Portable Air Conditioner

Pretty good .... (2008-08-11)
We decided to buy this before the heat wave hit this year (which it has not for more than 2 days) and so far it has been able to cool an 800 sq foot room about 3 degrees. It is only 80 degrees outside right now and it cooled the room to 78 in about 20 minutes. Mind you this is meant for a 6 sq foot room (we decided to just test it a little).

It does have a strange smell to it...oil maybe? But, I would say it is worth the money for a portable a/c unit. The fan is about as loud as a normal stand alone fan.

I've had a few problems with this air conditioner. (2008-07-02)
I've owned one of the Danby 12,000 BTU air conditioners (model DPAC 12030) for two years now. A unit of this size struggles to cool a 400 sq.ft. room a few degrees (with 30ºC outside, window curtains drawn). I find the best way to use it is to have the air blowing directly toward me.

My main complaints about the unit are:

* After a few months of use the small LED display, which is needed to operate the unit, slowly went dim to the point of not being able to read it. After many phone calls to Danby I was finally able to get the display replaced under warranty by a local electronics service company. But a few months later the display went dim again - as though Danby hadn't bothered to upgrade this obviously faulty component. To their credit, Danby agreed to replace the display one more time out of warranty.

* The air coming out of the unit had a strange smell of oil for the first season. The service company said that sometimes the compressor leaks oil and it was probably the smell of the oil burning off of the compressor housing.

* The unit is not real quiet. For the first year there was a rattling noise that occurred when the compressor kicked in, but this noise seems to have gone now.