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 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).

I read the reviews, good and bad. And bought two units. Couldn't be happier. We live in a rented house. The old central A/C finally died after many years of service, limping along with repeated maintenance over the final two years. The landlord relunctantly replaced the central A/C -- with a used unit that doesn't do the job. 88 degrees F outside, set the central A/C to 72, the house stays around 77-79. Hot. I bought two of these B+D units to make up the difference. One for the living room, one for the back bedroom. After a month, not only are we comfortably cool, but our power bill has dropped as well. Yes, it has. *********** The units arrived in the standard heavy shipping packages that many other reviewers have mentioned. Fortunately the instructions indicating that the unit needed to be kept in an upright position for 24 hours before being turned on were clearly visible. In spite of what some other reviewers indicate: you can't take it on faith that the shipping company kept the unit carefully upright for you during transit. The unit needs to sit for 24 hours before you try it out. This old house has crank windows. The included window mounting unit is useless for old crank windows. I went to the local Lowe's in one case, Home Depot in another and bought "plastic cardboard" to fill the window. I cut the plastic to size to replace the window screens, then traced out and cut a hole in the plastic to the exact size of the oval connecter that comes with the unit. I replaced the window screen(s) with the plastic, and connected the hose, using weather tape around the plastic and around the oval hose connecter. For support on the hose connecter I added a stack of old books to help with the weight of the connecter. We have ledge windows. The books worked perfectly. The entire arrangement is covered by curtains anyway, so it doesn't show. It does the job. And does it well. Then we turned the unit(s) on. The air is ice cold. The rooms are as cold as we want them to be. Plus the units serve to cool other parts of the house as well, not just the rooms they are in. Noise levels are no problem for us -- we use white noise to drown outside noise anyway. I've always slept with a fan. I liked sitting under window A/C units when I was a kid in the 1960s. The noise doesn't bother me -- it's a reminder of comfort and relaxation. I'd compare the noise level to the average motel room A/C unit. Which I like also. Outside of a central A/C unit, show me a unit -- window or portable -- that is truly silent. I've never seen or heard of one that doesn't make noise. The remote works: does what it is supposed to do. I'd prefer the remote's controller screen be backlit for visibility in the dark. That's my only criticism. We'll see if these units stand the test of time. So far: excellent. Five stars. I have no complaints. Frankly I don't understand the negative reviews. Perhaps they didn't take the "leave the unit standing for 24 hours" instruction seriously. Perhaps they thought they were buying a magic unit that doesn't require a heat exhaust pipe. Or that someone had invented a portable A/C unit in this price range that runs in total silence. Here's a hint: there is no such thing. It doesn't exist. In the meantime, this unit is GREAT. It does precisely what it is advertised as doing. Will it last? I think that it will. Time will tell. For now I couldn't be more pleased with what I bought. PS - I'm not rating some other features such as sleep mode/timer because I don't use them.

I had an old LG Portable Air Conditioner I loved for 10 years and it finally died on me during the recent heat wave. My living room is 168 square feet, and my old AC was a 8,000 BTU model (5,000 SACC). I would put that on 60 and my room was ice cold in less than 30 minutes and then I could turn the unit off and relax for a few hours before having to turn back on. I figured since I needed a new A/C I should get a bigger one, and then I could cool down some of my other rooms too. I have two bedrooms off the living room that are 100 sq ft each, so the total room I need to cool is a little under 400 sq ft in total. 14,000 BTUs should be more than good enough to do that I thought. That couldn't be further from the truth. I got this machine hooked up, and I let it sit for 48 hours before turning it on just to make sure everything was fine. Once I turned it on the cold air felt amazing standing in front of the machine, I left the two bedroom doors open and left the room to let it cool down. I keep a temperature gauge in my living room and it said it was 86.9 degrees in the room. I figured in one hour it should be ice cold when I got back. I come into the living room after an hour and it is 83 degrees. I figured that can't be right, and I put my hand in front of the machine and it was still cold air, but no idea where it was going as it wasn't in any of my three rooms. I shut both bedroom doors thinking this must be able to cool off 168 sq ft by itself. I left for another hour only to come back and the living room was 79 degrees now. I checked the outside temperature and it was 76 outside now. After 2 hours of the A/C being on it was still warmer inside than it was outside. I figured since it was cool outside let's switch it to fan mode, that will bring the cold air from outside and at least keep it cool too, but my room went back up to 83 degrees. Somehow made it warmer inside! I then thought well maybe it's because the device is new. Let me keep the A/C on all throughout the night and we'll see what the temperature is in the morning. Woke up this morning and checked the thermostat to see that it was 73 degrees in the living room after having the A/C on all night long. I don't really know what the problem is, but I am going to have to return this or something. I've checked for leaks, I've double checked the window to make sure that's fully sealed, there's nothing I can see causing this. I would not buy this A/C if I was you. It's supposed to do up to 700 sq ft and it can't even do 200.

