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THIS PORTABLE IS WELL WORTH IT!
Okay I have one with a different control panel but its the exact same thing... Anyways I have had it for about 2 years I think and its been great and is working awesomely... I have moved a couple times and it has come with me everywhere. My first place was a 1 bedroom apartment I only had windows that you pull in so I decided to not deal with the hassle of getting someone to put one in for me professionally so that was out of the idea and so I had bought this and worked great until I later finally got the landlord to actually put in a mini-split ductless into the place. Which those work very good by the way if you don't have the room or don't wanna take over a window. During this time the air conditioner was stored away for a little less then 6 months. Then I had moved to a studio apartment and had no air conditioning there and started using it again and it worked perfectly and the studio i think was around 300 Square feet not including the bathroom and kitchen. Worked perfectly there also. Now I have moved into a 4 bedroom house and the computer room happens to sit over half the garage and the central air doesn't hit the room so I am using it here to... All in all I think this air conditioner's model name should be called QUALITY. This thing has been everywhere with me and still works perfectly. There have been no problems with it at all, (Knock on wood) and not to mention all the things it has been thru. Some more info on the unit...Its pretty quiet, you can barely tell when the compressor kicks in it is very quiet. Its a little heavy I will admit and its a little hard to get up and down stairs if thats what you plan on doing with it but I think it is easier then most cause it has little dolly wheels and I think they made that for that idea and the user interface is very easy. If you guys have any questions just let me know I will be glad to help you!
[Thursday, July 31, 2008]
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Good Cooling for the Money
First a big caveat: if at all possible an in window unit will always be better than a free-standing portable unit (like this one) because the window unit: will be quieter, will be more efficient, will take up less space. However there are times when a window unit is not an option: certain rental or home owner association situations, odd size windows or windows that will not support an A/C, or no windows (you'll still need some way to vent outdoors). For these situations the AMCOR ALTL 12000E is good choice and a good value.
The 12000E is distinguished from its brother 12000EH (Amcor ALD12000EH 12000-BTU Portable Air Conditioner and Heater) by being $[...] less and NOT having a heating function.
Since portable units are less efficient than window ones, getting more BTUs to overcome this inefficiency is a good idea. Or in other words more BTUs mean cooling more space faster. This 12,000 BTU unit can be had for under $[...] when rebates are in effect, and that is truly a deal. I've seen 10,000 BTU units for over $[...] elsewhere.
Now as to the specifics of the Amcor ALTL 12000E. It is about the same size and weight as most other portable ACs, coming I at about 70 pounds. However it has both a set of 4 caster wheels AND two "dolly" type wheels to move it around. A couple of caveats here: "portable" ACs are really not all that portable. First of all you MUST empty the water bin any time you wish to move it, and second you must disconnect it from its external venting and reconnect it in the new location. The unit comes with a single window venting kit which is not difficult to use, but does secure itself to the proper size using a couple of screws...so you'll be undoing and re-doing these if you want to move it (or buy another window venting kit).
PERFORMANCE...I have this unit in a 200 square foot room with a high ceiling. On a fairly dry, sunny, 90F day, it was able to achieve and maintain low 70s temperatures in about an hour or two.
NOISE....I did not find this unit to be particularly noisier than a window mounted unit. I also noticed that although I could audibly detect when the compressor kicked in (versus just the fan), it was not much of a difference. This is a good sign as it indicates the compressor is fairly quiet. Be aware that like all ACs it does definitely make noise, but if other AC white noise does not bother you, then this should not. The only anomaly is a slight but audible clicking sound every 20-60 seconds. I think this may be water internally dripping into the collection bucket, but am not sure.
SETUP and INSTRUCTIONS.... Setup was relatively straightforward, however the instructions are very poorly written. So I basically would read the instructions, then puzzle it out on the actual unit. Looking at the unit it as all pretty intuitive. The only thing I have not quite figured out is the timer function which is downright arcane...but I was not planning to use this. Another nice feature is that the enclosed window venting kit can accommodate pretty wide windows (or tall if they are casement type). I do not have the exact numbers but the kit consist of three sliding panes which gives good width and flexibility. As with any window venting kit I would advice putting weather stripping along both contact edges to get a better seal.
CUSTOMER SERVICE.... my unit unfortunately came with some shipping damage...the 2 front caster wheels were snapped off. I called the customer service number on a Sunday and they were there! A pleasant woman with a New Jersey accent quickly agreed to ship me out 2 replacement casters right away.
CONCLUSION...if you are in the market for a portable AC, then the AMCOR ALTL 12000E is worth looking at.
[Thursday, July 03, 2008]
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Amcor 12000 btu Portable a/c OK...just lucky
Product came on time, box was undamaged. However when I opend the box it looked like someone had stirred up everything with an egg beater. The a/c was sitting in the middle of a bunch of broken pieces of styrofoam. Fortunately it was not damaged except for a mark on the plastic case and it has been working fine since I put it in. I had to insulate so that it could keep up with the central florida heat. But so far no problems and it makes going out to work in my wood shop a pleasure. It seems like it is a pretty rugged machine. I hope it keeps working...
[Wednesday, October 03, 2007]
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