Leaks, cracks
Written: Sep 15 '04
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Pros: Portable, easy to install
Cons: Leaks, cracks, bizarre controls, doesn't really work
The Bottom Line: Doesn't work, bizarre controls, cheaply made
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| j_cricket's Full Review: Windchaser PAC8 Portable Air Conditioner |
Windchaser is one of those companies determined to provide low cost alternatives. This is one of those companies that you "get what you pay for."
Everything I have bought from this company is half-baked. Unfortunately, because of their prices, they have flooded the market, from Costco to almost very discount store.
This air-conditioner is no exception.
It is supposed to dehumidify and evaporate the moisture out the heat exhaust pipe. What really happens is that it leaks all over the floor. There is a drainage pipe and a drainage pan -- the connections leak and they are both insufficient at collecting the accumulated residual.
Mind, I live in Hawaii, which is humid. Nothing WindChaser makes works in humid environments -- I picture their factory somewhere in a dry desert somewhere, and they have no real idea of what a humid environment is like.
Further evidence of this is that the unit does not actually let you set the desired humidity. It's like they never heard of hooking the relative humidity instrument to the evaporator circuit as a control mechanism.
Now, there is a very odd "AUTO" feature. In this feature, the unit will "COOL" when the temp is above 77F and "DEHUMIDY" when the temp is between 68F and 77F. That's all. You can't adjust anything. And if this scheme doesn't make logical sense, let me tell you, it is equally ineffective.
So the dehumidification scheme is a joke. What about cooling?
Our average temperature is 84F to 88F. They recommend not using the unit in temps greater than 91F. Sorry, world, that leaves out most of you during the summer.
We installed this in our bedroom. Did it drop the temperature even one degree despite running it for 5 hours? Nope. Our bedroom is maybe somewhat bigger than a tract housing bedroom, but it is still only a bedroom. I wasn't asking to cool the whole house or even the living room...
The heat exhaust tubing is very heat porous. The area that leads from the unit to the exhaust window was quite hot from radiated heat from the plastic exhaust tubing. For some reason, they do not recommend the much cheaper and more effective dryer exhaust tubing. Perhaps it would melt the other plastic parts?
(Don't get me wrong, I'm all for plastic. Anything else rusts in a humid environment. But there's cheap thin plastic and there's thick robust plastic. Which one do you think they use?)
The venting scheme is good. The exhaust vent hooked up to my window easily, although I had to secure it with brackets from my hardware store (since they weren't supplied). Oh yeah, and except for the fact that THE THIN PLASTIC BROKE during installation and the whole thing fell out of my window!
It has a remote control. But the remote control wasn't even worth whacking my cat with. I mean, it has no meaningful controls, except for TEMP up and TEMP down, which I don't tend to change too often on an air conditioner.
Oh yeah. There is a timer. You can have it turn automatically on within the next 12 hours or turn off within the next 12 hours. Not both. Not at a specific time. Not every day -- just within the NEXT 12 hours. C'mon, guys, a real timer only costs 30 cents in China.
This thing went right back to the store I bought it from. I should have known, because it was already a returned unit when we bought it from Costco.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 330
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Epinions.com ID:
j_cricket
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Reviews written: 50
Trusted by: 0 members
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