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Customer review from the Amazon Vine Program We moved into an older home that has no air conditioning, high ceilings, no insulation, and louvered windows. This is in the eastern edges of LA county, in a valley, where it gets pretty hot during the summer and occasionally other times of the year (it was 103 yesterday, for instance, a record high).
When we moved here I got a Whynter 14,000 BTU Dual Hose Portable Air Conditioner with Heater (ARC-14SH) for my office, which is at one end of this ranch style home.
I'm a big fan of the Whynter. It worked fine in the heat, never quite cooling the whole room, but certainly giving a blast of cold air where I needed it. The room was at fault, so I don't blame the unit. In fact, later in the summer we moved it in the bedroom to supplement a far too small window unit. The room got downright chilly. It started cooling down and I moved the unit into our babies room, with the heater function keeping the room at a steady temperature throughout the relatively cool winter months. Now that its getting hot again, I was torn about moving the unit out of her room. She needs it cool in hot weather for the sake of all our sanity.
So, I was looking for an addition. The goofiness of our windows and lack of ability to do home repair projects tends to cancel out window units. This one looked like a good choice so I went for it.
Which do I recommend, this Honeywell or the Whynter? Well, both have 14000 BTU cooling, with equivalent cooling power, I look at other issues. And there's no clear stand out. The Honeywell is a bit smaller, and I the vent is more variable. Though, you can't quite enjoy the full force of it hitting you. Both units prefer to vent upwards. The vent on the Whynter just closes off, never getting a horizontal direction worth noting. The Honeywell does allow for more horizontal flow, but when you close the vent to focus it horizontal, it opens a gap in the back of the vent, with about half the power or more still directed upwards.
The big difference is in the air flow in and out. Both units have a standard sized intake and exhaust, but the Honeywell, for some reason, only comes with one hose and a window adapter with one slot. This creates a possible vacuum situation, where air is being sucked in from inside the room and sent outside, which means that air has to come in from somewhere else, a crack in the window or something like that. My office is old enough this isn't an issue, but it might create a problem for other situations, and some people highly recommend always using a dual hose setup. The Honeywell, again, allows for this, but doesn't come with the attachments for it. And the attachments are surprisingly expensive unless you're able and willing to patch together your own. The Whynter comes with two hoses and a window adapter with two slots, and caps in case you're not using one, leaving a one or two hose situation optional.
The window attachment on the Honeywall is fairly shorter. I only have to take off one of my louvered window panels, while the Whynter requires me taking off two. However, the Honeywell adapter uses pegs and slots to tighten in length. Unfortunately for those with nonstandard windows, like me, the pegs don't match up, and I have to jerry rig a way to keep the adapter secure in the window.
The remote works fine, and the display and buttons on the unit are pretty much the same for both units.
Which would I recommend. Well, again, the Honeywell is a bit smaller and that might be an issue. It also seems to handle water a bit better. The Whynter has a water tray and plug that's terribly inconvenient. Too low to put a bowl by, too high to really drain the inside pan. Have to tip it and finagle it. Fortunately, we live in a generally low humidity environment, but on those rainy days in winter I was having to empty the Whynter every couple of days, taking and lifting it into the shower.
But the Whynter does have that heater. So, there's a bit more bang for the price.
I like both and am happy I don't have to pick between them for my own use.
ADDED: Got pretty hot here the other day, had the air conditioner on. Was quite dismayed to see a trail of water coming from this Honeywell unit, leaving a puddle on my hard floor. Have no idea what was happening, as it wasn't leaking from any of the plugs, just coming from the bottom of the unit itself. I live in SoCal, so humidity isn't an issue, and if it's leaking because of that here, then I have to worry about how it will leak in higher humidity areas.
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Two problems.1) the unit had evidently been jarred significantly during shipping, as the metal grate below the top vent had come loose and was rubbing on the main fan, causing it to sound like a blender. I removed the grate entirely and things are much quieter.
2) Be careful and measure your window before committing. The window assembly will only expand so far, and it lacked a good 18 inches of coverage on our window. Luckily I had some leftover stuff from a previously failed air conditioner and was able to hack together something that worked. The little plastic screw thing is really not sufficient the old unit had sturdy wing nuts. Poor design here.
