How to drain black and decker portable air conditioner

5.0 out of 5 stars Quiet, efficient air conditioner
Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2018

*Update*It’s been almost 2 years and I am still loving this a/c. I remove the vent assembly in the winter and reinstall it when needed. It still cools my home as expected. I’d still recommend it! In face, I’m ordering another one right now for my ver hot laundry room 😁*************************************Sometimes shopping online is difficult because reviews are all over the place. I am so glad I ignored the negative reviews and purchased this unit! Is it as quiet as having central a/c? No, of course not. And you’re not very bright if you expect it to be. When it’s running I don’t even have to turn the volume up for the television. Our window unit was absolutely deafening and we could barely talk to each other even when sitting side by side on the sofa. Forget hearing the tv. So this was a pleasant surprise. I’d read so many reviews that it was noisy.We put this in the corner of the living room and having it pointing toward the middle of the living room which is approximately 15’x30’. Sea he vent to the window and it is nicely hidden by my drapes (and some other stuff lol). I set it to 74 and the room cooled down within 10 minutes. The living room is longer than it is wide and we sit about 20 feet away from the unit. The living room leads into the dining/kitchen and I can feel it all the way in there so I’d say it cools nicely.I thought about buying a 2nd unit for the master bedroom but decided since this is portable I’ll just roll it in there.Pros:Attractive (more so than a window unit)PortableMultifunction (cools and dehumidify)Cools quickly and quietlyCovers a pretty large areaRemote control makes life easier for couch potatoesNo unsightly window unit banging away and blocking your view out the windowCons:Window vent was too wide for the window and we had to cut it to size. It would be nice if the manufacturer made a shorter panel.All in all I am very pleased with this unit and would highly recommend it.

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Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 31, 2018

To start things off, I'm not usually a real big B+D fan. I know well enough to know that, like most GIANT name brands, the name doesn't actually necessarily indicate who built the unit, but rather who's marketing and supporting it. For all I know, this has 90% of the same guts as an LG unit. (LG is regarded as the leader in portable/window AC units, as well as Frigidaire).

The product arrived in the retail box, which looks to be able to serve double duty as a shipping container because it is very sturdy, and it's assembled in such a way that it would just about collapse if it were shipped any way other than "this side up", and it's clearly marked as such on the box in many spots so you shouldn't run into the issue some reviewers talking about where they need to let it stand vertical for 24 hours prior to plugging it in and letting the pump go to work.

I'm not exactly stupid, but there's a few things about this product that don't make a whole lot of sense, or are done in a needlessly complicated (cost saving) way. To be fair though, this is my first time dealing with a portable AC unit so maybe they're all like this to one degree or another (get it?!)

First, the window vent blocking plate situation... I'm in an older house with small windows, so I had to cut one of the panels so that it would give me the correct length. This is some pretty heavy plastic, and I don't think it's reasonable to expect the typical consumer to even have the means to be able to cut one of these pieces of plastic. A hacksaw worked fine. Then you need to secure each of the telescoping panels (just shallow "C" channels, essentially) into eachother with screws so it becomes one unit.... this is supposed to be a PORTABLE AC unit. If I really did buy this with the intent of moving it from one room to another, I'd be screwed since it's doubtful that each window is exactly the same size, and changing the size of the plate is not exactly a breeze. I expected to see a more well thought out design for the window plate. Luckily, this thing is staying upstairs in my attic-bedroom that easily reaches very warm temps on even a slightly warm day, and the central AC cannot keep up with it.

Another gripe is the remote, and overall interface of operating the machine. The top/face of the machine has the love-em-or-hate-em capacitive touch buttons that provide no tactility, but instead a beep. Whatever, it works. Doing anything beyond turning it on and off and up and down requires the remote, which seems to send discreet commands for each incremental increase or decrease in temp, so that the temp displayed on the remote is never "out of sync" with the unit, as long as you change the temp at least once with the remote. It's just an infrared send-only type of signal. The real confusion comes in setting the sleep/wake timer. I read the directions and I can't figure it out. I just operate it manually when I wake up and before I go to bed, which leads me to another gripe

The thing is loud! I understand that in order for an AC unit to work, it has to move air, but even with the fan on low (which is useless because it does not push the cool air far enough towards me) the unit makes too much noise to sleep with running. I could probably get around this by moving it to the other side of the room, but I don't want to (just yet) so I just put up with it.