I got this unit toward the end of last summer (2017) in the PacNW. The last 4 summers have been brutally hot for the area, both in number of truly hot days and max temps we reach. There is no built in A/C in any but the newest apartments, as historically we don't need it up here - you can get through the week or two max of 90+ temps in one summer. I already had a smaller unit for my bedroom, but unfortunately after seeing we were about to go through a week of well over 100 temps, I got this larger unit for my living room/kitchen open area. It did quite well. Cut to 2018, a summer where by August we've already had nearly 30 days of 90+ temps with plenty more on the horizon, and I'm getting the "LT" error quite a bit. The machine stops cooling for 5ish minutes (sounds like it goes into fan mode) and then kicks on again. I do see that the error indicates it needs to defrost itself, but I'm not sure why as the room is plenty warm and I didn't have this issue last summer while running it pretty much non-stop. I did proper maintenance at the end of the summer and it was stored inside my home, no transport or anything that could have damaged it. I'm just concerned this means it won't have good longevity, even though it's not being used constantly like it would in some areas of the country. The area it's being used in is basically "the rest of the house" aside from the bedroom - the living room/kitchen/hallway are all open to one another. It is likely to exceed the square footage that it is recommended for, but I think it does a fine job keeping things reasonably cool in the 90+ temps. It's just this issue with the error message that is causing me concern about its functionality. EDIT: I realized one important thing about the unit and the remote control. If you turn the unit on with the remote, and then turn it off on the console (ie not with the remote) it confuses the machine. You really need to turn it both on and off at the same location - either the console or the remote. It needs to go "full circle" with the same source. I believe I had turned it off with the remote last summer and then not having batteries, turned it on this summer via the main console on the unit itself. For a couple of days after I turned it off and then on again with the remote, it *seemed* like it was doing much better...not "LT" errors and it sounded like it was running smoother. However after those couple of days, we are back to the rough sound (not the "gurgling" that is normal, but a "whooshing" air gust sound) and the LT errors. I am not sure what is going on. It still has 90% efficacy but going off so frequently with the error does impact its ability to keep the room cool over the course of the day. Still a powerful unit and <knock on wood> doing a decent job.

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.

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.

