Bluedog225
Texas
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2019
- Messages
- 2,937
As per the title, I got this air conditioner to keep my batteries and inverter cool. My system is set up in an insulated conex box.
The positive.
-The unit seems to cool well. I’ve only tried it in the mid 80s so far. I did run it in my house for a year to see if it was a dud. It did fine.
-My Victron display says it was pulling about 1100 watts on max but it seemed to settle down to 650 after a bit. Fan on medium. I’ll post an update when we get into the 100+ weather.
-It is an inverter unit and seems to have gentle fan/compressor startup.
There are a couple of pretty serious drawbacks.
First, the dual hose assembly is giant. And pretty poorly made. The plastic tabs that are supposed to hold it to the unit are fragile. As is the plastic assembly for passing the hose through a window. It’s just not done properly. The fittings on that end are poor quality. The whole deal needs to be redesigned. Additionally, the hoses are not long enough to vent through the floor. You can vent out the window at 90° and that’s about it.
Second, the condensate drainage system is ridiculous. There are three, count em, three drain ports on the back. One drain port for heat mode. One drain port for continuous drainage with a hose. And a final drain port for closed up operation and manual drainage.
And on this last option (manual drainage). There is just enough room for a saucer under the bottom manual drain port. And you need to tilt the unit over to drain it. There’s no way to do this without making a mess. Customer Service says be careful not to tilt the unit over too far or you will have an adverse effect on the refrigerant levels somehow. The only solutionis to put the whole unit on blocks or bricks so you have some room to have a reasonable chance of not draining water all over your floor.
Third, the instruction manual is sad. There’s no way to figure out what I’ve described without calling or chatting with Customer Service.
Fourth, it’s got a fancy Bluetooth/app thing going on. I’d rather it didn’t. A simple reliable dual hose portable air conditioner is all I’m after.
Bottom line-It’s a B-/C+ unit. Particularly at the roughly $700 price point (Costco).
There appear to be other units on the market with similar construction that worked out the drain line mess. I forget the name brand but one of them was reported to have a single drain line that exits out the hose assembly. Seems like a no brainer.
I’m on the fence about returning. I had to remove it and clean up a pretty large water mess with damage up the drywall. I’ll plumb in a hose to permanently drain it outside and give it a chance this summer with a min/max thermometer in the conex. I’ll also put it on a water heater galvanized tray to catch any leakage and drain it. Not sure I trust the thing.
The positive.
-The unit seems to cool well. I’ve only tried it in the mid 80s so far. I did run it in my house for a year to see if it was a dud. It did fine.
-My Victron display says it was pulling about 1100 watts on max but it seemed to settle down to 650 after a bit. Fan on medium. I’ll post an update when we get into the 100+ weather.
-It is an inverter unit and seems to have gentle fan/compressor startup.
There are a couple of pretty serious drawbacks.
First, the dual hose assembly is giant. And pretty poorly made. The plastic tabs that are supposed to hold it to the unit are fragile. As is the plastic assembly for passing the hose through a window. It’s just not done properly. The fittings on that end are poor quality. The whole deal needs to be redesigned. Additionally, the hoses are not long enough to vent through the floor. You can vent out the window at 90° and that’s about it.
Second, the condensate drainage system is ridiculous. There are three, count em, three drain ports on the back. One drain port for heat mode. One drain port for continuous drainage with a hose. And a final drain port for closed up operation and manual drainage.
And on this last option (manual drainage). There is just enough room for a saucer under the bottom manual drain port. And you need to tilt the unit over to drain it. There’s no way to do this without making a mess. Customer Service says be careful not to tilt the unit over too far or you will have an adverse effect on the refrigerant levels somehow. The only solutionis to put the whole unit on blocks or bricks so you have some room to have a reasonable chance of not draining water all over your floor.
Third, the instruction manual is sad. There’s no way to figure out what I’ve described without calling or chatting with Customer Service.
Fourth, it’s got a fancy Bluetooth/app thing going on. I’d rather it didn’t. A simple reliable dual hose portable air conditioner is all I’m after.
Bottom line-It’s a B-/C+ unit. Particularly at the roughly $700 price point (Costco).
There appear to be other units on the market with similar construction that worked out the drain line mess. I forget the name brand but one of them was reported to have a single drain line that exits out the hose assembly. Seems like a no brainer.
I’m on the fence about returning. I had to remove it and clean up a pretty large water mess with damage up the drywall. I’ll plumb in a hose to permanently drain it outside and give it a chance this summer with a min/max thermometer in the conex. I’ll also put it on a water heater galvanized tray to catch any leakage and drain it. Not sure I trust the thing.
