NewAir AC-12000E 12,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner

I bought this unit while suffering through one of LA's worst heat waves in 2007. My 1100 sq ft apartment (built in the 50s) has no insulation, no A/C and the windows barely open. I've measured up to 90F in the main living area during hot summer days - and 82F at night! It's been 5 years since I purchased this "life saver" unit and it's still going strong - never even needed maintenance so far. It keeps my large living/dining/office area pleasantly cool during hot summer days and I'm always amazed, how fast the indoor temperature drops the moment the unit is turned on. Even a drop of only 5 degrees F makes a big difference between not wanting to move around and break into a sweat, or being comfortable enough to work in the office area. I also like the adjustable part of the air output, which can be moved up & down, as well as left & right. Back in 2007 I got a really great deal with this unit ($399.95), including free shipping and no tax. Even my power bill is barely affected by it. It is a bit loud, but I'd rather have a little noise for a while than suffering a heat stroke. I can't imagine a summer without it anymore! Update 2015: It's now 8 years later and this A/C is still going strong. Not a single maintenance issue since I purchased this unit in 2007. I vacuum clean the filter once a year, that's all. 2014 was the hottest year on record in Southern California and boy did I use this A/C. It handled the many heat waves really well and provided a pleasant environment during a sizzling hot summer and fall. This unit is a must-have in my apartment.

I bought this in June 2011 for about $390 (as opposed to the updated price of $440). Here's my situation - it's just my wife and I in the house and the A/C thermostat is in our bedroom. I placed the portable A/C in our bedroom for warm summer nights especially. I don't hardly ever move it unless we have parties. Pros: 1) Cools my 200-250 Sq. Ft bedroom to about 69 degrees on some nights - especially if we keep the bedroom doors shut 2) Saves about $50 per month on electricity bill during the summer and I live in Houston so that's like 9 months per year!!!! haha (**Keep in mind my thermostat is in the bedroom so it doesn't run constantly) 3) Works decent next to the back door for parties with people coming in and out constantly 4) Has lots of settings for different comfort levels 5) NEVER had to drain anything although it comes with a drain tube 6) Paid for itself in electricity savings 7) Filters are easy to clean Cons: 1) Beeps when you change temperatures/settings which isn't cool at night when the wife is sleeping 2) Auto setting lets the temperature get too hot and doesn't really work for me 3) The front panel buttons are not working like they used to so I am forced to use the remote (no big deal for me) - basically if you push one button it doesn't something other than the function of that button 4) The remote and panel don't have back-lit lettering/numbering for use at night 5) Exhaust tubing could be better or sturdier and doesn't lend itself to easy portability (although it's not hard either - just kind of annoying) The cons don't bother me that much since the unit has paid for itself and is still running well. I don't think it would do very well during the summer in a 425 sq. ft. room like it suggests but it works great in my 200-250 Sq. Ft. Remember, the thermostat in my bedroom is probably the key here. If my thermostat were elsewhere my house A/C would probably run more therefore saving me a little less money. To be specific, I keep my thermostat at about 75 and this unit cools my room to about 69-72 therefore preventing the a/c from kicking on. If you like your room cooler I'm sure it would still work the same but it does seem to have a harder time getting below 68 for me. I was originally worried it would crap out on me after 2 years but it didn't and therefore completely paid for itself. Honestly, I would buy one of these every 3 years if I had to just because it makes my room so much more comfortable during the summer without raising my electricity bill $100 but rather reducing it!

i looked through many portable ac units and decided to go with this unit based on its great reviews. i must have received a defected unit because a lot seems wrong with it. first of all the air that comes out of it is hardly cool at all! its not a good sign when i'm sweating while sitting in front of the ac. seems like i just purchased a huge very loud fan. another issue is with the thermostat, while the ac is on i noticed the numbers on the thermostat going up....either my ac unit just turned into a boiler or its giving a wrong reading..the final issue with the unit is with the auto mode...it just don't work. i pretty much gave it one star because the on/off button works.

