My air conditioner

https://www.plasmacool.com/flare/next

I bought the air conditioner shown in the above link last year. I ordered it in May 2009 and it took forever to arrive. I think it finally came into the store here sometime in July..near the end of it.

It worked great! My apartment was nice and cool and no humidity.

The way it works is that it has some kind of misting feature. There is no pail to empty. The machine is supposed to turn the water it collects into a mist that is shot out of a small tube and outside. Apparently by the time it reaches the outside it's nearly completely evaporated so you don't get that flood of dripping water outside your winder.

I followed the instructions for storage at the end of the season, and left the machine where it was.

When I started it up in April it was making a horrid grinding sound like a dishwasher that hasn't been used in awhile.

Long story short.....

I called their warranty service.

They don't work Saturdays but one was going to come out on the Easter long weekend to have a look at it. He thought it might be the compressor after I described what had been going on.

The night before he was to come, it was so hot, that I left the machine run regardless of the noise. It stopped making that noise and seemed to work ok after that.

When he called I told him and he didn't come check it out.

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago.

I came home to a literal flood. I thought a glass of water had been spilled, but it turned out the machine was leaking badly and had flooded my living room and soaked my 5x8 area rug.

I must have drained about a gallon of water from that machine when I pulled out the drain stop.

It worked again for a couple of days, but then I woke up to another flood!

Fast forward to yesterday

They delivered a new machine to me and took the broken one back.

Now my apartment is nice and cool again.

My recommendation? Don't buy this machine! I don't have high hopes that it will last the season, let alone the one for next year!

I'm so happy with my a/c. I'd never ever had one before, can't stand it really. But my apartment is poorly insulated and sits facing south, gets the east and west sun too and heats up to over 100 F on days when it goes over 80. The cats were really suffering, especially Tolly. (his anti-seizure medicine makes him heat intolerant)

Three years ago I bought this small window unit, it cools and drys my entire apartment! (My apartment is only about 500 sq feet, but still..)

Now I can be out at work during the day and evening and not worry myself sick over possible heat prostration.

Last summer was not very hot, I only used it three times, but the summer before I used it almost every day. This summer has been pretty cold so far too, but humid and I have used it once just to clear the humidity.

The noise of it drives me crazy, but it is for the cats, so I cope.

We never bothered that much with AC. It gets hot here, but we're on a hill and even on the hottest days of the year, there's usually a good breeze blowing through the house with all the windows open. We have an in-ground pool, too, so when it gets bad, we spend afternoons and evenings in the pool.

Several years ago, though, as the cats got older, we noticed that BooBoo, especially, started minding the heat, especially when the high heat and humidity would last for days at a time. And when Banshee got so sick, her vet said that maybe some AC might help her. So we bought a couple of window units and use them now, one in the kitchen and one in the computer room. I don't like them and we will finally be installing central air this fall. We were going to do it several years ago, but I didn't want to. I guess it's time now. And really, it is more for the cats' comfort, although I'm sure DH would enjoy it, too.

Heat doesn't bother me all that much, but the high humidity can be a pain. I'm cold more often than warm. We really enjoy having the windows open during the summer, especially during the night, and with AC, we can't do that.

We have central air, and all three avoid the forced air from the vents. But, the dogs lay on the tile taking all they can get.
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Originally Posted by Winchester

We never bothered that much with AC. It gets hot here, but we're on a hill and even on the hottest days of the year, there's usually a good breeze blowing through the house with all the windows open. We have an in-ground pool, too, so when it gets bad, we spend afternoons and evenings in the pool.

Several years ago, though, as the cats got older, we noticed that BooBoo, especially, started minding the heat, especially when the high heat and humidity would last for days at a time. And when Banshee got so sick, her vet said that maybe some AC might help her. So we bought a couple of window units and use them now, one in the kitchen and one in the computer room. I don't like them and we will finally be installing central air this fall. We were going to do it several years ago, but I didn't want to. I guess it's time now. And really, it is more for the cats' comfort, although I'm sure DH would enjoy it, too.

Heat doesn't bother me all that much, but the high humidity can be a pain. I'm cold more often than warm. We really enjoy having the windows open during the summer, especially during the night, and with AC, we can't do that.

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That's me too. I like the windows open, and even on the hottest days, before I go to bed I turn off the ac and open the windows. The a/c is for the cats, not me.

Originally Posted by otto

That's me too. I like the windows open, and even on the hottest days, before I go to bed I turn off the ac and open the windows. The a/c is for the cats, not me.

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Yep, that's the way it is here.

But for me, it's also a bit of a safety issue. You see, several years ago, there was a gang of kids one summer who went around our area breaking into houses. They got in by pushing the AC window units it and then climbing into the windows. And they did an incredible amount of damage; what they didn't steal, they destroyed. I really worry about the cats when I hear things like that. People can be very cruel to animals. And there are all kinds of idiots in the world. They finally did catch the guys, but it's always stuck in the back of my mind. I think that's the main reason, I finally agreed to installing central air. Oh, I know, if somebody wants in bad enough, they'll find a way regardless.

There really is nothing compared to central air. I am glad tho that they replaced it for you and good luck with the new one.

If the price on that site is what you paid. That's a lot of money for something that does not last.

You are very lucky that they gave you a new one. Three summers ago I bought an air conditioner to replace the working one that I had in my apartment.

The only problem with the old one was that it was too high up on the wall and I couldn't reach the knobs to adjust the temp. So I bought a new one that was supposed to be more efficient and it had a remote control.

