Thursday, October 16, 2014

SPT WA-1010E 10,000-BTU Portable Air Conditioner

The idea of a portable AC is great. The Sunpentown machine itself is great, it really churns out cool air. The problems with the design in my opinion, which any potential buyer needs to be aware of, are the following:

1) the exhaust pipe going from the machine to the window is not insulated, so it actually becomes very very hot when the machine is operating at full bore. It is not hot enough to pose a hazard when touched, but it actuallly re-heats the room on the way to the window. Overall the room does cool down but there is an inherent inefficiency in the way the room is cooled on one side of the machine then partially re-warmed on the other. Commercial units I've seen utilize an insulated pipe as exhaust.

2) The window mounting supplies for the exhaust pipe are a complete joke, a real slap in the face to the consumer. What is needed is something rigid which can be sized to the window frame. The company supplies a piece of flexible foam to be cut to fit. It barely stays upright in the window frame. Handy people might want to cut themselves a piece of plywood or plexiglass instead.

The company has a potentially wonderful product. They need to supply a better (insulated) exhaust, and more realistic supplies for the window mount.

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