LG 7,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner, 115V

Our blower just up and quit on the hottest week on record. Our AC repair company didn’t think to overnight the part and we didn’t think to ask either (until we were suffering). Lesson learned, get it overnight. We had bought this “just in case” several months ago. We set it up. Honestly underpowered but a lifesaver while the outdoors was literally 99 degrees!

It took a whole week to get the part. So around day 2 we went out and found a second one locally that was even more powerful. We plugged that in on a different circuit. Same room. Total of about 17K BTU cooled a very large living room with two offices ( three laptops), working from home, down to about 71-79 degrees. Compared to the alternative, the rest of the house was around 88-95 and humid, it was an improvement.

Be realistic about what you’re getting. There’s going to be a heat wave that nothing will fix. But this is still better than no AC. When the AC went back on, it took 8 hours for it to get back to normal. Meanwhile we ran one of the little ACs in the living room to keep cool. We had a bad situation. Our living room is huge, it’s very open with doorways we had to cover over and doors we had to keep closed. We were constantly getting a hot breeze over the top of the curtain we hung over a hallway. It was the best we could do. Computer situation made it impossible to use another room.

Setup was so easy compared to wrestling a heavy air conditioner into a window, then arranging it so it’s angled right, using bits of wood and cardboard, taping it all around, to keep out bugs… etc. Never again.

We have two of these and they’re awesome. We’re going to use one in the kitchen when cooking in the summer heat. No more sweating in the kitchen.

When we ordered it was sooo hot out but once delivered it had cooled down considerably which was strange weather for Vancouver in July! We had to wait for a hot day and it finally happened….so easy to use the remote. It’s very quiet and it cooled us down quickly. This is one of the best things we’ve purchased and it can get as hot outside as it wants and we’ll be comfortable, safe and cool in our home.

I love LG. I think they don’t put out a product unless it is one of the best in its field, and that’s why I decided to trust them again when I needed an indoor air conditioner. The reviews of various companies all had good reviews, as this did, and it is otherwise hard to choose – so I just chose LG and I’m happy, so far, that I did.

I wanted an indoor unit specifically. My concerns with that type of unit were 1) do I have to empty water buildup, 2) efficiency or cooling ability 3) power consumption, specifically, will the cord get hot when on continuously for days…

So all three concerns are satisfied, cord/wall stays cool as does the unit, no water buildup or emptying (on cooling mode) to worry about at all, and unit pumps wonderfully freezing air into the room – quickly cooling a 400 ft space, and even supplying cool dry air to a larger space. I am sufficiently impressed. If it never breaks and is always the same trusty unit that it is now, I would consider it perfect.

The cons? Well, it is certainly louder than my old energy star window unit. I don’t mind white noise at all though for sleeping, and it is not too loud for that. I would like a lower fan speed option, that is quieter, but I doubt other models are any quieter. I believe I read the fan has to run to wick the water buildup away – so a low setting simply might not be possible with an indoor unit of any kind. In any case, it does have a low and high speed.

Suggestion: the remote could use an led display light. You pick it up in the night to turn the fan to low, or turn it off – and you can’t see squat, start guessing, and hitting all the wrong buttons. So, I just had to learn where each button is, no big deal, but light would be improvement.

Overall, it has reliably and impressively cooled my space, sealed off my window perfectly, jumps to life every time I ask it to, and worked perfectly as advertised. Would definitely recommend.

Update after two seasons: still going strong, still cooling beautifully. HOWEVER, unbelievably the unit leaked spots on my carpeted floor, partly ruining that section of carpet and leaving a strange rusty stain. I place a baking sheet under the unit to catch the water, and that has been working through season two. This year, there was only a few drips in the pan which evaporated before they had to be sponged. I guess the previous year was particlularly humid, and it needed sponging every few days. Still, the unit was kept on flat out lowest setting for months and did not fail.

When I called LG about the leak, I stated the manual says it is supposed to turn itself off when reservoir is full (so it doesn’t destroy your carpet right??!!! ) and we wen’t round and round in misunderstanding in what seemed to be different languages. I was directly to a website – unbelievably – which demonstrated how to plug a hose (not supplied) into the unit which leads to a drainhole – yeah!!! As if I live in a warehouse with one of those in the bedroom floor! Un. Believable.

That said, it is still working great, on it’s cake pan, cools perfectly, none of the other 1 star issues I’ve read about thankfully, and I found an added bonus to indoor units in general: doesn’t matter if its 45 degrees outside. If the sun has heated the upstairs all day and you want a blast of cool, you can just blast it on and cool everything down. You can’t do that with a window, or central unit as you can’t run it below 60 or so, or risk damaging it (and a window compressor with sensor won’t even turn on). But this one you can, great stuff. Also, I compared it to central HVAC electric usage, and it seemed to be about even, or even less, so it wasn’t out of control in that regard, though it doesn’t waste energy heating rooms you don’t need.

Update:

We’re just starting our second season using this a/c unit to cool a bedroom. And unfortunately it’s failing. While it blows cold air, it’s not blowing nearly enough anymore, and the room is barely cooling. There don’t appear to be any connection issues or heat leaks elsewhere. It’s just underperforming all of a sudden.

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We bought this unit last summer and have mixed feelings about it. As for the cooling, it works great and does exactly what it’s supposed to. Superior to the other brand we bought units from (another well-known two-letter brand name).

But…

This thing leaks water constantly. And that caused major issues for us last summer, as it flooded a floor that had electric heating panels beneath it. We had to rip out flooring to have it dried properly — an expensive fix due to the unit failing to work as-advertised. As of this year, it’s leaking every single time it runs for more than a few hours, so the “evaporation technology” is complete garbage. It’s not even that humid here.

So, if nothing else, know that you *must* have some sort of drip tray under this. A washing machine tray with 2-in sides worked great. This year we’re trying a smaller 22×22 in mini-fridge tray this year. A large boot tray might also work, but ideally I’d recommend 1.5-2in high sides.

On an unrelated note, we have mostly wood crank casement windows. So the usual solutions of those stick-on zip-up adapters (which can come up when the adhesive warms up) and plywood cut-outs weren’t going to work well. We came up with our own solution that’s working great though, and it’s simple. I’ll post pictures.

In short, you’ll need to either de-screen your current window screen or buy an extra. Then re-screen the frame with 16-guage marine vinyl (you can buy it by the yard here on Amazon). Trace your connector on the vinyl (dry erase marker works well and can be easily removed after). Cut the hole with a box cutter or similar tool. Attach your hose. Then you can seal up around the edges with something like clear gorilla tape. Make sure it gets plenty of grip on the plastic, as that seems to be the weakest contact point for the tape. This method is a bit forgiving, so don’t worry much if the hole is slightly large or if you get a small tear. The tape adheres very well to the vinyl and patches and reinforces to get a good fit.

The pictures show older Andersen crank windows w/ the metal spline (which you can remove by prying up one edge, then sliding a butter knife or something similar along the under edge as you hold the lifted end down to prevent curling. For those, you can either re-spline with new spline or use a rubber mallet to tap the metal one back in place. For “normal” screens, just use normal spline and roll it into the grooves after rolling in the vinyl.