I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, this AC is simply fine. It doesn't excel at its job, nor does it really even meet my expectations, but it's also not disappointing enough to me to ask for a return / replacement. For starters, this thing is LOUD. There is no way I can sleep with it on (I have it in my bedroom), as it sounds like someone is running lawn equipment next to me. I have no way to measure the actual decibels, but it's too much. Also mine kind of grumbles a little bit? Like it has a motor inside that already trying to die, but only sometimes. I do like the look and size. It's unassuming, and despite being heavy it is relatively compact (at least, compared to ones with similar cooling ratings - more on that later). And setup was fairly easy - all I had to do was plug in the unit and go. I also appreciate the packaging - assuming your courier delivered it upright, the box slides right off and you're close to being done. I generally like the remote as well - most stuff is relatively intuitive, but I did have to consult the manual for a few buttons. However, it feels like most of the functions of this unit and remote don't actually do anything... For example, on the product page it lists "Auto Air Swing". I have toggled that on and off, and there is no distinguishable difference in where the air is blowing. Fan speed? Nope, moving through these does nothing on my device. The one saving grace is that On/Off works and the timer does as well. One of the big reasons I purchased this unit was both the manufacturer and the BTU rating. Black+Decker is a brand that I'm familiar with, and while they have been moving towards the "everything is junk and replaceable" model that so many brands are flirting with, I haven't had issues with them... yet. I hope this unit will be reliable, but I'm not impressed so far. The hose accompanying this unit is not well attached to the plastic connector collars, so when the unit is on it blows hot air backwards from the collar back into my room (I wrapped the area in tape, since - and I'm not an expert - hot air is the opposite of cold air, which is what I DO want blowing out of my AC into the room). On top of that, all their advertising uses the outdated and generally inaccurate ASHRAE system, since in that one it's easier to "get bigger number, is good". When you find the more updated DOE rating (8,400 vs 14,000), it falls short of some of the competition at the same price. In fact now that I write it out, I do wish that I had gotten the one from a certain wholesale store for the same price... If you don't have local options, this will do, but it's not a great deal for what you're getting. But it's fine.

I bought this portable air conditioner in July 2024 and use it for three months, then used it again last summer for four months. I've just set it up again to use this summer. I'm not sure why it has gotten so many negative reviews; mine has been operating well. The way these models work, they are not as effective as window units; that goes with the territory and is a built in shortcoming. On the other hand, they don't have to be professionally installed; you just plug them in and push a button. Mine puts out a continuous stream of chilled air that I appreciate on hot days. It isn't perfect. One thing that I find irksome is that the vents point upward rather than straight ahead. So if you're sitting on a couch, the cold air will blow up over you and not on you. I fixed this by attaching a little piece of hard plastic (taped to the top of the unit) which protrudes a few inches and helps to direct the air toward me. Having the vents quitting upward is frankly a stupid design decision. But all in all of the air conditioner itself works great so far.

Me llegó el día de hoy, y apenas empecé a hacer algunas pruebas y todo excelente !! Funciona correctamente, enfría bastante bien, a comparación de otro aire que tenía marca Hisense, es un cambio total, lo tengo en una recamara de 4 x 4 y en cuestión de 20 a 25 mins disminuyo 2 grados la temperatura, está bonito, y funciona perfectamente con Alexa !! Actualizaré más adelante, pero por el momento todo excelente !!

does a great job in either of our two smaller rooms, glad we didn't instal a big system !

Cools down 700.sq ft , if humid out connect water drain hose, great purchase

Es una maravilla. Muy fácil de instalar. Pesado, robusto y muy práctico. Enfría perfectamente un área de 15 m2. Súper eficiente y económico. La verdad estoy maravillado. Tenía mis reservas y mis espectativas bajas pero realmente me sorprendió.

I installed this into a casement window using the suppplied metal installation hardware and a piece of insulating board I got from Home depot, which I cut out with an exacto knife and secured with some some white duct tape. It's not at all a problem to jury rig an installation of such units to vent through casement windows: If I can do it, anyone can. I wasn't sure about the warranty in Canada so I bought the third party warranty. It seems well made, although the filter holding compartments are kind of flimsy (plastic with snapins that look like they could break after a while (one "slide out" was secured with two screws I had to remove before I could get to the filter - a bit of a kludge if you ask mw) and can be hard to open and close for cleaning. However, the filters are relatively coarse wire and don't attract a lot of dirt - I haven't had to clean them yet. Maybe they are more for an industrial environment than a house. It does the job so far, albeit under a light load, but does seem to be very loud. I don't have the experience to offer a comparison with other brands, but I think if I had to do it again I'd try to find one less noisy.