Select Costco Wholesale Stores have for its
Members: Midea 12,000 BTU DUO Portable Air Conditioner with MShield (MAP14AS1TWT-C) for
$299.97. Valid for
in-warehouse purchase only. You may check the warehouse section of the
Costco App and search for local inventory using item number
2575354.
Thanks to community member
ShrewdSoda611 for sharing this deal.
Note: This is a clearance item; availability will be limited.
Features:
- 12,000 BTU DOE: 3-in-1 Comfort Cools, Ventilates, and Dehumidifies
- Inverter Technology Delivers up to 40% Energy Savings Compared to US Federal Standard
- Matter Certified Unit with App & Voice Control: Control From Anywhere with the Smart Home App
- 2X Stronger, 2X Faster vs Single Hose Portable ACs, with 25ft Long Distance Airflow
- MShield Air Ionizer Technology: Reduces Odors, Smoke, and Gases in the Air
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This is a great unit for those who are curious. Also a great price for a dual hose, inverter, heat pump unit. I didn't one of these to the lobby of our business to help in the summer and winter from being so cold in there, and it runs like a top. Is also very quiet compared to other portable units.
Or they're complaining about stuff like water drainage issues, which is due to the humidity of the places they chose to live in.
Or "I Had to hire a contractor to carry it up the stairs and install it." That's not Midea or Costco's fault.
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Any chance somebody has a recommendation on a unit that does include a heat pump? I didn't even know that existed until reading this thread.
It's amazing how new models (of everything) these days are typically markedly worse than the old models. ...Reminds me of how we had to get rid of my grandpa's still-perfectly-working gas powered freezer (from probably the 1930's, no moving parts in cooling process) when he passed around 2000. Turns out, the gas company wanted it for their lobby display.
Manufacturers used to make them "to last". Now they very purposely make them "to break". That became the new business model for appliances. They even admitted it to me when I visited the GE plant in Bloomington IN that made fridges. (closed now, moved to Mexico)
This is a great unit for those who are curious. Also a great price for a dual hose, inverter, heat pump unit. I didn't one of these to the lobby of our business to help in the summer and winter from being so cold in there, and it runs like a top. Is also very quiet compared to other portable units.
This comparing to the windows u shared AC?? Parent's place doesn't have the up and down window.. will this work??
These are suppose to drip the condensed water from the cold coil, onto the hot coil, and blow it outside; while increasing efficiency, through evaporative cooling of the hot coil. The indoor air circulation should be sealed from the outside, where the condensed humidity is dumped.
Maybe, the hot coil is not getting hot enough to evaporate the condensed water (on low?), or the outdoor air is too humid to take the water out as evaporation.
Curious to know, what the conditions are like at your location.
- Works decent for a 650 sq foot adu.
- Dual hose, but still creates negative pressure in the home, drawling in warm air
- Heat pump - tried this one year, but noticed when the heat pump (and AC) are not running, there is no stopping of the cold or hot air coming into the home through the hose/unit, requiring it to be running all the time to prevent cold/warm air leaking in.
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I'm sitting next to one of these right now. It's an OK unit. The cooling performance is good but you probably have to deal with some quirks that may or may not be similar on other portable AC units. First, without attaching the drain hose you will not remove any moisture from the room. It will actually increase the relative humidity since the air will be cooler with the same amount of moisture in the air. Second, my unit (and others report the same) has to be tipped backwards a little to dispense any water from the drain hose. This is nuts! Did a monkey design this thing? It works once you find a way to prop the front wheels up a little. Then you will need a place for the water to go; I use a small bucket with a mini condensate pump that ejects the water through a hole I drilled into the window mount. Finally, the "dehumidify" function seems completely pointless. "Dehumidify" seems to be a marketing gimmick that just means full speed. It doesn't seem to dehumidify anything without the drain hose attached. With a drain hose I don't see it as any different than full speed.
Midea really didn't improve on the portable design?
These are suppose to drip the condensed water from the cold coil, onto the hot coil, and blow it outside; while increasing efficiency, through evaporative cooling of the hot coil. The indoor air circulation should be sealed from the outside, where the condensed humidity is dumped.
Maybe, the hot coil is not getting hot enough to evaporate the condensed water (on low?), or the outdoor air is too humid to take the water out as evaporation.
Curious to know, what the conditions are like at your location.
It seems to dry the air when on COOL setting (due to the water draining in the bucket) but it would seem better to have a recirculate mode so it's not drawing in hot, humid air all the time! Why not recirculate the cool, dry air?
I ported the exhaust out into the garage as the window in my office is too high and has a deep counter under it. I also put a louvered vent over the exhaust tube that directs the hot air DOWN and away so that the intake tube doesn't just suck back in hot exhaust air. Smart or not needed?
