Alen Portable Air Conditioner - C535
by Alen
List Price:
Our Price: $599.00
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Category: Kitchen
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Product Summary
Manufacturer: AlenBrand: Alen
Model: C535
Product features:
- Quiet, efficient cooling for any room, with no permanent installation
- 1400 watts of cooling power and 12,000 BTU
- Temperature display in F or C
- Washable air filter that collects large dust particles and prevents bacteria build-up
- Casters for easy mobility
Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Alen Portable Air Conditioner - C535
Customer Review: Alen C535: Does What It's Supposed To
Summary: 4 Stars
First off, this is the only stand-alone AC unit I've ever purchased, and it's the only one I've seen in action, as far as I can remember. Of course, I'm sure I've sat in air cooled by such a unit before, but how often do you pay attention to what kind of air conditioner someone else has? Anyway, the point of this is, I will not compare this to other stand-alone AC units, because I can't.
The Good:
- The unit works with my building's terrible electrical system. Before ordering, I was worried about whether or not the C535 would cool my whole apartment, and whether or not my electrical system would be able to handle it. I live in an old studio in New York, with, of course, and old electrical system. I have to turn off the fans and the TV before I can use the stove or the circuit breaks. To my surprise, the C535 doesn't seem to strain my system anymore than my stove does. I can't have everything running at once, but I'm not sitting in the dark.
- The dehumidifier works splendidly. The main reason I got the air conditioner was to remove the stagnant, stale, and humid air. Within about 30 minutes of turning it on, I noticed that my throat felt dry and I needed a glass of water. My apartment is drier, cooler, and even smells better.
- The water tank fills rather quickly, so I have to empty it once a day. This is a good thing because it's just so easy to do. Pull a plastic handle, empty the reservoir, push it back in.
- I feel comfortable having a 1 year warranty from Alen. I haven't had anything go wrong with this unit, but it's nice to know I've got some worry free time.
- It's not very noisy. The unit is less noisy than my fan set to high level. It's definitely noticeable at first, but quickly fades into the background.
- Set up, aside from the horrible window kit (see below), is very easy. Just plug it in and push "Power". That is, of course, once you move this behemoth into place. It's around 90 pounds, so get a friend to help you lift it out of the box. There are built in handles and well oiled wheels to make things easy once the unit's on solid ground.
The OK:
- I don't know how long other units would take to cool my apartment. This unit does it, eventually. I've had it set to 64 degrees for about 20 hours. It's now probably in the low 70s in my apartment. It's certainly better than the humid 90s it would be otherwise though. I don't know if I just have hot air leaking in somewhere, or if the unit just isn't strong enough, or if I'm expecting too much from air conditioners in general. My apartment is less than the advertised maximum square footage, and has low ceilings, by the way.
The bad:
- The window kit simply sucks. Most of the pieces don't lock together in any way, and the one piece that does lock to its mate does it very poorly. I spent half an hour trying to get the window kit to sit in my window properly, but pieces became detached or the whole thing fell out completely every time I turned my back. I ended up just sticking the exhaust hose in my window and duct-taping it in place. Needless to say, this isn't what I would have preferred.
- The exhaust hose stretches to only 5 feet. A lot of people might think that this is more than enough length, but I don't. The reason that I bought this unit instead of a normal window unit is that I live in a basement apartment, and therefore my windows only open up by about 8 inches max. Also, my windows are up by my ceiling. A 5 foot hose means that I have to have the unit directly underneath my window in order to reach it with the hose, and there's no room to move it anywhere. I have had to rearrange everything in my apartment to accomodate it, and now I have a huge eye-sore right next to my bed. It would have been nice to have, say, a 10 foot hose that I could have some room to maneuver. I think that a lot of people who buy portable AC units do so because they don't have standard windows or something similar. As such, I think Alen should really have provided these people with a bit more leeway.
Description of Alen Portable Air Conditioner - C535
The Alen C535 is one of the most powerful portable air conditioners on the market. With 1400 watts of cooling power, this remarkable unit can handle up to 535 square feet of coverage. When measuring the price per square foot of coverage, the C535 offers extraordinary coverage and great value. To help improve your indoor air quality, the Alen C535 also functions as a 135 pint per day dehumidifier with an inner water tank and two options for emptying: a removable water tank or continuous drainage through a traditional water line. Included with the Alen C535 portable air conditioner are both wall and window exhaust kits. These kits allow for flexibility by exhausting the hot air through either a wall or window.Portable Tools
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