All that being said, the thing seems to be cooling the room well, which is the primary purpose. Too bad they couldn't avoid dropping it off of the loading dock or whatever happened.
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Unit appears well-made compared to the other junk out there. Interface is slick, and remote is somewhat useful. Three problems:Unit is LOUD, even on lowest fan setting. It is a bit louder than most window-mounted units, and is about the same volume as those fan coil units installed in cheap motels. I have to use earplugs, and others have refused to sleep in the room with it on.
Unit works, but no way it is 14k BTUs! Cools more like a 6-8k unit. I have a 480sf bedroom and on a hot day (80's) it takes hours to cool down the room. Granted I have high ceilings though.
Remote control works to turn unit on & off, and to set timer (a neat feature although very coarsely-implemented). I have yet to reliably use it for anything else. Basically in middle of ight when you can't take the noise anymore you can shut it off without getting out of bed.
Honest reviews on Honeywell MM14CCS 14,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner with Remote
In preparation for forcasted hot weather, I purchased the portable AC to cool our living room where the family gathers in the evenings. The instructions for set up were easy to follow, and the actual set up took less than 15 minutes. When my husband plugged the unit in and turned it on, cool air came out for maybe 5 seconds and then the compressor shut down with a resounding thud. Now the unit blows cool air for 15 20 seconds every 5 minutes or so.Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Honeywell MM14CCS 14,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner with Remote
I bought this AC mostly because I am tired of struggling to install a window AC in one of my bedroom's high up casement windows that is 4"8" from the floor. I do not miss taking out the window, climbing a ladder outside, fooling with plywood and hefting it up, etc..I bought this unit with 14,000 BTUs so I could roll it into larger rooms if we wanted to. But it primarily replaces a 5200 BTU unit for a bedroom.
My impression after 3 uses on hot/humid days:
it installs effortlessly. FYI, you have to screw the hose on at both ends or it pulls right out. Once you do this, the window kit fits easily in a rectangle casement window (slides left or right to open) or a standard up-down open window. Awesome.
the exhaust hose is only good for about 34" extension. So if the unit is on the floor next to a window that starts about 3 feet off the flooryou are all set. BUT if the window is high up like my casement window (4'8" from floor to bottom of frame) plan on having something to raise this unit upin my case a small table. I wasn't pleased about this as it looks odd and it makes it a little less portable as you need 2 people to lift or lowerthe AC is kind of awkward to grip alone, I tried. I don't want to drop a $500+ item. Its weighs about 70 lbs too.
It cools well. NOT super icy cold like the 5200 BTU window unit. But enough. Not thrilled but it's okay.
And make sure you vent this unit properly...i.e. make sure the air exhaust is completely clear of obstructions and it is not venting into the plastic window frame (I have replacement windows). It actually makes the frame quite hot. And the machine does not cool as well. There was a notable difference when I moved the exhaust more towards the center of the casement window. Keep it away from the edge.
Noise of operation is about average, just the same as a window unit more or less. It quiets if you turn the fan speed down but so far I have only run it on high speed
-No customer service. Not so far. I wrote to Honeywell asking about how I could get a couple extra of the plastic screws that come with the window kit because its a matter of time before I lose one. Their response was to contact:
AirTek International Corporation Limited
(JMATEK INT'L GROUP OF COMPANIES)
Suite 806-807A, West Wing,
Tsim Sha Tsui Centre,
66 Mody Road,
Tsim Sha Tsui East,
Kowloon, Hong Kong
Tel: +852-2559-5522
Fax: +852-2559-0699
Email: info@honeywellaircoolers.com
So I emailed. Three weeks ago. Nothing yet. Not counting on hearing from Hong Kong. I wasn't pleased Honeywell's US branch doesn't step up here.
Overallwe will get by with this unit. I would have considered another US based brand if I knew the customer service was not US based and they fail to respond to email.
The cooling is ok, I expected better for 14000 BTUs but honesty, my old Kenmore window unit from Sears got it colder in less time. The relief of not having to struggle with installation is my prime reason for keeping this unit. Otherwise, not sure I would go for it.
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