BLACK+DECKER BPACT14HWT Portable Air Conditioner with Heat, 14,000 BTU w, White

It is quiet and my room cools down very quickly. Better than other models I had before.

I've seen lots of other people posting around online asking how this can be done, so this review is also meant to help anyone trying to set a portable A/C up like this. I knew when I bought this unit that I wouldn't want the exhaust feeding out the window. Not only would it look weird there due to the layout of my apartment, but I didn't want even more noise from the street to make its way into my room while I was sleeping. So, since I'm next to my laundry room, I figured the dryer vent would be the perfect solution to get the A/C exhaust out of the building. Since my (and most) dryer vents are 4" and the A/C exhaust is 5", I went to Lowe's and bought a 5"-4" reducer and mounted that on a wall mountable back-draft damper. When the A/C isn't being used, it looks natural on the wall and helps to prevent any dryer dust from coming through. From there, the 4" ducting goes through the drywall into my laundry room and behind the dryer. I attached it to a 4" wye connecter with one end attached to the dryer vent and the other end to a 4" 200 CFM duct fan (see below for a link). Not only is this required since portable A/C units don't push exhaust out with enough power, but clothes dry way faster now too. To turn the duct fan on and off, I used a temperature controller (link below) with a probe inside the wye that is set to turn on when the temperature reaches 90 degrees. When just the A/C is running, the temperature gets up to 130, and when just the dryer is running it hovers around 100. The only downside of this system is that I can't use the dryer and the A/C at the same time, but that isn't a big deal to me at all. All in all, I'm really satisfied with the way this is setup. Not only does it look natural, but I can keep using my window on nice days without having to move the A/C unit. As for this unit itself, I couldn't be happier. I have a feeling a lot of these bad reviews are either units that were damaged during shipping or installed improperly, but I've always liked Black and Decker so I thought I'd give it a shot. Pros: - Cools an entire room in no time. I keep my room at about 70-73 during the day, but I can't sleep unless it's a lot colder, like 65-68. As soon as I'm ready for bed, I turn this puppy on and the room gets down to that temperature easily. I'll honestly never be able to sleep without one again. Plus, the white noise is a really positive side effect of having it on. - Easy to use remote and control panel. There's really nothing to it, just turn it on and set the temperature and it's off to the races. - The fan mode is great for circulating air. I hate stale air, and it keeps everything feeling fresh, even with the A/C off. - I've tried the heating mode once, and it really works. It sounds like it just flips an internal valve or something, but instead of removing heat from the room and exhausting that heat, it does the exact opposite. So I'd assume the air coming out is around 130 (mentioned above), but it definitely isn't dangerous and doesn't feel hot to the touch. - I've been using this for a few months now and haven't had to drain any moisture once. Cons: - Since I use this when I sleep, I always have to cover the LEDs with a drink coaster and my wallet before I get in bed. Even when the unit is in sleep mode, those LEDs are pretty bright. - Speaking of "sleep mode," I understand the idea behind it, but I like the temperature to stay constant all night so I don't use it (sleep mode will raise the temperature by two degrees over the course of 6 hours, then it'll turn off). - This is just me being picky wishing for pretty crazy features, but I really wish this was "smart" enough to be controlled by an Echo/Google Home. It'd be great to be able to turn it on and off with my nightly and morning routines. "Alexa, good night" already turns the lights off, but I'd love to hear this A/C kick into high gear at the same time. - Duct fan: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CTM0H6I/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 - Temperature controller: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HXM5UAC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I let the unit sit for 24 hours before turning it on to let the coolant settle. It is pushing out cold air. But, its still the same temperature inside as it is outside. After researching, I think there are two design flaws in this unit that prevents this unit from cooling our living area. #1. The exhaust from the AC unit is extremely warm. My instant read thermometer read 102 degrees when placed against the exhaust hose. The exhaust hose puts out so much heat, that its warming up the room. I've got the hose as short as I can while maintaining the advised 12 inches distance from the wall, but it looks like I may need to insulate the tubing because its warming up the house. #2. The single vent hose rather than a dual vent hose is a huge problem. After researching the cause of the same temperature inside the house and outside the house despite the massive amount of cold air coming from the unit, I realized that creating an air deficit inside the house by sucking air in from our living area, and pushing warm air outside via the vent hose, is creating a air vacuum that is causing warm air to be pulled in from the warmer areas of the house. This causes the unit to be far less efficient than a window unit. My window unit is far more efficient than this unit and at many less BTU's. EDIT - UPDATE TO MY REVIEW: After my initial 2 start review and deciding to return the unit, I let it run all day to see what it could do if I left it running for many hours. I also turned on my window AC unit in another part of the house. After running for several hours, this AC unit managed to keep at least a 10 degree cooler temperature inside than it was outside with the help of an additional AC unit in the bedroom. I changed my review to 3 stars. It's OKAY. I feel comfortable and cool, although I wish it could get cooler. Overall, the unit is functioning well enough that I decided not to return it. I am disappointed with its performance, but decided to keep it because its working for now and I prefer the portability over the window units. It's got wheels and a pretty easy setup in the window for the vent that I can take up and down as I wish. Hopefully the decision won't come back to haunt me at a later date. Buyers need to be aware that it won't perform as well as a window unit, and the unit is loud and never shuts down because it will never reach the coolest temps you are reaching for. I estimate its 89 outside, and probably 75-79 inside.

Was really happy to get for $485 during Black Friday. Patiently waited for months. No manual came with it but I printed it out from website. Super quiet and efficient. My old one is an aged window ac that vibrated the house, so compared to that it’s whisper quiet. I like fan sounds at night so perfect! It’s winter here in BC but from what I tested, it’ll be great for heat waves. Window kit is fine and decent quality. Unsure if I need to get the insulation for the hose as I’ve read from reviews it gets hot, I’ll figure it out. The heat function is good but I’ll be using for AC only. Moves around easily with rollers. Let sit for 24 hours before testing out. It never said in the manual, but an fyi for others wondering. Drain hose is pinched/flattened but I’ll be draining with a pan when needed. I’ll post an update summer/26.

Here's the problems I've had with this unit: 1. It came damaged with stains and chipped away paint on the exterior of the unit, which causes me worry for the interior. 2. It's not even cool. If the temperature outside is more than 80 degrees, I still feel hot even when I'm only about seven feet away from it. 3. The advertising is misleading. It's listed as 14,000 BTU, but if you read the full description of the product, you'll see that the Department of Energy listed it as 7500 BTU in 2017. 4. It randomly won't turn on for no discernible reason, which makes me think it's going to die early. Unplugging it and plugging it back in does the trick sometimes, but not always. Other times it turns on with no issue. 5. It's very noisy - you can always hear it going. You will want to turn the volume up on your TV considerably higher than you usually do. 6. It's not very portable. There's only one window slider, so moving it from one room to the next is a pain. It's also very heavy, so if you're trying to move it up and down the stairs you will struggle with it. At 83 pounds, this is one of the heavier portable air conditioners you can get. And this is probably the biggest problem overall, because returning it is a pain. If you decide to get this unit anyway, at least keep the box so you have something to return it in, because finding a big enough box to fit it in will be difficult. It looks like a beefy machine with a lot of different options on it, but I can assure you that your money is better spent on something that will actually keep you cool. $400 is way too much for something that fails at its very function, and has other issues on top of that.