We had a 12,000 BTU window unit that cooled our entire house (1,432 sq. feet). It cooled so well that in the summer time, my wife needed a blanket sometimes to take a nap when the outside temperature was 98 degrees F. We recently put in a security system and now we can no longer use a window unit if we want our house to be "secure". With the heat wave that prompted our purchase of this air conditioner we were desperate to purchase this product. Since our window unit was 12,000 BTU I thought this portable unit with the same amout of BTU's would be adequate. I was very very wrong. We hooked it up to our window with the window kit and it seemed snug and all. Then we turned it on - whoa - it seemed to barely cool our den which is in the central part of our home. The old window unit was in the den and so we thought placing this portable unit in the same place seemed logical. We have an open concept design in our home. With this portable A/C unit, we had a couple of fans trying to push the cold air into our living room to no avail, the unit was not as powerful as other reviews made it seem. The next day I was on the computer (in the den), literally 12 inches from the unit and I had sweat dripping down my forhead. I couldn't figure out why I was still hot while sitting next to the portable A/C unit. After a couple hours of it running, the exhaust hose becomes extremely hot. This is the part of the hose that is inside the same area you are trying to cool. It's almost like the cold air it creates gets canceled by the heat it generates. Heat that escapes through the thin exhaust hose. Because of this, i went to Home Depot and bought some 1/8 inch thin by 6 inch wide foam. I came home and wrapped the exhaust hose and used clear packing tape to secure it all in place and the heat was barely able to penetrate out. The unit is a tiny bit more efficient now. We've had to learn how to use this thing in terms of how we can position our fans to make the cooling more effective. We place it on one end of the house with a window open in the same room and on the other end of the house we have an exhaust fan helping to draw out any warm air in our home. Although you can set the machine to cool to 62 degrees, the lowest we can get our house is 75 degrees and that's only for a couple of hours, on the weekends. Weekdays, we have to lock up the windows and can't do the window/fan trick we have to do to cool the house. So for the most part we're a bit cooler during the day. The delivery time was great. I ordered it on a Tuesday and it was here on Friday. Hope this helps!

This 12,000 BTU unit works like a dream. It blows cold all day, is quiet, and given enough time, it actually cools most of my 1200 square foot house, which is far better than its rated cooling ability. Still, is is designed to be used as a room air conditioner. My only issue with it was the fact that the window kit wasn't quite large enough for my largest windows in the living room. But all it took was a call to the manufacturer, Amcor, and for $7 plus postage they sent me a second window kit to extend the first one. The result is perfect, exactly what I needed. A hard-working AC unit that can be moved from place to place if I want... or even used in my studio outbuilding. Highly versatile and extremely well made. Would recommend to anyone who doesn't have or want central air or window units. Finally, someone tagged this product as an evaporative cooler (swamp cooler) which it is NOT. It is a true air conditioner with a powerful compressor.

This was my first portable AC unit. It works great and cools the room very quickly (my old window unit did not). It is a heat pump, so there is only one vent to the outside, so...cooler outside air is of no assist at all in helping cool the unit and boost efficiency. It's only real problems would be as follows: The noise...but that is to be expected from moving such a large volume of air (but I wish it had one more lower fan setting, I never use the high setting). Its as loud as those units found in many motel rooms. NOTE: If you want a quiet portable AC unit I recommend the Honeywell MN10CESWW 10,000 BTU AC (may no longer be available ) but this is: Honeywell MN12CES 12,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner with Remote Control - Black/Silver Because of this I have set this Newair unit at 4 stars and the Honeywell at 5 stars. The vent hose is very sturdy and rigid and can be insulated if necessary (You can purchase a $12 mattress pad, cut it to fit the length of the pipe and wrap it around using GE silicone to glue it together.). The compressor is 60% of the noise of the unit, which is noticeable when the set temperature is met and the compressor shuts down. If you want to hear a TV over the noise be prepared to crank up your volume. The second problem is that a single vent out the window creates a vacuum in the house and the room...so it will be drawing in hot air through every vent crevice and pore of your house (I crack open the top of a window in another room as fresh the air intake). This venting can be an advantage for people like me who find air conditioned air stifling no matter how cool the room is, so I actually like that it is drawing in fresh air from outside and keeping the stale air condition at a minimum. Its definitely better air quality than a window unit. The unit being a China unit (likely sold domestically in great numbers), has no instructions on operation, but most of it is intuitive. Some of the features are standard sleep timer, auto mode (sets the fan speed), and fan only. One thing you will notice is that the unit has a plastic/Styrofoam smell when its new. Its interior is insulated with high density Styrofoam. The smell has been fading at a steady pace for the past month. I expect that this will dissipate totally in a few months. Features: The ionizer button seems useless, but my air quality isn't a thick gumbo of toxicity and soot like China's air (but who knows air quality does drop when the heat goes up). The sleep time is good and sets one hour of operation for each push...and then will run for that amount of hours and then shut off. It is a very small unit...much smaller than cheaper units you see in the retail stores. This was important for me as I plan on storing it in a closet for most of the year. Its about 3 ft high and 1.5 ft square. It has many washable filters that slide out of the units intake ports, but because its interior air they stay clean. So far I have not had to drain the condensation from the pan, because the unit uses this water to cool the compressor and then vents the humidity out the vent. Overall its a very good unit, and I hope it lasts for a long time. For heating and cooling version of this heat-pump reference the AC-12000H. UPDATE July 2012: Unit has lost all of it's Styrofoam smell. I have found that it works better at cooling a larger space than my 15 by 15 foot bedroom (the air gets a little too conditioned - see above). It continues to work very well, but will struggle to cool my large space of 15 by 45 feet when temps are above 90 degrees F.