It seems to dry the air when on COOL setting (due to the water draining in the bucket) but it would seem better to have a recirculate mode so it's not drawing in hot, humid air all the time! Why not recirculate the cool, dry air?
I ported the exhaust out into the garage as the window in my office is too high and has a deep counter under it. I also put a louvered vent over the exhaust tube that directs the hot air DOWN and away so that the intake tube doesn't just suck back in hot exhaust air. Smart or not needed?
With respect to your other question about venting:
It seems to dry the air when on COOL setting (due to the water draining in the bucket) but it would seem better to have a recirculate mode so it's not drawing in hot, humid air all the time! Why not recirculate the cool, dry air?
I ported the exhaust out into the garage as the window in my office is too high and has a deep counter under it. I also put a louvered vent over the exhaust tube that directs the hot air DOWN and away so that the intake tube doesn't just suck back in hot exhaust air. Smart or not needed?
With respect to your dual hose question:
It's too bad these things don't have a recirculation mode so I'm not having to cool down hot in-take air...like my car, just keep the already cool air cool...
With standard window units the "hot" side (ie, where the air con moves the heat it takes out of the air conditioned space) goes to the part sticking outside of the window. So basically it can air cool without heating up your space.
With portable units like this, that hot side is INSIDE your house, inside the portable unit. So the heat that gets taken out to make your air cold(er) needs to go somewhere and more specifically somewhere NOT in the room you are trying to cool.
With a single hose, it would take your cool air, run it over the condenser coils to cool them down which makes that cool air hot, then shoots the hot air outside.
With a dual hose, it takes outside air, runs it over the hot condenser coils (they're still much hotter than outside air, around 140 degrees), then shoots the now-even-hotter air back outside.
The difference is you're not taking your conditioned air to get rid of the heat because you have that second hose giving you a different source of air to heat up and exhaust -- you're using outside air to do it.
If I understand your question you might think that the outside air it's taking in is what gets cooled for your conditioned space, but it's not what is happening - basically the outside air forms a complete circuit (ideally) where all it does is come in, pick up some heat from the condenser, then leaves. And the savings come from not using cold, air conditioned air to do that.
In your specific case venting into another enclosed space, I'm not entirely sure how well it will work. But you will notice that space getting warmer as heat gets pulled out of your cold space and moved into that garage space you're venting into.
There's also a lot more complexity beyond the basics of how an air conditioner works, as someone mentions depending on how the air flows you can create pressure differentials which can cause your room to suck in outside air to equalize the pressures. Dual hoses do much better with this respect but per someone above's post the effect is rarely perfect and you might still create negative pressure in the room which causes more hot air to come in from outside negating some of the effect of the AC. ALL that said... you'd still probably notice a significant benefit just less efficiency and speed in cooling your space. And the room you are ventilating into gets hotter you'd notice a similar negative impact on efficiency. I think this would only start being all that noticeable if your garage space was not well ventilated and you felt it getting NOTICEABLY hotter than before turning on the AC.
I just installed one of these in my small office room. The manual is terrible in certain aspects, namely the drain outlets. There are two -- one up high and one down at the bottom (both on the back). Which one is the continuous drain where you have the tube always inserted and draining in a bucket? (or I plan to retrofit some PVC pipe out to the outside). I have it in the upper one. Do I need it at all or should the AC unit be evaporating the water with the drain plug closed? When would I use the bottom drain plug?
It seems to dry the air when on COOL setting (due to the water draining in the bucket) but it would seem better to have a recirculate mode so it's not drawing in hot, humid air all the time! Why not recirculate the cool, dry air?
I ported the exhaust out into the garage as the window in my office is too high and has a deep counter under it. I also put a louvered vent over the exhaust tube that directs the hot air DOWN and away so that the intake tube doesn't just suck back in hot exhaust air. Smart or not needed?
I've had a few different AC units like this and when in AC mode I haven't ever needed to drain the water, as it's easily evaporated and removed with the vented heated air. My guess is these are more important if you're using just the dehumidifier setting as it might struggle to better remove the moisture.
With respect to your other question about venting:
Quote from Hat-Trick
I just installed one of these in my small office room. The manual is terrible in certain aspects, namely the drain outlets. There are two -- one up high and one down at the bottom (both on the back). Which one is the continuous drain where you have the tube always inserted and draining in a bucket? (or I plan to retrofit some PVC pipe out to the outside). I have it in the upper one. Do I need it at all or should the AC unit be evaporating the water with the drain plug closed? When would I use the bottom drain plug?
It seems to dry the air when on COOL setting (due to the water draining in the bucket) but it would seem better to have a recirculate mode so it's not drawing in hot, humid air all the time! Why not recirculate the cool, dry air?