Most of the marketing graphics/information on this product's Amazon listing are either glossed over, or just plain incorrect. The picture that shows the exhaust vent is wrong, since it gets connected to an ovular shaped thing, and then goes out the window, and the filter does not slide out, you snap the holder out of the back, and snap the filter out of the holder. Another instance of Marketing Gone Wild.

But, it blasts out pretty cool air pretty quickly, and it's working to keep a somewhat large, low-ceiling attic bedroom at a comfortable 74 degrees even when it's hovering around 100 outside, so I have to give it some credit. The "AirSwing" feature is nice- you can position the unit at an angle (in my case, the only way to get it closer to the wall and deal with the unwieldy hot-air hose coming out the back) and pitch the vents so it's still blowing as if it were positioned straight ahead. I suppose in a more open space, it would be helpful to share some of the cool air with your visitors or other house dwellers.

So, why buy this instead of a window unit? I can yank out the plate and roll it into a closet at the end of our 2 month summer and let it sit for the other 10 months or so, instead of futzing with big drippy, rusty rectangles and angle brackets or 2x4s screwed into the stucco.

We'll see how well the atomization of water goes as far as its ability to dehumidify. The manual promises that emptying moisture from the unit only needs to be done at the end of the season, once, but it also says the sleep timer works.

UPDATE

After living with this unit for a couple VERY hot weeks, one season after another, I've learned a few things

* It's pretty likely that the built in water tank will fill up, causing the unit to stop producing cold air. I remedied this by keeping the included clear plastic tube attached to the back/bottom and elevating the unit onto a sturdy little platform with the casters removed. Now it's free to drip-drop the water it collects down the tube into a sawed off orange juice container, which needs to be emptied every couple days (!!!) Best to put that inside a small trash can just in case you forget to check it and it overflows all over your floor, not that that could ever happen...

* Rather than having it vent out a window, it's now venting out of a hole in the wall that was once for the exhaust port of a heater that was mounted to the wall. This enabled me to get it very close to the wall and even cut the collapsible hose down to 1/3 the size... the hose radiates heat, and now there's less of it. Also it's easier for it to discharge warm air since the path is shorter.

* Periodically it will apparently draw a large spike of power and trip the breaker. Granted my old home has some pretty skuzzy wiring. It's not done it while I'm there to watch it, only while I'm away, so I come back to an 85 degree, muggy bedroom. The built in GFCI has not yet tripped.

* The fact that these single hose units actively discharge cooled air and create negative pressure bothers me and I'm trying to find a not-entirely-inelegant way to provide this thing with a source of fresh outside air, effectively converting it to a dual hose unit... more to come on that

But, still running strong after several heaves and hoes into and out of the closet and sitting unused for months and months at a time.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 14, 2021

I'll start this review stating, if you CAN get an in-window or two part AC unit, get it. They are FAR better than ANY portable AC unit. A lot of bad reviews here are because people didn't understand portable AC's CANNOT compete with wall or window mount units for cooling efficiency. I'll explain why at the end.

But considering the limitations of a portal AC unit, this seems a really nice one for the price. For one its design is tiny and unassuming and should fit any decor. It very much does make cold air, it was easy to set up, and wasn't too horridly heavy to move to my hot-box upstairs office. It absolutely puts out the cold air, even if the thermometer in my room disagrees with its temp setting, its only a degree or two off, and consistent about it, which is good enough. The sound, well its modestly loud. Think 1/2 a vacuum cleaner or...well a heavy "squirrel cage" fan when in active cooling. This does make perfect sense as its has 2 rotary fans and a compressor with ball bearings whirring away inside the box. So its got some volume, so if you were talking you would have to talk mildly loud to talk over it, but doesn't seem to interfere too much with phone calls, or voice chats. Overall it was easy to set up, and the remote is a fantastic addition as I can easily turn it off any time I don't want it running.

