The recent midwestern heat wave sealed the deal to buy this unit. Costco.com's price was simply unbeatable anywhere else on the web for such an air conditioner. The closest online price on a comparable 14,000 BTU portable A/C was almost one hundred dollars more, for a lesser-known brand.
The Costco.com site proffered that shipping would take 4 days to our ZIP code. The unit was delivered via UPS on the second day after ordering. The driver left it outside our back door. Ordered on Tuesday morning. Delivered on Thursday morning. In the middle of a heat wave. Imagine that.
The CPN14XC99 is substantially bigger than it looks online, and it is heavy-about 95 pounds in the box and about 83 pounds unboxed. Removing the unit from the box required first opening the top flaps and removing the inner box containing the window panels, hoses, hose adapters and documentation; then cutting on a dotted line around the bottom of the box and then lifting the box off the unit. What is left is the air conditioner itself standing in a little island of cardboard and styrofoam about 4 inches high.
There are plastic packing straps running under the unit inside the box to assist in lifting the unit off the remaining styrofoam and cardboard. However I cut the strap while cutting the box open, rendering the straps useless. I bet that happens to a lot of buyers of this unit. I lifted the unit in a bear hug and my wife kicked away the packaging.
Upon inspection, we found that the remote control was missing... or so we thought. We looked everywhere-it wasn't in the inner box with the panels, adapters and hoses, although the batteries were there with the documentation. It wasn't in some cranny in the box's styrofoam, nor in the outer box. To all appearances, we had no remote control. We called the 800 number on the documentation and spoke to a CSR who informed us that he could not send us a remote, and that the people who could would not be in until Monday morning (this was a Friday evening). So we decided to set it up and use it without the remote. We could always call back on Monday.
The CPN14XC99's casters roll easily over hard wood floor and low-pile carpet. It took about 40 minutes and a little ingenuity to fit, assemble and install the window panels. The instructions are not clear, but it is not difficult to figure out with a little thought. The panels included with the CPN14XC99 were just a tiny bit too wide for our double-hung windows, but reversing the short sliding panel allowed for a snug fit in the window frame while extending just a fraction of an inch over the intake hose adapter vent.
There are two hoses, each with one connection adapter attached at one end. The user has to attach the other connection onto the bare end of each hose. I don't know why. If they are going to attach a connector to one end, why not just attach them to both ends of both hoses and ship them that way? There are no instructions on how to attach the adapters to the hoses, so here's how you do it: simply extend the bare end of the hose and screw the adapter over the corrugations until it is secure (almost all the way). That will save you the time and trouble of trying to push or pull it in like I did.
I attached both hoses to the window panel and the A/C, plugged it into the wall and pressed the Power button on the front of the machine. Nothing. I checked the reset button on the plug. The plug (yes, the plug) beeped to say it had power. Went back to the front panel, pressed the button. Nothing. Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. Upon further examination of the front panel, I noticed that there was a piece of strapping tape over it. I pulled the tape off and the front panel came off in my hand. It was the remote, tucked safely into its compartment in the front of the unit! Under the remote were the real panel buttons. A press of that power button brought everything to life, and after installing the batteries in the remote, it worked just fine also.
The CPN14XC99 is installed upstairs in the southwest corner room of our old farmhouse. This is the room that gets the most sun exposure from late morning through sunset. It is also the office with most of the heat-generating computer gear. Within one-half hour of powering up the unit, the temperature in the room dropped from 87.5° F to a chilly 69.8°. It also seems to be cooling the rest of the upstairs (two other rooms, a hallway and a bathroom).
Three days later, with heat and humidity around the clock (temps well over ninety, with dew points close to eighty degrees leading to heat indexes approaching or even exceeding 110°) the CPN14XC99 has had its hands full keeping up. It has not faltered or hiccuped at all.
It is a little noisy when the compressor kicks in, but no more than any other window or portable A/C. Three fan speeds are remarkably effective at controlling how quickly temperatures change (or are steadily maintained) in the room. Have not tried the dehumidifier function nor the timer function so far. Nor have I tried using it with only the exhaust hose hooked up as some other buyers have advised. One last positive: we can still conveniently open the window when temperatures drop next week.
So those are the pros.
The only con I have to offer is the lack of lighting on the remote. Without memorizing the six buttons, the remote is worse than useless in a dark room.
[Edited, August 08, 2012]: Over one year on and the Haier continues to prove its worth in one of the worst heat waves and drought in Wisconsin history. I cannot speak highly enough of this unit in the unbelievable muggy, long-term heat wave of July, 2012. As of today, the temperature has finally dropped to more "normal" levels with the same predicted for the rest of the week. But all last month was really bad. Practically all of July provided unrelenting misery with its day-and-night combination of heat, humidity and high dew points. Even when the temperatures dropped, the humidity remained so high that minor physical efforts drenched clothing in sweat and smooth surfaces everywhere stuck to flesh like glue.
Through all of this, this year-old A/C unit provided continuous relief and protected our office electronics from the air's heavy moisture content. Inside our 12x13' office (described earlier), the unit's dehumidifier function was amazing. We could easily detect the change in the air within seconds of turning it on. The only issue for us was that the dehumidifier automatically sets the temperature level to 75° F, which was a few degrees too cold, even without desktop fans running. Seriously, in two years I feel as though we have gotten our money's worth out of this thing. I hope it last another ten years, but even if it doesn't, I have no buyers remorse at all.
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Funny thing about this unit. The entire first summer I had it, I was so disappointed at it's lack of cooling capability. It couldn't get my small bedroom more than 2 degrees cooler. The second year I pulled it back out of the garage and was cleaning it up and realized it has a vent on the top of the unit that when you pull it up, allows all of the cool air to come out. Once I did that, it was an unbelievable difference! Although I felt extremely silly for never having realized the vent was there, now that it's been open this summer I can set the unit temp at 65 and curl up on my blankets nice and cool every night. During the day, I open my bedroom door and aim it to blow down the hallway and it keeps my whole upstairs around 73 or so which is reasonable given the size of the floor. Even while cooling the whole upstairs, it still keeps my bedroom at cool 65!The only con I'd mention is that it never shuts off. It has a temp you set it to and once it reaches that temp, it turns to fan mode. But as long as the power is on, it will run 24x7. I do wish it would turn off once reaching the set temp and back on when needed but other than that it works fantastically. It is a bit loud and extremely heavy. I could not possibly carry it upstairs by myself had to get help. So it's 'portable' as long as you are rolling it from room to room on the same floor, I'd say.
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Purchased this unit for three reasons. We live in a remote area which isboth vulnerable to power failures and at the end of the line for repair
if a problem occurs. Our backup generator will run the house and
a portable heater/AC but not the heat pump. The unit is perfect for this
and the dehumidificstion function is a bonus.
Works perfectly so far and the dual hose capability is a great feature.
Honest reviews on Haier 14,000 BTU Commercial Cool Portable Air Conditioner
A Colorado room that faces west gets the summer sun and heats up horribly. This one fits in the vertical casement windows and on a 100° day the temperature in the 10 x 12 reached a low enough point the A/C unit shut off completely. Took about 2 hours to get there from full temperature, so it was a challenge that was not easily met.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Haier 14,000 BTU Commercial Cool Portable Air Conditioner
while it does cool, mine does not get rid of humidity, in fact, when the a/c is running it pumps more humidity (like upwards of 15% higher than in the rest of the house) in rather than removing it. Now I have to run a dehumidifier at the same time just to try and keep the humidity at a bearable level. I would recommend one with the actual bucket you have to empty over this at least that way you know that the water isnt being pumped back into the air.
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