Frigidaire FRA12EPT1 12,000 BTU Portable Heat/Cool Air Conditioner Reviews

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Be very careful not to tilt unit when transporting it if tilted it MUST sit for at least two hours before starting it. This unit has worked well continuously for two weeks. I put it on a sill-height table so that the water would drain well and the exhaust tube would be straight. My only complaints are:

1. The fan never goes off no matter what setting it is on (the compressor does go off, but not the fan).

2. When cooling, a lot of heat is generated in the exhaust hose an insulation sleeve would be nice.

3. The drain tube is way too short.

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The machine was fairly easy to set up, and it does cool the room reasonably well, but I was expecting a heat pump....not so----according to the documentation received with the machine, there is an auxiliary heater, NOT a heat pump. We will see how well this heater works this winter. One other thing....the fan runs continuously, it does not shut off when the compressor kicks off, and it is fairly noisy.

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This unit has kept my kitchen down to 77 with its thermostat set on 72 during the summer's first 90-plus days here. Not bad, since I knew I was buying a portable (and therefore less efficient) A/C instead of a window or through-the-wall unit.

The salesman told me it had an internal bucket to collect the water, and that it would shut off automatically when full. He said it didn't have automatic evaporation of the moisture created by cooling and dehumidifying, which is common in modern portable A/C units, but I was fine with having an internal bucket and automatic shutoff. Just like the various dehumidifiers I've owned. However, after I'd paid a separate contractor to bring this very heavy unit to my home (the appliance store considered it "cash and carry" and therefore ineligible for their usual delivery service), I found out that it has no internal bucket. The owner has to attach a garden hose and use an external bucket, which will merrily overflow if the unit is left running with no one at home to empty that bucket as needed. Since the drain hose plug is lower than most windows, putting the hose out the window and letting it drain outside isn't practical unless the A/C unit can be raised off the floor.

The air exhaust hose does just love to come loose, and duct tape is the answer. Also, you'll need to either take the whole hose assembly out of the window so you can shut the window against heavy, wind-driven rain; or you'll need to rig some sort of outside cover for the hose, because that hose leads down into the machine and it's just begging to funnel rain inside.

Overall this unit meets my needs, but it wouldn't if I had hoped to leave it running while away from home for long periods of time. I have no idea why Frigidaire thinks an external drip bucket is a great idea, or why they can't come up with a better air exhaust hose design. From a major brand name, in an expensive machine, I expected better.

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My ancient apartment has almost no ventilation throughout and is always ten to fifteen degrees hotter than outside. Those crazy summer heatwaves sometimes get my room into the high 90s and as high as 105-110! It is unbearable. I could no longer take the sleepless nights in the heat and picked up one of these units. I had to "ghetto rig" the exhaust hose up to the crank out style window using a ton of cardboard and duct tape. I have it sitting on a metal computer desk that is level with the window sill.

Pros:

-Will drop the temp of the room around ten-fifteen degrees and keep it there. While not as great a window mounted unit, I'll gladly take 85 degrees over 95. The best performance I've seen so far is walking into my room @ 85 degrees and eventually getting it down to 70 (took 6 hours of continuous use).

-Remote.

-Timer so you don't end up running it all night.

-Not as loud as I was expecting it.

Cons:

-Produces a ton of water via the drain. It took no time to fill up a five gallon bucket.

-Air blows straight up. I had to rig a piece of cardboard to deflect the cold air into the rest of the room instead of straight into the ceiling and back towards the hot exhaust tube.

-The exhaust hose always comes loose from the unit

-Exhaust hose is not as flexible as I was hoping.

A quick tip I'd like to provide is sealing up all the doors and windows leading into the room you have the unit working in. The edges around my door have huge gaps that let in tons of hot air from the rest of the apartment. Some foam sealant tape and a door sweep helped with those problems and contribute to keeping the room cool.

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The unit cools well and is reasonably quiet, but it leaks onto the floor (drain hose is hooked-up and functioning). The exhaust hose flange mounting is marginal as one locking tab has failed. Not the end of the world, but I've enough things to fix.