Air conditioners

Comment:

I bought this product based on owning my old Sharp 8000 BTU air conditioner purchased 10 years agao -- that one was excellent, easy to install, cooled well and very quiet. Unfortunately, I can't say the same of this model. Sharp has not kept up the quality.<br /><br />On low, the noise level of the fan and compressor would be quiet (and I am sensitive to sound) except that water gets caught in the tray and makes a racket as the fan splashes it around.(To imagine what it sounds like -- it's like rain constantly hitting a tin roof.) Without that, Consumer Reports is right -- the noise level would definitely be very good on low. I suspect that testers tried it in a non-humid setting where water didn't build up. And if you live in a non-humid setting this unit may work better for you.<br /><br />On medium the noise level is acceptable but on high it's very annoying so I would not recommend it for a bedroom. The good news is that at higher fans speeds the water gets strongly pushed out of the way in the tray as opposed to splashed, so there isn't the constant splashing sound. <br /><br />Secondly, the positioning of this unit is very specific according to Sharp. I suspect Sharp got complaints about dripping units so they tried to design this so the water evaporation is contained within the unit. But according to them the unit must be at a very specific angle to do that -- a 5/16th pitch - and it's hard to make sure of that. I have been adjusting and readjusting it for the past few days to see if that makes a difference in evaporation and noise. Haven't reached a final conclusion yet. <br /><br />This unit will cool the space but, as I learned from owning my old Sharp, it is best if it doesn't have to do that from a very hot starting temperature. If I left it on a higher base temperature in the morning or while I was away, making sure it was a temperature cooler that the exterior temperature, the room was fine when I got back and I could quickly get it cooled off. And I am cooling a non-standard space -- a 400 square foot living room with cathedral ceilings. However, as Patrick from Georgia said -- it does not dehumidify as well as it should if the tray is full of water -- which happens pretty quickly. If I could figure out how to cut a drain hole in the bottom of the unit (which is what the last unit had) I might even keep this.<br /><br />As it stands I think I will be returning it. I hope that Sharp keeps up efforts to redesign this unit -- but they have to figure out some way to get rid of the water and reduce excess noise on high. (It's ironic that so many people say that noise is a major consideration with an air conditioner and yet manufacturers keep on making loud ones.)

How long have you owned it:

A month or less

Bottom Line

No, I would not recommend this to a friend.

(2 of 2 customers found this review helpful)

Comment:

Many people have commented on the noise factor and it bears repeating: the air ducting is all styrofoam and bounces all the fan noise back into the room. It's objectionable close-up and would be a disaster in a bed room. <br /><br />For the cooling, it does a good job out of the box but like all modern air conditioners, it uses the extracted room humidity to cool the outside coil, and this means it quickly stops extracting humidity from the house once the watery tray fills up, and this water pool also adds a terrible splashing noise to the din from the fan. The water noise is worse on lower speeds. The lack of dehumidification means you have to run the unit more to feel cool -and it's very hard to feel cool and be humid anyway. So the energy savings are mooted by miserable lack of comfort. I carefully drilled a hole in mine to let the water drain out and that has made a HUGE difference: this thing is actually very good at extracting moisture IF it is allowed to do that. As a bonus, the splashing noise is gone. After this change, the air is much dryer inside so I need to run the unit less to feel comfy, and thus the energy savings can be much more possible. I do not recommend modifying these units unless you know what you are doing and realize it may void the warranty. <br /><br />Speaking of energy, I run a wattage meter on my unit and find that it consumes about 640 watts on high and that number barely drops at all for medium or low speeds. So if you run it with the AC on, go for full. In fan mode, it draws about 100 watts.

How long have you owned it:

One-to-three months

Bottom Line

Yes, I would recommend this to a friend.

Comment:

I replaced an older model that started to leak with this Sharp model from [@] for our bedroom. This is our second season and it's doing the job wonderfully, especially for the price. Yeah, when it is on auto and energy mode, the noise could awaken one, but that's not a problem with us. If it were, we'd keep in on constant cool.I had a 25,000 BTU Friedrich unit installed through my wall downstairs and it was replaced twice for not maintaining temperature. Never again for that company.

How long have you owned it:

More than six months

Bottom Line

Yes, I would recommend this to a friend.