Unfortunately it only lasted two years before the fan went on it. Even though it was only two years old the warranty did not cover the fan. I did not buy the service plan (something I never do) so I had to pay for the repair. It ended up costing me half as much as the original purchase price to have it fixed.

The repair man told me that these days everything is made so cheaply that they do not last. He said next time buy the service plan.

Originally Posted by CheshireCat

If the price on that site is what you paid.

That's a lot of money for something that does not last.

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I forget exactly how much I paid. I went to the store here and didn't order online. I think with taxes it was almost $700.00.

And yes, that is a lot of money, which is why I was quite ticked off when it wouldn't work properly when I started up in April, after having only used it for a grand total of less than 2 months because it took so long for them to ship the units to Canada, and because of our crummy summer weather.

This machine is total crap!!! I can say crap here, can't I?

I came home today to another flood in my living room. My floor is soaked and so is my 8 x 5 foot area rug!!!!

The replacement unit they gave me is doing the same thing as the other one did!!!

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

This machine is total crap!!! I can say crap here, can't I?

I came home today to another flood in my living room. My floor is soaked and so is my 8 x 5 foot area rug!!!!

The replacement unit they gave me is doing the same thing as the other one did!!!

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Oh no! What a mess I don't blame you one bit for being furious!

My gosh, how annoying!!!

My area rug is toast. It's been completely soaked 3 times now, and with the heat and humidity in my apartment, it wasn't drying quickly and started to smell mouldy and my whole apartment started to smell like "wet dog". I have to throw it out but it's currently too heavy to lift because it's still wet. Plus I can't have it dripping everywhere as I take it to the garbage out back of the building.

I managed to roll it up and stand it up in a plastic basin. The water that came out was a gross brown colour and filled the basin more than 1/2 full. I put it into a different one while I emptied the first basin. The second basin is about 1/4 full right now.

After it flooded and cleaned up the mess yesterday, I drained the machine again. Managed to get about 4 cups of water out of it. I figured, ok let's try this again.

So I put the A/C back on and in less than 20 minutes there was a flood of water coming out from the machine streaming across my hardwood floor where my rug used to be.

I am sooooo angry!!

I'm glad I didn't buy it! I remember your post from last year, and we were looking into buying a similar one.

We have central AC, but of course, it hardly works in the master bedroom. We bought a window unit for that, which we use only while sleeping (the noise also helps with my insomnia).

I seldom use the central AC, as I'm "cold-blooded". I do, however, leave it on many times in the Summer for the cats while I'm at work. You should see my electric bill! We get many 90+ days here, and I worry about the cats while I'm not there.

Update!

I called Orek, the company I bought the machine from, on June 21st. Of course the manager wouldn't return my phone call. When I gave my name the receptionist came back with all kinds of excuses as to why he couldn't come to the phone.

I asked to speak to the guy in service who was going to come out that one Saturday back in April.

I must say the guy went above and beyond his job description. He made arrangements for a brand new machine in a box to be delivered to me on Saturday,June 26th. The catch? I had to pay 1/2 of the $80 delivery charge for "after hours deliver." I wasn't happy about that, but I'm so stressed out and the frustration of being uncomfortable in my home from the heat and humidity and having to deal with this air conditioner issue was just adding to it all, so I paid up. He also said that he would make sure to test it before it was delivered.

Come Saturday, no A/C! I sat home the entire day wasting a day off of work waiting and waiting.

I called Orek again on Monday the 28th to talk to the manager...surprise surprise, once again he was either on the phone, busy or just not able to come to the phone!

I lost it! I proceeded to give the girl on the phone an ear full. I told her I was recently diagnosed with cancer and having surgery next week and that I don't need this extra stress on top of it because I feel like I'm going to have a melt-down!!!

She called me back about 1 hour later and told me that a new machine would be delivered on Wednesay after 5pm for me. I asked about the delivery charge, and she said I still had to pay it and it was already billed to my card.

Come Wednesay I wasn't taking any chances. I called at 4:30 to make sure a machine was coming out. Of course the manager couldn't talk to me. But whomever answered told me that it was arranged and one would be coming out.

At 5:30pm the phone rang and it was the manager!!!! telling me that the driver was there picking up the machine to bring to me.

My brand new air conditioner arrived in a box, with all new parts and the driver unpacked it for me and took the old one away.

So far so good!! It's running and not leaking!

What absolute disgusting customer service!!! Air conditioners aren't that popular over here but they are becoming slowly. I cannot believe what you have had to put up with, can you not inform someone like trading standards? I find it horrendous that you still have to pay delivery charge. x

Tomorrow I plan on mailing a thank you card to the service tech guy. It wasn't his job to make the arrangements, it should have been the manager.

And I do plan on writing a letter to the Better Business Bureau reporting this shoddy customer service.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the machine they initially delivered to me to replace the original one that I bought, came without a box! The driver just wheeled it in. It was slightly dinged up, the vent on the top that is supposed to sit in 3 different heights, wouldn't sit up properly because the outside plastic was worn so smooth that the vent just fell back down to a nearly flat position. Plus this machine is supposed to have a low, medium, high setting. It only had low and high. Medium never worked.

So that first replacement machine that also leaked was not a new one. It was either one that was in their showroom, or one that someone returned: Probably for the same reason I needed a new machine.

It is a miracle your wood floor is not ruined. I would try to get the price of my rug. I would be after a refund, not a new machine from them

I do whatever possible to raise heck. Go as high up as you can to talk to whoever you can to get this resolved. This is a bunch of crap $700 for an AC and it doesnt work after how many replacements...You need to give more than an earful give a whole headful of how you feel and what you think about them.....That 'service' is a bunch of poop!