for most Portable A/C units, its somewhat Hit or Miss? most are ok, but some your Just not sure?then "Price" and what to get? will it work? it is Quiet? most fit in the Middle of the road, and its not a Name Brand? what should i do?well, this one from Black & Decker seems to hold to its own on this one, Pricey? bout the same as most.but Performance wise, much better than the several we tried and tested, to put to a test we put in a 754 Sq Ft, Garage, granted was "Somewhat Insulated" but! not fully in "Riverside California's HEAT"makes most Other States Heats? almost "Coat Weather in July" and this Unit kept the Garage at about 76deg on Average, Not bad for a Portable Unit! this one does not have Heat, even in Winters here? some "Christmas are at 86 Deg" bummer for ones like me that like Snow! lolbut if looking to Invest in one? and Portable! and "Quiet" which is Subjective? depending on How Critical one may be?for 99.9999999% of general Population! its Pretty Quiet! not to say? you cant hear air Flow Noise of any kind? that would be "IMPOSSIBLE" it not Noisy enough to bother ones Sleep.but maybe for the one or 2 Boo-Tubers? to complain on everything? this and Nonthing like these are for them, the rest i think you may find a Worthy Investment, and does a GREAT job at Dehumidifying, the Window Accessories work good! but may need slight alteration to your "Particular Situation" but should be anything major! the Sealing tape works well, but for "Some" added foam Insulation be a good Plus, now, only thing with Portable A/C units! is the Exhaust Hose, HIGHLY RECOMEND to get a Insulation Blanket, of "Anykind" that can Suit your Decore and or Needs the Exhaust Hose gets pretty warm! not enough to be of any Danger, but Enough if you have it Cranked! the Hose can and WILL transfer that Heat! into the Room by just Radiant heat Alone, so this goes for "Any Portable A/C"and yes, it makes a difference. has a Great Timer and all of the controls are Intuitive, and Easy.added Bonus! the Controls are also Remote Controlled! so all functions can be done on the Remote!currently have one for Garage and was Testing, but was Enough where this one is a Keeper!having Mini-Split A/C for our back Shop, being Much More Versatile, but in the $800.00 Plus range? wanted to try for my Smaller Garage shop? Oh! and got an Extension 2Pack Exhaust Hose for "My Situation" and its Great for Entire Garage!!i hope this is of some help for anyone looking for these types of Units,

After doing quite a bit of research, I decided to purchase the Black & Decker 14,000 BUT Portable AC. This unit is fantastic. I bought it for use in my 12' x 14' office. The office has two persons (my wife and I) and many computer systems (7 large servers, a couple of desktop systems, numerous battery backup units, numerous monitors, etc). To make matters worse, the office unfortunately gets full sun for more than 5 hours throughout the day. Though we have a central AC, the thermostat is in the family room ... so either the office is comfortable and the rest of the house if 68 degrees ... or the house is comfortable and the office is 86 degrees. Moreover, cost goes way up if we keep the office cool ... even if we were OK with the rest of the house cold like the north pole.Before this unit------------------Before we received this unit, the office would run anywhere from 82 - 86 degrees many times higher during summer. With this unit, we were able to keep the office easily at 72 degrees (much colder if we wanted).Shipping & Packaging-------------------------Shipping was great. The unit arrived in perfect packaging and was free from any scratches, dents or any other marks. Unpacking was very straight forward. As a reminder, the unit needs to be upright. Per the documentation, they suggest the unit be left upright for at least 6 hours before use ... preferably 24 hours. I decided to wait the 24 hours since I did not know how the unit was handled during the shipping process.Operation------------The unit pushes some seriously cold air. Like all AC units, when it starts-up, cold air does not come out immediately. But within 30 seconds of starting, it was blowing freezing cold air. Within 5 minutes the room cooled down and during the day, it maintained the temperature with ease (we set it for 72 degrees). In fact, we did set it down to 65 degrees and it would run until the room reached that temperature ... that was just simply too cold for us.Quiet-------This unit was much quieter than we expected. Even when on video conference calls using speaker-phone, there was no issue. Others on the call could not tell the unit was running. I am not saying the unit is stealth quiet, but the noise level was surprisingly low ... on-par with the fans from my computer servers.Why Returning?--------------If the unit was so great, they why would I return it? Well there were two issues with the unit I did not like: 1) Placement and 2) SecurityPlacement----------------Based on the layout of our office along with the servers, desks, multiple monitors, etc ... there was no real convenient location to put the unit. So how did we know the unit works well? I temporarily moved desks / computers out of the way so I could mount the hose and pass-through to the window. Originally, I had planned on drilling a hole in the wall (this is a 6" diameter hose!!!) and putting a one-way flange & baffle with a fine screen mesh to ensure no outside critters could get in. I bought this with the intent of installing it somewhat permanently. Even with this in mind, where I could place the unit would not be close enough to the flange for the exhaust hose. I could buy additional hose extensions but because of the diameter of the exhaust hose, I just could not easily run the hose behind desks, etc. Keep in mind the hose does not make 'right-angle' turns either. Also, the exhaust hose is rather sturdy - which is actually a good thing.Security----------The window mounting assembly is actually quite easy and seemed to work well for the intended purpose. As a reminder, I only ran the unit for a few days so not sure what the long-term durability of the hose and mounting assembly would be like. In any event, I am very security conscious. I did not feel the window mounting option allowed me to secure the window effectively enough to prevent someone from pushing the baffles in and then getting inside the office and our home.Who is this unit for ?------------------------This unit works exceptionally well especially for someone that needs to cool down a reasonably large room quickly and quietly. This probably would work great for 2nd floor (or higher floors) homes where outside access to the window would be limited or non-existent.I have decided to order a Mini Split AC instead. It will allow me the flexibility of placement and will enable me to maintain the security aspect.

