor. And it does this a lot! Supposedly it does this to "sample the room temp" to see if it needs to turn on the compressor. I really dislike this, as the noise from off to the fan on is a big enough difference, like I said above, to wake people from sleeping. So even when the temp is low enough, it still cycles the fan on and off, a LOT! 2. This next bit is also mainly at night when trying to sleep. When it is hot enough, but not so hot that it needs to run continuously, it also cycles a lot when it reaches the set temp! And it is not that the unit is oversized for my needs. That is just how it is with this unit. Like I said it will keep a room at 75F on a day that is 96F, but it has to run pretty much continuously to do that, and you have to start it early, so it has a head start. Clearly it is not oversized for daytime use and the temps outside are above 80. The issue at night, when the temps outside are cooler: Say the temp outside at night is 75, and you have your temp set at 70F for sleeping (and by the way, the thermostat in the unit is very accurate! It matches my infrared thermometer reading exactly when it turns off. If it turns off when set to 70F, it really is 70F at that point! Impressive). When it reaches 70F it will shut off. But then it turns back on again at 71F! Only one degree warmer. This is too narrow of a working band. It should really be 2-3F in my opinion. Also, in my opinion, a perfect way to program this would be that if you have it set to 70, it would actually cool to 65, and then stop, and turn on again when it reaches 75. That would be perfect! I would rather be too cold than too hot. With such a narrow working band, this AC is oversized for a 375sqft room with vaulted ceilings and the temp outside is less than 80. With a wider working band of 2-3F, even when the temps are less than 80 outside, I think it would cycle longer, with less wear and tear on the compressor, and let people sleep better without the constant 5 minute cycling. That said, I would rather have too narrow of a working band, than too wide. A 5F band would be terrible too, as when you set your unit at 75 during the day, it would reach 80 before it would turn on again. That is too hot, and uncomfortable. Too wide of a working band also causes issues when your significant other is more sensitive to the cold. With a 5F working band, if you set it to 70, so that it won't go above 75, 70 might make people sensitive to cold feel too cold, while 75 might be borderline too hot for someone sensitive to the heat, like I am. Too wide is worse than too narrow, in my opinion. Anyway, the point of this long winded section, is that the ideal solution would be for the working band to be user adjustable! If you want it 1F, you can have that, and deal with the shorter cycles, but even temps. If you want it 5F you can have that, and have much longer cycles (probably better for the compressor), but deal with the wild temp swings. 1F cycles too much for my liking, and honestly it is my fear that it will wear out the compressor, more than just my comfort that makes me cringe when it starts cycling so often. But when combined with the issues I mentioned in Con #1, that it is very loud when it cycles, it is just too much to bear when trying to sleep. During the night when I set the unit much colder than during the day, I would be fine with a wider working band to keep the loud cycles down. On cool days or at night, I would set it to 5F wide and set the temp to 65 so it would never get above 70 for night. And on a cool day I would set it for 70 so it would never get above 75. During a hotter day, I would want a more narrow working band. The current 1F working band is fine! I can set it at 74, and it will never get above 75. And since a hotter day will take it longer to lower it one degree to 74 from 75. But if the working band had to be set and not be adjustable, I would rather it was set to 2F, or at most 3F, rather than the 1F it is set at from the factory. That would work better on cooler days or at night, with a bit less cycling, even though the temp swings would be greater. And it would be okay on hot days as well, when it will probably run continuously, anyway. So I have resorted to two options: Option A: Setting the unit to 61 when sleeping, so it won't cycle for a long while since it is set so low, and when it finally reaches 61 and starts to cycle every 5 minutes, it wakes me up, and I shut it off completely. Then I can sleep in peace until I get too hot at around 74F when sleeping, at which point the heat wakes me up. I am more sensitive to the heat when sleeping. That usually takes about 2-4 hours depending on how hot it is outside, and so when it wakes me up I turn it on again. It usually will cool from 74 to 61 in a couple hours, at which point the cycling wakes me up again, so I shut it off. And then I am usually good until I need to get up. This usually results in being woken up 2-4 times during the night, depending on how hot it is outside. Not that bad, as I usually get up at least once a night, anyway, to get a drink and go to the bathroom, etc. So when the AC wakes me up, I take care of things then. And I am good at falling right back asleep. Option B: If it is really hot, I start the AC about 2 hours before I go to bed. By the time I am ready to go to bed, it is usually at 61F, or at most around 63F. Then I can turn it off and fall asleep in nice cool comfort. But because it is a warmer night, and because I started it earlier, it will warm up earlier in the night, etc., and as a result I usually get woken up more in the night from being too hot, and I need to start the AC an extra time during the night. So this option results in the AC waking me up more times a night than Option A. Still not really a big deal, and the comfort of falling asleep in nice cool temps is worth it sometimes. But I really wish I could set the working band. This would solve this problem entirely. At night I would set the working band for 5F and set the temp to 68F. That way it would go up to 73F (not too hot to wake me up), and turn on, but take longer to get down to 68F. And cycle maybe every 20-30 minutes instead of every 5 minutes as it does now if I set it at 73F. Then during the day, when I don't care about being woken up, I could change the band to 1F or 2F, and be more comfortable with less drastic temp swings. It would be perfect! 3. The remote is pretty bad. My Soleus Air had basically the same functions on the remote, but what was nice about it was that it worked from really far away, and at wide angles. The Whynter remote has to be quite close, and you have to point it directly at it, and not to the side by much. Otherwise it won't work at all. Second, the Soleus Air remote was a two way remote. The unit could communicate back to the remote. That way if you changed settings on the unit itself, it would also update on the remote. The Whynter remote is one way only. From the remote only. If you change any settings on the unit, it will not update the remote. This can cause issues. If you have set the fan speed, the timers, or whatever on the unit, and then change the temp on the remote, all those settings are overwritten by whatever the remote was last set at for those settings. In other words, say you had turned down the fan on the unit, but had the fan on the highest on the remote last time you touched it. If you then use the remote to change the temp settings alone, the fan will kick up to high as well, even though you didn't want that, because that is what the remote has set in its memory. The Soleus Air communicates the settings on the unit to the remote first, and then the remote would send the temp change, so that no settings are overwritten. And vice versa. Nice feature the Soleus had. Also, in the 21st century it should be able to be controlled over WiFi from your iPhone or Apple watch! From anywhere. Even from outside your house. And the remote could work over WiFi as well. Then there would be no range or angle issues. Having an app would make it really easy to change the working band as described above as well, and enable all kinds of useful features. Like elaborate programmed timed behaviors. Like automatically setting it to 61 for two hours, and then turning it off for 3 hours, and then on again for 2 hours. That would also solve my sleeping issue, without needing to change the working band. Anyway, despite these cons, this AC is still wonderful for me. All I really care about is that is can cool really well, even on extremely hot days, and this unit definitely does this very well! Better than any other Portable AC that I have had, or seen others have. Others might not be able to deal with the cycling when trying to sleep, or not willing to resort to the options that I have resorted to. In which case, this Whynter might not be for you, despite how good it is! But if you are using it in a room other than the bedroom, it is absolutely fantastic for most people, I would think!