BLACK+DECKER Smart Portable Air Conditioner, 14,000 BTU for Rooms up to 700 Sq. Ft., Smart Portable AC with Follow Me Remote and Window Kit, BPACT14WT, White

I work from home. My home office, with all its computer equipment, heats up considerably. The office is always 15-20° warmer than the outdoor temp. In the summer, 90° outside can easily mean the office is 100-110°. Ouch. Not only is 100° an uncomfortable work environment, but it's dangerously hot for any computer equipment. Small 12x12 former bedroom -- I originally tried a Honeywell 8,000BTU unit. I gave up on that after a month or so and gave that unit away. It could not cool the room, due to the computer equipment, despite the unit running pretty much constantly. I then upgraded and for the past several years I've been running a Wynter 14,000 BTU portable AC. It was loud, but it did the job of cooling the room. The condenser burnt out about 6 months ago, but it would still blow cooler air and suck the hot air out of the room. So I continued to use it until I found a replacement. It never really got "cold" without the condenser functioning (and no one wanted to repair it) but would easily cool the room to a more livable temp - around 80°. However, it ran almost constantly in summer months. So my electric bills easily climbed by $100+ each month. Naturally, I decided to replace the old unit, which was breaking down, and decided on this Black&Decker 14,000BTU unit. The B&D unit EASILY cools the room in a few minutes and keeps it cool all day (cooling, then shutting off, then kicking back on several minutes later). Overall the B&D unit is much quieter than previous units I've owned. Of course there's the sound of the fan/rushing air when it's running, and there's a loud "ca-chunk" when it starts up the condenser (as expected). But, unlike previous units, I can still talk on the phone 5 feet away without having to first shut the unit off. In addition, the hose attachment on the back of the unit is LIGHT YEARS better than any previous unit I've seen. I do not want to have to install dual hoses for venting. So I will only look at/use one hose units. I always had trouble with hoses staying connected to the units. The "unit-to-hose connectors" other manufactures proved were a COMPLETE joke with no actual "locking" ability.. it was like resting a tissue on an outdoor picnic table and not expecting it to blow off. The hose would fall off then the unit would simply be blow hot air into the room rather than venting it out - actually heating the room as opposed to cooling it. I previously had to wrap the vent hose with a considerable amount of duct tape in order to keep it actually attached to the unit. The hose connection on the back of the B&D unit is SO MUCH BETTER and fool-proof. It essentially locks in place and stays put. No more worries about the host falling off. I like this feature a great deal, even though it's such a minor thing. My ONLY real complaint is the remote control. Not in its functionality, but in its design. The LCD screen REALLY needs some sort of illumination. Forget about reading the remote screen in a dimly lit room. I really dislike how dark the screen on the remote control is. But, it's not like I need to read the remote screen repeatedly or even frequently. I can live with it. But if they wanted to improve anything, it would be the illumination of the remote screen. I can't yet speak about longevity of the unit. I tend to use a portable AC every day, 14-16hrs, from about April through to about October.. and I got this B&D unit in Aug of this year. I would expect it to last at least 5 years, if not much longer. My last 14,000BTU unit lasted a decade before it started breaking down. If I factor in the cost over a 10 year lifespan, it's well worth it when considering at a per-year breakdown. I also can't directly speak about electric costs, as I've not had the B&D unit long enough to make an adequate comparison. However, since the B&D unit shuts off for several minutes after cooling, rather than continuously running, I would anticipate energy costs to be much lower than I've previously experienced. But I do consider any energy costs to be a necessary evil to both keep computer equipment at healthy temperatures and to not have to work in a 90° office. Overall, I'm pleased with the purchase. I was strongly looking at this unit for a few weeks weeks, researching, then it hit some sort of sale at Amazon and I purchased it for much a lower price through Amazon than I could have from ANY other retailer. I did shop around several online retailers for this same model and Amazon had the lowest price by literally hundreds of dollars at the time.