Now I had to get a "portable" because I have casement fold-out windows. Thus an in-window unit is an impossibility for me, and I'm not about to cut a hole in the wall for an upstairs bedroom that stubbornly is 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the house despite central AC. Thus this is perfect fit, run it when I am in the room, power it off when I am not. I added on one of those casement fabric window seals to provide a half decent seal and it all seems to work well to bring the room in line with the rest of the house. Now your mileage may vary as I DO have central AC so I am supplementing cooling, AND the fact the negative pressure these things make is going to draw COLDER air from the rest of the house helps me here. If this is your only cooling source, know you are not going to get those magical numbers of cooling power printed on the box. It still works, just not quite as nicely as advertised.

Also this thing pulls as much wattage as a space heater. All the same advice applies. Only use 12 gauge extension cables rated for 1500 watts, and don't run it off a plug on a light switch. Also note, if you use this with sliding windows, once its installed, measure how much space is between the "back" side of the now open window and the frame, and go get some 1/2 inch hardwood dowels and cut them to that exact size to prevent a bad guy from forcing the now unlocked window open and breaking into your house. If you are like me and have casement windows...umm...I recommend taking the hose out of the window and locking it when you are away.

This loses a star because it sounds like it has ball type fan bearings, thus there is a whine to motors. See the overall noise can't really be helped, its inherent to the concept, but the fact its got a whine could have been. Its not bad, and I can ignore it, But I DO hear more than a gentle low hum and the rush of air, so it loses points. It also has those OBNOXIOUS blue LEDs, AND they are always on. Mine is in a work from home office, so is its a non-issue for me, but it would quickly get something tinted taped over it in a bedroom. Also a minor annoyance, but the LCD on the remote isn't one of those aqua-colored light up kinds, so its quite hard to see unless you have the lights on bright.

Now I haven't owned it long enough to comment on durability. Honestly given the way of things these days I expect 5-10 years use before it dies. Such is life as they say.

And now to the explanation. Portal AC units will NEVER equal the performance of a window unit. See EVERY AC unit every made is a heat-mover, or heat pump to be technical. It moves heat from one place to another. In this case it moves heat by pulling air from the room, over its hot compression-side coil, and out the window using the hose. This makes your room have a lower air pressure than the rest of the house and the outside. Meaning warmer air from places you are not cooling IS going to seep in and fight against the cooling-effect of the AC. This cannot be avoided unless you want to make a vacuum chamber, which I don't advise attempting. Worse, the compressor and condenser fins are inside the room where they are both outside in other types of AC. These also give off heat, lowering your efficiency. Now these kind of AC DO still work the cooling power IS still greater than the hot air pulled in and the extra heat generated by the motors, but you are NOT going to get anything close to the efficacy of a window-unit. Nobody can solve this because the limitation is inherent to having the compressor and condenser inside the room. Hell you will get roughly 1/2 the cooling with a portable, just know this before you buy. But if you are like me and cannot use a window unit, then you have to pick an portable AC, and this really seems like a good buy.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 18, 2022

Moving back to the West Coast after living in Tennessee for years, this summer I was greeted with a very unpleasant, but of course, expected, visitor - heat. Even worse, my apartment, like most of the apartments out here, does not have air conditioning. I am very heat intolerant. If it gets above 73 or so, I feel like I am dying. As I watched the temperature gauge creep higher and higher through spring, I knew I was going to have to do it - purchase the thing I had only heard horror stories about up until the time - the portable air conditioner. I researched, I read reviews, watched videos, and then researched some more. Finally I decided to go with this one. It's pretty good! It is definitely noisy, and it also doesn't cool my entire 750 sq foot apartment - maybe just a bit under half of it. But - when I am in that half - I can feel the death that is summer slowly wander away to look for another victim.

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