I ported the exhaust out into the garage as the window in my office is too high and has a deep counter under it. I also put a louvered vent over the exhaust tube that directs the hot air DOWN and away so that the intake tube doesn't just suck back in hot exhaust air. Smart or not needed?
In my experience, if in cooling mode you probably won't need to drain the unit itself. I've had a few different models like this and haven't ever had to manually do that. Using just the dehumidifier setting (something I've never personally used) you probably would have to drain it as it might not be able to remove all the condensation just through the exhaust.
With respect to your dual hose question:
Quote :
My question is regarding the dual hose. It seems the round part is the hot exhaust air and the other part is the intake? If so, it would seem the intake is just sucking the hot exhaust air back in! I'm going to buy some exhaust vents to mount on the garage side of the wall that will vent the hot exhaust air DOWN, and then the intake air part will be just ambient garage temp air.
It's too bad these things don't have a recirculation mode so I'm not having to cool down hot in-take air...like my car, just keep the already cool air cool...
As I understand it (and I'm pretty sure this is right) you aren't cooling down that intake air. You're cooling down the air already in your air conditioned space.
With standard window units the "hot" side (ie, where the air con moves the heat it takes out of the air conditioned space) goes to the part sticking outside of the window. So basically it can air cool without heating up your space.
With portable units like this, that hot side is INSIDE your house, inside the portable unit. So the heat that gets taken out to make your air cold(er) needs to go somewhere and more specifically somewhere NOT in the room you are trying to cool.
With a single hose, it would take your cool air, run it over the condenser coils to cool them down which makes that cool air hot, then shoots the hot air outside.
With a dual hose, it takes outside air, runs it over the hot condenser coils (they're still much hotter than outside air, around 140 degrees), then shoots the now-even-hotter air back outside.
The difference is you're not taking your conditioned air to get rid of the heat because you have that second hose giving you a different source of air to heat up and exhaust -- you're using outside air to do it.
If I understand your question you might think that the outside air it's taking in is what gets cooled for your conditioned space, but it's not what is happening - basically the outside air forms a complete circuit (ideally) where all it does is come in, pick up some heat from the condenser, then leaves. And the savings come from not using cold, air conditioned air to do that.
In your specific case venting into another enclosed space, I'm not entirely sure how well it will work. But you will notice that space getting warmer as heat gets pulled out of your cold space and moved into that garage space you're venting into.
There's also a lot more complexity beyond the basics of how an air conditioner works, as someone mentions depending on how the air flows you can create pressure differentials which can cause your room to suck in outside air to equalize the pressures. Dual hoses do much better with this respect but per someone above's post the effect is rarely perfect and you might still create negative pressure in the room which causes more hot air to come in from outside negating some of the effect of the AC. ALL that said... you'd still probably notice a significant benefit just less efficiency and speed in cooling your space. And the room you are ventilating into gets hotter you'd notice a similar negative impact on efficiency. I think this would only start being all that noticeable if your garage space was not well ventilated and you felt it getting NOTICEABLY hotter than before turning on the AC.
As you can tell, I'm no A/C expert (not really even moderately educated) so it's interesting and nice to know how it works. I do typically keep the garage door open (to some extent) during the day to keep the garage cool(er), so that should help keep the garage from getting too hot from the exhaust air.
So far it's working pretty well. I might try putting the cap back on the drain output and see if it evaporates on it's own so I don't have to babysit the bucket!
Thanks again!
As you can tell, I'm no A/C expert (not really even moderately educated) so it's interesting and nice to know how it works. I do typically keep the garage door open (to some extent) during the day to keep the garage cool(er), so that should help keep the garage from getting too hot from the exhaust air.
So far it's working pretty well. I might try putting the cap back on the drain output and see if it evaporates on it's own so I don't have to babysit the bucket!
Thanks again!
BTW, the production of condensate is an unavoidable consequence of Central HVAC systems, window AC units, portable AC units, and the refrigeration cycle in general. As warm air is cooled, its capacity to hold water vapor is reduced, and so that vapor condenses into liquid form and needs to be dealt with (some combination of evaporation and expulsion with the exhaust air, or drainage offsite). This is a big reason why "air conditioning" is an apt term, because it both cools AND dehumidifies the air. This has the benefit of making the air feel less "muggy/damp" and also aids in cooling you off faster. Evaporative cooling of moisture/perspiration on your skin is faster with lower relative humidity.
All else being equal/constant, the amount of water produced is mainly going to depend on 1) The temperature gradient you are trying to maintain & 2) The relative humidity of the untreated air.
So if you're trying to keep a room at 75 when it would otherwise be at 95, it's going to produce a lot more water compared to cooling it just a few degrees. This can vary with weather conditions and the time of day.
Now that is some great information and I appreciate the time you took to spell that out! Repped!