I bought this last summer when my AC conked out and I didn't want to immediately shell out the $5K+ it would take to replace it. But it's very hot and humid in my area so some relief was necessary. My brother lives in a house without central AC and uses a combination of window units (which aren't allowed where I live) and a portable unit similar to this one. I looked at number of different models and read a lot of reviews before settling on this one. (And I definitely wanted to order from Amazon because of the fast, free delivery right to my door, and also because of price.) I have to say that I was taken somewhat aback when it arrived in such a big, heavy box. Thank goodness the delivery person got it up the stairs to my door because I had a hard time just dragging it inside. I then let it sit there for a couple of days* while I got my nerve up to unpack it. I shouldn't have worried because the container was designed so the unit could be very easily removed. (But I then had to drag/roll it into the other room. Yes, I'm apparently a weakling.) *My delay was probably a good thing because there was a notation on the box that the unit shouldn't be turned on right away if the box had been turned on its side (the same as with fridges). I had no way to know if it had been turned on its side during shipping, but it was safest to assume it had been. Once in the right location, it was pretty easy to install. Again, I had been expecting something more complicated, but was pleasantly surprised. I didn't need any special tools or jury-rigging. It was literally a matter of minutes to get the vent set up in my window. So, how does it cool? Pretty well. It would probably be great in an enclosed room, but I have it set up in a more open area. It gets the immediate area pretty cool, but, of course, I can feel the temperature rise the further away from it that I walk. I can't fault the unit for that. It cools enough and reduces the humidity to make several small adjacent rooms comfortable/bearable. I left the unit set up in place all all thru the winter--didn't bother to take the vent out of the window--and it was fine even in the cold weather. I've never needed to empty the drip tray, despite the humidity. I don't use the remote since I mostly just set the temp and let it run, so I can't speak to how well it works. (But, eh, a remote's a remote.) When it's getting a workout, it does sometimes shut off because it ices over (there's a warning light that tells you what's happened). No action is required, tho; I just have to wait a few minutes and it restarts on its own when it's ready. It is a bit loud--louder than central AC, but about the same as a window unit. To be honest, I got used to it pretty quickly and don't even notice it anymore. It certainly doesn't bother me when I sleep or anything. I'm very pleased with this unit. It's done a great job, got me out of a bind, and saved me a bundle. It works well enough that I've been in no rush to replace the central AC (although I'll get around to it eventually).

Update: After 14 months it has died. I only got one summer out of it. Warranty is only 12 months so I might be screwed. The compressor turns on but the air is warm. I've tried everything from hard reset to emptying the water to cleaning the air filters. I emailed the B&D service center but no reply yet. $500 to use it for one summer is a tragedy. I cannot recommend this unit to anyone. My AC unit looks brand new, I've barely moved it, and it doesn't even look used. My 15 year old AC unit downstairs still works and it's some no name Chinese brand. I should have gone to Costco and bought any AC unit there. Costco has a no question return policy....... I have a 10-15 year old portable AC unit that was handed down to me and it still works for the most part however it is extremely loud, smells musty even though I have sprayed lots of Armor All AC vent/duct odor neutalizer, almost twice the size of the Black and Decker, and it is not super cold anymore. So I looked to buy a new portable AC unit for my master bedroom and settled on this Black and Decker. I really wanted to get an LG or Asian brand just for reliability but all of them are at least a few hundred more than this Black and Decker. So after doing a lot of research and reading review sites online as well as Amazon, I settled on this one because it was the cheapest I could find for 14K BTU. Pros: - Affordable for one room comfort instead of paying $25K for whole house AC. - Ice cold. Cools down my 365 square foot master bedroom from 80 degrees F to low 70's after about an hour. My upstairs gets warm and collects all the heat in the summer. - Very easy set up. After removing from the box I put together the window contraption(without the foam insulation for the window edges) and in about 10 minutes I was enjoying cold air. - It's much more quiet compared to my old unit that I replaced(my old unit is 10X as loud lol). However the Black and Decker compressor makes a high pitched whining sound that others have mentioned which is annoying at first but I guess I tune it out because like I said it's still 10X quieter than my old one. - It's a lot smaller than my previous AC unit(my other unit