Koldfront PAC801W Ultracool 8,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner, White

After using this unit for one year I felt an updated review was necessary. Bottom line is the air conditioner does indeed work quite well! I use it in my small office (about 400 square feet) with one window and no direct sunlight. The unit sits next to my desk, where I spend most of my time, and with the movable louvers I have it blowing air directly on me. I also have an additional small fan running on low to help distribute the cool air throughout the room. It cools the whole room far more efficiently with the door closed. THE UNIT BLOWS COLD AIR EXACTLY AS IT CLAIMS! I also have central air that keeps the room at about 80 degrees without the portable. The portable cools the room down to about 72 degrees. With the air blowing directly on me I usually only run it a half hour or so at a time because, seriously, I get too cold! I direct the louvers up when I want to cool the whole room without it blowing directly on me. I am a little surprised at the reviews that say it doesn't work. I think if the unit produces cold air, which it definitely does, but does not cool you or the room, then you have a problem with how you utilize or manage that cold air. As for installation, the window kit, while not the greatest quality and fit, is more than adequate. It does work for both horizontal and vertical windows. You need to follow the instructions closely. The hose fittings at the back of the unit and the window plate are to be installed with a counter clockwise twist, which holds the hose securely. You definitely need a drain hose attached at the bottom of the unit as the condensation produces a lot of water. The problem is the nipple is located at the very bottom of the unit, so the drip pan or bucket has to be lower than the cooler to allow gravity to drain the water. This means the unit has to be set on a raised platform or you need a floor drain to correctly drain the water. I use a small stand that elevates the unit about 8 inches off the floor with a shallow pan to collect the water. I use latex hose with 5/8 ID, 7/8 OD and 1/8 wall. The fit is not very snug so I use a simple hose clamp to tighten it all up. So in summary, this unit is not a miracle worker and it does have a couple design flaws, but for the price and ease of use it does more than I ever hoped for. I am comfortable all day with cool air when I need it and no noticeable increase in my electricity bill. I just purchased another unit for my bedroom and expect similar results.

The Koldfront portable air conditioner earns a 5 star rating for its ability to cool my small bedroom. My room is 10x12 and the window faces the street. A window unit would look out of place and annoy neighbors, so I had to get a portable a/c unit without question. It was the least expensive portable ac unit on the net, so I was going to try it no matter what. It cooled my room quite nicely in September which was unusually warm and humid this year. The portable air conditioner is slightly louder than a window a/c, but having a cool room allows me to sleep through the noise. It comes with a short drain hose and 2 drain plugs. I attached the hose to the top drain plug and I have a small bucket to collect the water. It does take a while to fill the bucket, so you may go a while before you pour the water out in a sink. Update 1: Week of May 12 through 17 of 2014 It hit 100 degrees in Southern California, yet the ac unit performed well. The heat outside was stifling, but I was able to sleep in my cool room. Holding up well. Update 2: July 5 2014 July 5th was a hot and humid day. That means I ran the ac most of the day and all of the night. The room was comfortable and that allowed me to sleep easily enough. Due to the humidity, my small bucket overflowed some water. That is the only negative I can report. The positive being that my room was cool the entire time. Update 3: End of Summer 2014 This summer was unusually hot and humid which makes it so much more important to have purchased an ac unit toward the end of summer 2013. It works, enough said.

I do not even know what to say about this product but it works. Many reviews say otherwise but this thing pumps some serious cold are. Sure it does take about an hour to get my room cold but it is a rather large room. 18X20 foot room. It is simple to use and I love the auto on/off feature so I can have t cooling when I get off work to come home to a nice cool room. I live in Louisiana and I have never even had to worry about any water leaks, condensation, nor humid air issues. This thing works great in 100% humidity.

