We bought this unit 6 months ago to try and cool our 2nd floor (3 rooms). I set the unit to 70 degrees and it would constantly freeze up (meaning, ice would form after about 1 hour). I noticed that the unit drew more air in than it blew into the room. Giving the unit the benefit, I sealed everything in the room as tight as I could (insulating, foaming, etc) and closed off the other 2 rooms. It managed to cool that one room (12 x 16) but still would ice over on days of 100+ degrees (unit set for 70 degrees).
Heat pump: I turned it on in mid October. Today (December 10th), all of the lights on the front panel were blinking on and off and the unit would not turn off using the control panel power button. I unplugged it from the wall and left it sit for an hour. Plugging it back in (an hour later), the unit would run but all of the lights were flashing on and off with no control over the power.I am awaiting customer service to contact me to see how they will react to the 1 year warranty. I will try to post what has happened to keep consumers informed.
This rather expensive portable air conditioner is of very low quality, and it's also very poorly designed.
First of all, the air conditioner leaks water from the base. I purchased one, it leaked, I returned it, and the replacement leaked as well.
In order for a portable air conditioner to work properly, it needs to have a two hose design so that one hose takes in outside air to cool the compressor and the second hose expels the hot air from the unit to outside your house. This air conditioner only has one hose that vents the hot exhaust through a window to the outside of your house. This mean it takes in cool air from inside your house and blows it outside to cool the compressor. This creates a partial vacuum inside the house, which results in warm, humid air being drawn in from the outside to fill the partial vacuum. The intake of warm humid air almost completely offsets the amount of cooling this unit is able to provide. Using this unit alone in one small bedroom, the temperature would often be above 80 degrees F on hot July and August days. That's not acceptable performance for such an expensive air conditioner in such a small room.
For a portable air conditioner to work efficiently, it needs to have two hoses: one for intake and one for exhaust.
Lastly, the compressor and fan on this unit are very very loud. It's difficult to watch to TV or carry on a conversation while the unit is running.
I do not recommend this product to anyone.
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Seems to work adequately as an air conditioner. I thought I might not need to, or want to run our old dehumidifier. I purchased the LX-130D to use in the basement and expected that it would work even better at removing moisture than the old dehumidifier. The old stand alone dehumidifier runs for a fraction of the time to achieve the same level of de-humidification. The air conditioner and heater work well but are not super powerful.
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I bought this unit two days ago when the temperature in a recreation room (fully insulated, measuring 35' x 17' or 595 square feet. Note: unit is rated for 550 square feet) over my garage reached temperatures of 98 to 100 degrees in this latest heat wave in New Jersey. The reason I purchased the "Soleus Heat Pump Air Conditioner" is because I wanted the duality of an air conditioner and heater.
The set up was not difficult, the window assembly kit that fits in the window had to be cut down, as required in the instructions to fit the window. That took about 5 minutes to measure and cut. Total set up time was about 35 minutes. Of that time twenty minutes were spent trying to understand the directions.
The instructions are not the best. There is a hose for draining water from the unit that is not mentioned anywhere in the instructions. The unit has Control Panel and Digital Display that is easy to use and a Remote Controller. The unit also has a timer and louvers that will oscillate up and down to circulate the air. What is not mentioned in the general instructions but under the Remote instructions is that the timer and oscillator can only be accessed through the Remote. However, none of this is insurmountable. After a few minutes of flipping back and forth between pages it can be figured out.
The venting kit that comes with the unit should have supplied some gasket material to put between the exhaust panel and the window. Luckily I had some sponge rubber gasket to assure a good seal. Also, it is a tight fit between the window sill and exhaust hose that fits into the window kit.
After I had the unit up and running I insulated the flexible PVC exhaust hose as per the instructions. The hose becomes quite warm and the heat from it will radiate back into the room, so insulating it makes sense.
Today as I am writing this, July 22 2011 at 1 pm, it is 101 degrees outside in the shade and very humid. In the room over the garage "Soleus" unit is maintaining a constant 82 degrees with 54 percent humidity. I consider that good, the main part of my home has central air set at 72 degrees and it is struggling to maintain the temperature at 74 degrees.
I consider the "Soleus" unit to be working pretty good for a portable air conditioner with extremely high temperature outside. I expect better results when the temperature gets down to the low 90's where it is more normal for summer here.
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I lke it but wish it would turn on and off with the thermostat, I can't leave it running all the time
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