is twice the size. - Supposedly it will tell you when you need to drain the condensation tank which is great because my previous unit gave zero indication. - Comes with remote which will come in handy when I need to use it while I sleep. - Draining the tank should be easy because it has handles on the side to grab when picking it up. In comparison, my old unit was twice as big and had no handles to grab onto. This unit comes with a tube that you can use with a drain pan if you like. - Good price compared to other 14K BTU units, all the others are like $650 to $900. Cons: - It seems outdated, maybe this is an old model but for 2024 you would think it would be more high tech. Like with an LCD/LED screen on the actual unit with more intuitive controls, etc. You have to use the cheap remote if you want to have access to more functions ie. Changing the direction of air from left to right, plus there is a function on the remote called MAX function for cooling which is the fastest way to cool your room. I have no idea why they couldn't include both of these functions on the top panel of the AC unit?? It's only accessible using the remote for some reason. - When the compressor is on it makes a really high pitched vibration noise. It was the very first thing I noticed the first time I turned it on. It's not a deal breaker for me because like I said, my previous old AC unit is 10X as loud. - The 2 blue lines for standby mode cannot be turned off. So at night the blue lines illuminate your room and are very annoying. I have to put a book or magazine over it at night. In summary, if you are on a budget and need a portable AC unit that can cool down a 365 square foot room easily then this could be for you. If money is no problem, then you should spend on a better brand like LG or Midea.

Purchased for our workshop since the central unit went out and are around $10 to fix/replace these days. Cools quickly, but it is really loud. Have to turn off or put in sleep mode for phone calls. Not thrilled with the vent tube and window fitting either as it is not a great seal - even after adding additional foam and tape. Seems like there should also be a screen on the exterior vent fitting to keep out insects when the unit is blowing on high. The ability to control from my phone is nice. But I think we will relocate this to the back patio once we can afford to replace the central unit. It should make for a nice upgrade to the swamp cooler.

After doing quite a bit of research, I decided to purchase the Black & Decker 14,000 BUT Portable AC. This unit is fantastic. I bought it for use in my 12' x 14' office. The office has two persons (my wife and I) and many computer systems (7 large servers, a couple of desktop systems, numerous battery backup units, numerous monitors, etc). To make matters worse, the office unfortunately gets full sun for more than 5 hours throughout the day. Though we have a central AC, the thermostat is in the family room ... so either the office is comfortable and the rest of the house if 68 degrees ... or the house is comfortable and the office is 86 degrees. Moreover, cost goes way up if we keep the office cool ... even if we were OK with the rest of the house cold like the north pole. Before this unit ------------------ Before we received this unit, the office would run anywhere from 82 - 86 degrees many times higher during summer. With this unit, we were able to keep the office easily at 72 degrees (much colder if we wanted). Shipping & Packaging ------------------------- Shipping was great. The unit arrived in perfect packaging and was free from any scratches, dents or any other marks. Unpacking was very straight forward. As a reminder, the unit needs to be upright. Per the documentation, they suggest the unit be left upright for at least 6 hours before use ... preferably 24 hours. I decided to wait the 24 hours since I did not know how the unit was handled during the shipping process. Operation ------------ The unit pushes some seriously cold air. Like all AC units, when it starts-up, cold air does not come out immediately. But within 30 seconds of starting, it was blowing freezing cold air. Within 5 minutes the room cooled down and during the day, it maintained the temperature with ease (we set it for 72 degrees). In fact, we did set it down to 65 degrees and it would run until the room reached that temperature ... that was just simply too cold for us. Quiet ------- This unit was much quieter than we expected. Even when on video conference calls using speaker-phone, there was no issue. Others on the call could not tell the unit was running. I am not saying the unit is stealth quiet, but the noise level was surprisingly low ... on-par with the fans from my computer servers. Why Returning? -------------- If the unit was so great, they why would I return it? Well there were two issues with the unit I did not like: 1) Placement and 2) Security Placement ---------------- Based on the layout of our office along with the servers, desks, multiple monitors, etc ... there was no real convenient location to put the unit. So how did we know the unit works well? I temporarily moved desks / computers out of the way so I could mount the