I have a condo on the third floor with a cathedral ceiling. Of course, in the summer it is torture. My used unit died, so I purchased this and had it delivered next day. It is much shorter than my previous unit, but more powerful than the Royal Sovereign 3010 that I owned before. (It was about five years old.) This small unit has lots of punch, but there are a few things you should consider. First, it's extremely heavy. 80 pounds to be exact and the delivery person (company will remain unnamed) didn't want to haul it up the stairs. After bemoaning the fact I had no one to help me, he finally brought it up with much difficulty. Remember you'll need two people to carry it up stairs safely. The unit was well packed and installation simple. Second, the opening that sends out the cool air is about one-fourth the size of my previous unit. It does a good job of pushing out the cool, but the small area does prevent a larger mass of air exiting into the room. Also, because it is much shorter than my other one, I had to rearrange my furniture and move my couch that sat right next to it obstructing the flow of air. I didn't have that problem with the taller unit before. Third, it rattles a bit. I keep trying to level it to get rid of the rattle, but my carpeting is making it difficult. I need to work on that matter, but when I get it situated correctly, the rattle does stop. Fourth, my condo is plumbed with an exit for an indoor AC. The attachment from the back to the outlet worked fine (I already had the correct size ending). The tube is five inches - my outlet in the wall is four inches. As far as I pushed the tube into the unit to attach it, it still did have some air leakage. After purchasing some white duct tape and doing a once-around at both ends, it cured the escape of hot air. As far as cooling ability, my living room, kitchen, and dining are connect in a L-shape. It adequately cools the LR and kitchen for the most part, but you can tell when walking through the dining area around the corner, that's about as far as it goes. I've rectified that situation with a big box fan to blow the cool air down the hallway to my two bedrooms. It helps, the AC is by no means big enough to cool a 1,200 square foot condo. Since I sit in the living room and watch TV, at least I can do so now without sweating. It's fine for what I need on a day above 80 degrees. If it gets any hotter than 95 or above outdoors, the unit runs continually and won't cool the area to less than 85 degrees.. We have had a stretch of extremely hot weather recently of 95 to 100 every day for nearly two weeks. Frankly, I'm roasting even with the unit. I might drag this into my bedroom and purchase another unit with more BTUs for the living area.

I have always used an evaporative cooler since I live in a low-humidity environment. It works really well unless it get over 96 and this year was especially warm so we decided to get an AC for the bedroom, the warmest room. I did lots of comparing, reviewing and trying to figure out exactly what would end up being the best value. I saw this product and it was something I hoped would work. It came quickly. The company sends you the FedEx number so you can track it and know when to expect it. After opening it, I was glad we went portable instead of window unit. It looks pretty cool and isn't too huge. The thing for the exhaust in the window looks good when viewed from outside the house. The air comes out very cool and gives instant relief. It isn't loud. The remote is nice - I didn't think we would use but we do. Not having to empty the water is a handy feature also. I am really happy with this AC. :)