I bought this because our apartment was burning up in the summer and fans weren't doing the job. It's really easy to set up but the plastic tabs near the hose will break off eventually if you plan on removing it every once in a while but you can fix it with packaging tape or white duck tape, might not look as good but it's better than nothing. MAKE SURE TO CONNECT THE UNIT TO A BUCKET OR CONTAIN FOR THE WATER! Like: - Keeps bedroom cool. - has wheels Dislike: - Tabs break off - Has to leak into a bucket or container - cant cool a living room - pretty loud

I ordered this product early this week and received it today. Then I saw the negative review before I set it up and I was nervous about the purchase, but after setting it up, the AC worked just great. It does not take long to set up at all as there are just a few pieces and steps to the process. I would read the instructions to do things in the right order and note their tips on usage; however, the instructions are easy to follow. There is a hose you attach to the back of the portable AC unit and then you install the sliding plastic piece that goes in the window either horizontally or vertically (depending on how your window opens and closes). It came with some insulation strips but I don't think I will need to use them. Despite the instructions suggesting inserting the hose in the sliding piece after it is secure in the window, I found it easier to attach the hose to the sliding piece first and then set it into place (even though that is a bit more awkward to do). This only because the sliding piece moved "backwards" when I tried to connect the hose into the hole, but that might be because my window does not hold the sliding plastic piece that firmly in place. It's not a problem that it would move on its own now it's all set up. The room was very hot where I set up it up and I set the temperature to 68 degrees at first and it started blasting out cold air right away and before long the room was almost chilly and it cooled after the adjacent hallway and other rooms enough to make them more comfortable (given the current heat wave). You can adjust the angle of the vents up and down which is convenient. There are three fan speeds. There is also a remote control that can perform the same tasks as you can pressing the buttons on the face of the unit. Either way it's very simple to operate this product. I don't find the unit overly noisy because you would expect any fan, air conditioner or humidifier to make some noise and the amount this unit makes is inline with what I might expect, and probably less noisy than some alternatives. While you can use this as a fan without AC, it is just an extra feature that might make sense if the room is cool enough to shut the AC off. It's certainly not a convenient size for just a fan, but with that said the fan functions well - you can adjust the vent angle up and down but not sideways nor does it rotate. I think it's obvious one would purchase this unit because you want a portable AC. While it's a reasonable size for dehumidifier unless you have just the perfect location where you can attach a hose that drains the water, it does not seem practical in many situations to use the "Dry" mode to dehumidify, at least not very often unless you have it just the right location where you can attach a garden hose to drain it. I suppose it's an extra benefit you could use it as a dehumidifier, but I prefer my Frigidaire in our basement for that purpose because it has a bucket you can empty. (I am still working on getting it to drain with a garden hose into a sink down there, but that's another story.

I was skeptical but hopeful when purchasing this item given the weak 8,000BTU rating and positive reviews. It's easy to set up for sure, and it blows cold air... but it doesn't do much of anything to cool a room. We put it in a 12x10 living room with a 4x6 blinded window in a small apartment - well within the square footage rating for the air conditioner. Even with the temperature outside only reaching the low 80s, this air conditioner never made a single degree of impact to the living room temperature. By sitting within two-three feet of the unit, I could feel the cold air and feel a little better. But even just a few feet away, the room was hot. Also, although the automatic vents are neat, they don't move at all, so the unit fires mostly upward, probably 75 degrees angle from the floor. For a room where people primarily sit - and yes, understanding of the "heat rises" idea - the air goes right at the ceiling. I'm not sure if this is a design flaw or just an inconvenience. Regardless, the unit was completely ineffective and I'm returning it to Amazon.

Bought this last summer and used it a TON. It does a great job cooling off my bedroom and allows me to finally get some sleep and not toss and turn all night because of the heat. It is a bit loud when all is said and done, but it is a price to pay in order to stay cool. I don't know how it would work out in the bigger rooms as my bedroom is only 10X12 in my apartment, but if that is what you need it for I would get this. It makes my bedroom amazingly cold and is a joy to cool off in.

Currently, looking for a better option and will return this one. Outside of the exhaust hose being gargantuin, and the window insert provided is for vertical window, not horizontal. And it's true that it does a poor job cooling the room. It also is loud on low, medium, or high. We have it in our living room, and you can't have a conversation while it's on let alone hear the television. More time was spent on design of this piece than function. May work for a bedroom for white noise, but the volumn of fan is more on the intolerable side.