hose and pass-through to the window. Originally, I had planned on drilling a hole in the wall (this is a 6" diameter hose!!!) and putting a one-way flange & baffle with a fine screen mesh to ensure no outside critters could get in. I bought this with the intent of installing it somewhat permanently. Even with this in mind, where I could place the unit would not be close enough to the flange for the exhaust hose. I could buy additional hose extensions but because of the diameter of the exhaust hose, I just could not easily run the hose behind desks, etc. Keep in mind the hose does not make 'right-angle' turns either. Also, the exhaust hose is rather sturdy - which is actually a good thing. Security ---------- The window mounting assembly is actually quite easy and seemed to work well for the intended purpose. As a reminder, I only ran the unit for a few days so not sure what the long-term durability of the hose and mounting assembly would be like. In any event, I am very security conscious. I did not feel the window mounting option allowed me to secure the window effectively enough to prevent someone from pushing the baffles in and then getting inside the office and our home. Who is this unit for ? ------------------------ This unit works exceptionally well especially for someone that needs to cool down a reasonably large room quickly and quietly. This probably would work great for 2nd floor (or higher floors) homes where outside access to the window would be limited or non-existent. I have decided to order a Mini Split AC instead. It will allow me the flexibility of placement and will enable me to maintain the security aspect.

We don't have central air, and our home layout is open, so a standard window A/C unit wouldn't work for us. We decided to try this free-standing A/C because of the high BTU's and are glad we did. It works well to cool our whole first floor (surprisingly quickly) and pull the humidity out of the air. We're seeing more and more 90+ degree (99% humidity) weather in our region, so this A/C unit makes summers much more bearable. Setup (and subsequent disassembly and reinstallation) goes fairly quickly, once you have the plastic panel fitted to the width of your window. Getting a snug fit for the plastic panel was the only time-consuming part of the initial installation. We've been placing a plastic tray under the unit to protect our hardwood floors in case the water collection compartment would overflow, but that hasn't been an issue. Somehow the unit has successfully evaporated any condensation it has collected all on its own, so not only have we not had any overflow, but we also haven't had to empty it. (we run a separate dehumidifier unit in the basement and have to empty that bucket daily, so we were expecting something similar with the A/C because it also, as a function of cooling, removes moisture from the air - wish the dehumidifier had whatever evaporation technology this A/C unit has) The only requirements to run this unit are that you have both a window (for ventilation) and an electrical outlet within reach of the device. Overall we're very happy with this portable air conditioner. It works well and seems to be of good quality so we're hoping to have many good years with it (we've used it for 2 summers now). Please note that we use it sparingly though because my sinuses don't tolerate when the air is too dry. As far as energy use, it's on par with the dehumidifier we run in the basement, where if you're using it regularly, you'll definitely see a noticeable increase in your electric bill. Not outrageous, but noticeable.

TLDR: New unit stopped working after 3 months of usage. Customer support difficult to navigate and you don't get a response in a timely manner, but B&D did support their product and send replacement unit which works. Experience detail: Purchased this product a year ago and it worked great for the 3 summer months I needed it. Stored it for the winter and now brought it up to use this summer and it no longer cools....AT ALL. Compressor kicks in but no cool air comes out. Runs for hours but nothing. Currently contacting Black and Decker support to resolve. Will provide updates as they occur. UPDATE 05/17/2024: Have written support@blackanddecker.com for support on May 16th 2024 with serial number, model information and attached purchase receipt requesting support for air conditioner that no longer cools that's not even 1 year old yet. Response from them indicated they were not the correct department to support portable air conditioners and to reach out to service@equitybrands.com instead. Forwarded same information to that group. UPDATE 05/22/2024: No response from service@equitybrands.com yet. Followed up and CC'd original distro in which they confirmed again they are not the correct group to help. I was hoping someone internally at the company could help direct my request. No resolution or response yet. UPDATE 05/29/2024: Still...NO....response! Does this company support their product at all after sale? Sent follow up request and will attempt to call their support number again. UPDATE 06/03/2024: Received response from the support team that I need to file a 'ticket' via link