No hay ninguna advertencia de que TIENE que estar conectada la salida a una ventana para usar el AC. mi " ventana " es una puerta corrediza de cristal y ¿hacer un orificio en la pared? Para que compre un aire PORTÁTIL?

i purchased this unit over a year ago. i wish i could write a glowing review but i absolutely can't as i have been fighting with their customer service to get some kind of functional unit for over a year.this unit arrived without a hose inlet valve - i thought ok no big deal, i figured i could just call customer service and have one sent to me or that i could purchase a replacement part. OH I WAS SO MISTAKEN! i called customer service and was told they had to make the part and that it would take about 2 weeks to get to me - again i thought no big deal i can wait its ok. the customer service rep told me to call back next week for a status update.i called in the next week and immediately realized this is was not going to be the smooth experience i had hoped for. when i called, the customer service rep told me they couldn't see a change in status, that the warehouse was very busy and that'd get to my order when they could but to call back next week to see how things were proceeding. so i did. i called in OVER AND OVER AND OVER AND OVER EVERY WEEK FOR OVER A YEAR!after months of being stuck in a loop of weekly calls with black and decker customer service with no progress that was slowly driving me insane, i reached out to the asurion protection plan i purchased with the unit to see if something could be done. surely the protection plan i purchased could do something to help with this issue - if nothing else help me escalate this problem right? well surprise surprise manufacture defects (like no including parts) is apparently not covered. so not only do i have a non-functional AC unit but i also had a useless protection plan as well. i was sure the universe was laughing at me at this point.at this point in time its been well over a year that i have continued to call black and decker week over week for updates with no progress or help. i have NEVER received the part needed to make the AC functional or even an accurate ETA, which means for over a year i have had a useless/non-functional AC unit taking up space in my house. i have called customer service more times than i can count. i have tried escalating to see if there's anything that can be done. i've tried buying generic parts and rigging them to work with the machine. i've tried opening tickets on the black and decker website. i am at my wits end with this.i've reached the point of considering just accepting my loses and buying a new AC unit which is completely ridiculous based on the price of this unit and (i thought) black and decker was a good company.i wish i could leave a good review or write about a good customer service experience, but i can't. what i can say with 100% certainty is buyer beware - if your machine arrives without parts, or breaks, or has anything happen you are on your own. black and decker will do nothing to help make it right. i can whole heartedly say that after this experience i will NEVER purchase another black and decker product for the rest of my life.