As you can tell, I'm no A/C expert (not really even moderately educated) so it's interesting and nice to know how it works. I do typically keep the garage door open (to some extent) during the day to keep the garage cool(er), so that should help keep the garage from getting too hot from the exhaust air.
So far it's working pretty well. I might try putting the cap back on the drain output and see if it evaporates on it's own so I don't have to babysit the bucket!
Thanks again!
According to the manual on Costco for this product, the upper drain outlet is used for "Dry" mode. And the lower drain outlet is used for "Cool" mode and meant for intermittent emptying. But you probably can use the top drain while in Cool mode to drain into a bucket without issue. I used to have a similar Midea portable AC unit and pretty sure I did this. It worked well for me, but was fairly loud (no inverter either) and emptying a few times a day.
BTW, the production of condensate is an unavoidable consequence of Central HVAC systems, window AC units, portable AC units, and the refrigeration cycle in general. As warm air is cooled, its capacity to hold water vapor is reduced, and so that vapor condenses into liquid form and needs to be dealt with (some combination of evaporation and expulsion with the exhaust air, or drainage offsite). This is a big reason why "air conditioning" is an apt term, because it both cools AND dehumidifies the air. This has the benefit of making the air feel less "muggy/damp" and also aids in cooling you off faster. Evaporative cooling of moisture/perspiration on your skin is faster with lower relative humidity.
All else being equal/constant, the amount of water produced is mainly going to depend on 1) The temperature gradient you are trying to maintain & 2) The relative humidity of the untreated air.
So if you're trying to keep a room at 75 when it would otherwise be at 95, it's going to produce a lot more water compared to cooling it just a few degrees. This can vary with weather conditions and the time of day.
However, if your area has even moderate humidity when it's hot, you probably will have enough condensation you need to manually empty the tank. And from this reply it sounds like that's probably the case!
It's still going to be able to evaporate a lot of that condensation out with the outgoing hot air, so it might not be annoyingly frequent that you have to dump a bucket of water but it'd really depend on how humid it gets.
Also w.r.t. your garage, I think if you leave the garage door open you'll get enough air flow that it might feel a bit warmer but should be ventilated enough that it doesn't cause a problem or really significant efficiency drop. If it does start to feel really warm, maybe just set up a box fan to circulate some air from outside into the unconditioned garage space you're venting into (but I don't think you'll really need to do this and wouldn't bother unless you really noticed your garage space getting noticeably hotter).
If you're ever bored, this is a pretty nerdy video about how AC works and why portable units are less efficient [youtube.com]. REALLY NERDY but presented in about as interesting a way as possible lol. He's also got a pretty good one about ... the microwave popcorn button but I'm not sure I'm really selling this well hahaha
Thanks for the info and repped! I can say with the hose connected to the top drain, it is draining. About a 1/4 bucket a day so I'll stick with that as the upper plug uses gravity to drain whereas that bottom plug is more ground level and may not drain on it's own.
txdf brings up a good point I overlooked: it REALLY depends on where you live! By me, it gets HOT but almost never HUMID with that heat. So if you're in a normal humidity or low-humidity location you won't need to worry about this most of the time (if ever). I'm in the PNW which isn't a desert but is still dry enough I've never had excess condensation. (He's absolutely right that it's still producing it, but it's able to get rid of it fast enough that it doesn't collect.) The nice thing about window units is they can just drip the water out, but with a portable everything's inside your house you... probably don't want that to happen haha
However, if your area has even moderate humidity when it's hot, you probably will have enough condensation you need to manually empty the tank. And from this reply it sounds like that's probably the case!
It's still going to be able to evaporate a lot of that condensation out with the outgoing hot air, so it might not be annoyingly frequent that you have to dump a bucket of water but it'd really depend on how humid it gets.
Also w.r.t. your garage, I think if you leave the garage door open you'll get enough air flow that it might feel a bit warmer but should be ventilated enough that it doesn't cause a problem or really significant efficiency drop. If it does start to feel really warm, maybe just set up a box fan to circulate some air from outside into the unconditioned garage space you're venting into (but I don't think you'll really need to do this and wouldn't bother unless you really noticed your garage space getting noticeably hotter).
If you're ever bored, this is a pretty nerdy video about how AC works and why portable units are less efficient [youtube.com]. REALLY NERDY but presented in about as interesting a way as possible lol. He's also got a pretty good one about ... the microwave popcorn button but I'm not sure I'm really selling this well hahaha
UPDATE: Thanks for the link to the video. I watched it and while a lot of it goes over my head, I get it. Given that, it seems this two-hose A/C with inverter is about as good as they get. For $300, it'll suffice for the rest of the hot season. Thanks!
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Window unit are substantially quieter and efficient.
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