https://bdachelp.zendesk.com/hc/en-us. Submitted ticket with requested model/serial number information and attached copy of purchase receipt. Received email confirmation of ticket being filed and was notified it could be 2-4 days before a response is received. UPDATE 06/08/2024: Warranty support representative emailed requesting a picture of the serial number sticker from the unit as well as pictures of the unit and/or any damage to it. There was no damage to the unit so sent picture of the practically new undamaged unit. UPDATE 06/10/2024: Warranty support representative responded back stating that the unit was out of warranty. I responded again with copy of the purchase invoice as well as copies of all communication with B&D customer support which began prior to the warranty period ending. They concluded that since the warranty period had just ended that they would help correct the situation by sending a replacement unit, however, that replacement unit will NOT come with a warranty period. I agreed to these terms. They submitted instructions to cut off power cord and remove the serial number sticker and then mail those to a specified address (vs having to ship entire unit back). Once those are received they would process the claim to ship a new unit. **Changed star rating from 1-star to 2-star at this point due to B&D supporting their product. Issue still not resolved though** UPDATE 06/12/2024: Shipped requested items to specified address and emailed the confirmed tracking number to the warranty support representative. UPDATE 06/14/2024: Representative confirmed receipt of tracking number and they have processed replacement unit shipment to me. Should be received within 5-7 business days. UPDATE 06/22/2024: No unit or confirmed tracking received yet. Contacted warranty support for update but not response. UPDATE 06/25/2024: Received email from warrant support that they have just NOW shipped the replacement unit and emailed a tracking number to confirm. Estimated delivery 06/28/2024 per UPS tracking. UPDATE 06/28/2024: UPS notification stating they could NOT delivery the replacement unit because when B&D shipped the unit it was missing the apt number. Submitted address correction to UPS and delivery was rescheduled for 06/29/2024. UPDATE 06/29/2024: FINALLY received the replacement AC unit. It works and the compressor is pumping out cool air! Although B&D needs to work on their customer service response times, in the end they did stand behind their product to make things right. ***Updating review from 2-star to 3-star due to issue resolution and I am satisfied. Would have been higher except some of the communication issues and it took 1.5 months to resolve***

Edit: Reviewed June 21st, it is now August 14th and it is still working AMAZINGLY. I found that since it is so humid in the summer in MN that the water accumulation needed to be drained constantly so we have ended up just keeping the drainage hose in the unit and having it empty continuously into a large container that we just dump out daily and sometimes twice daily. I think it could probably break the machine to have too much water accumulate in it, I’m not sure what would happen if it was full and was worried that would happen and it could leak into other parts of the machine so for now in these humid months we are just letting it drain 24/7. This is a great ac unit and dehumidifier, you definitely need it. It is very powerful and has literally saved my spouse and I from having to move in with my mom during the super hot weeks because we can’t afford $5000 for a new ac unit. It is amazing that on 100 degree days my living room is actually COLD! This is a really good AC unit, it works perfectly. I got it for our downstairs (we live in a smallish townhouse) living room/kitchen area. Not sure how many square feet our downstairs area is but I would guess less than 700. We got the 14,000 BTU unit that covers up to 700 sq ft. It runs constantly and yes is loud but I really don't care as long as it works, and it does. We have been keeping it set at 68 degrees and it basically just runs for a while then shuts off for a while and runs again, continuously throughout the day and night to keep it at that temperature. The only window we have in the downstairs of our townhouse is a sliding door, so we had to get a kit for the hose to run out of and for the whole height of the door opening to be covered. It is soooo hot and humid outside, but inside our house it is crisp and cool. We had to get this because our regular AC unit is completely broken and unfixable, its just too old and it quit on us. I bought this on 6/7 and it's now 6/21, I know that's not a super long time to know if it's going to keep working but I absolutely will edit my review if it stops working for any reason or becomes less effective. The remote is nice, I like having that option to change it, but I really don't have to use it much. From 6/7 to 6/21 with it running nonstop, we checked the water drainage compartment and it only had a small amount of water, like basically 1 or 2 shot glasses worth. Not sure how the nonstop use of the unit has effected our energy bill, will have to update on that when I get the bill.