I work from home. My home office, with all its computer equipment, heats up considerably. The office is always 15-20° warmer than the outdoor temp. In the summer, 90° outside can easily mean the office is 100-110°. Ouch. Not only is 100° an uncomfortable work environment, but it's dangerously hot for any computer equipment.Small 12x12 former bedroom -- I originally tried a Honeywell 8,000BTU unit. I gave up on that after a month or so and gave that unit away. It could not cool the room, due to the computer equipment, despite the unit running pretty much constantly.I then upgraded and for the past several years I've been running a Wynter 14,000 BTU portable AC. It was loud, but it did the job of cooling the room. The condenser burnt out about 6 months ago, but it would still blow cooler air and suck the hot air out of the room. So I continued to use it until I found a replacement. It never really got "cold" without the condenser functioning (and no one wanted to repair it) but would easily cool the room to a more livable temp - around 80°. However, it ran almost constantly in summer months. So my electric bills easily climbed by $100+ each month.Naturally, I decided to replace the old unit, which was breaking down, and decided on this Black&Decker 14,000BTU unit. The B&D unit EASILY cools the room in a few minutes and keeps it cool all day (cooling, then shutting off, then kicking back on several minutes later). Overall the B&D unit is much quieter than previous units I've owned. Of course there's the sound of the fan/rushing air when it's running, and there's a loud "ca-chunk" when it starts up the condenser (as expected). But, unlike previous units, I can still talk on the phone 5 feet away without having to first shut the unit off.In addition, the hose attachment on the back of the unit is LIGHT YEARS better than any previous unit I've seen. I do not want to have to install dual hoses for venting. So I will only look at/use one hose units.I always had trouble with hoses staying connected to the units. The "unit-to-hose connectors" other manufactures proved were a COMPLETE joke with no actual "locking" ability.. it was like resting a tissue on an outdoor picnic table and not expecting it to blow off. The hose would fall off then the unit would simply be blow hot air into the room rather than venting it out - actually heating the room as opposed to cooling it. I previously had to wrap the vent hose with a considerable amount of duct tape in order to keep it actually attached to the unit.The hose connection on the back of the B&D unit is SO MUCH BETTER and fool-proof. It essentially locks in place and stays put. No more worries about the host falling off. I like this feature a great deal, even though it's such a minor thing.My ONLY real complaint is the remote control. Not in its functionality, but in its design. The LCD screen REALLY needs some sort of illumination. Forget about reading the remote screen in a dimly lit room. I really dislike how dark the screen on the remote control is. But, it's not like I need to read the remote screen repeatedly or even frequently. I can live with it. But if they wanted to improve anything, it would be the illumination of the remote screen.I can't yet speak about longevity of the unit. I tend to use a portable AC every day, 14-16hrs, from about April through to about October.. and I got this B&D unit in Aug of this year. I would expect it to last at least 5 years, if not much longer. My last 14,000BTU unit lasted a decade before it started breaking down. If I factor in the cost over a 10 year lifespan, it's well worth it when considering at a per-year breakdown.I also can't directly speak about electric costs, as I've not had the B&D unit long enough to make an adequate comparison. However, since the B&D unit shuts off for several minutes after cooling, rather than continuously running, I would anticipate energy costs to be much lower than I've previously experienced. But I do consider any energy costs to be a necessary evil to both keep computer equipment at healthy temperatures and to not have to work in a 90° office.Overall, I'm pleased with the purchase. I was strongly looking at this unit for a few weeks weeks, researching, then it hit some sort of sale at Amazon and I purchased it for much a lower price through Amazon than I could have from ANY other retailer. I did shop around several online retailers for this same model and Amazon had the lowest price by literally hundreds of dollars at the time.

I installed this into a casement window using the suppplied metal installation hardware and a piece of insulating board I got from Home depot, which I cut out with an exacto knife and secured with some some white duct tape. It's not at all a problem to jury rig an installation of such units to vent through casement windows: If I can do it, anyone can. I wasn't sure about the warranty in Canada so I bought the third party warranty. It seems well made, although the filter holding compartments are kind of flimsy (plastic with snapins that look like they could break after a while (one "slide out" was secured with two screws I had to remove before I could get to the filter - a bit of a kludge if you ask mw) and can be hard to open and close for cleaning. However, the filters are relatively coarse wire and don't attract a lot of dirt - I haven't had to clean them yet. Maybe they are more for an industrial environment than a house. It does the job so far, albeit under a light load, but does seem to be very loud. I don't have the experience to offer a comparison with other brands, but I think if I had to do it again I'd try to find one less noisy.