Two years ago I bought a Soleus MAC-12K 12,000 BTU/hr portable air conditioner. It also had an electric heating element. The first year it worked fine. This past winter the heater wouldn’t work; perhaps the heating element burned out, or a connection failed. I didn’t care too much because I have another oil-filled electric heater. But last month when I tried to use the air conditioner, it was totally non-functional. The LCD display doesn’t show anything, and it is completely non-responsive to the buttons and remote control. I suspect that the electronic control circuitry failed, as the case still gets warm near the controls, suggesting that a transformer is still supplying power to the control circuitry.
The manufacturers of these things brag on the packaging about the products being “electronic” air conditioners, but as far as I can see this is NOT a particularly good thing. If it had simple electro-mechanical controls, any HVAC service person should be able to fix it, but if the electronic controls fail there appears to be no option but factory-authorized service. I called Soleus, and they don’t have factory-authorized service in northern California, so it would have to be shipped to their offices in southern CA. The cost would be around $75 each way for shipping, plus the cost of the out-of-warranty service.
I haven’t decided whether to do that, or to try to “hot-wire” it, bypassing the electronic controls.
In the mean time, the heat and humidity have made it difficult for me to get a good night’s sleep, so yesterday I got a new Amana AP125HD portable air conditioner. It is also a 12,000 BTU/hr unit, and has the electric heater. Like the Soleus, it has electronic controls and an LCD remote, though the controls are less fancy.
I had hoped that since Amana is a well-known brand name belonging to Maytag, that they might have better service arrangements than Soleus. However, it appears that Maytag simply licenses out the Amana name to other companies, and the air conditioners are actually a product of Haier America (though of course they are manufactured in China). Thus far I have been unable to determine whether Amana/Haier has any authorized service available in northern California.
I do still want to get the Soleus either repaired or hot-wired, so that I can keep it as a spare in case the Amana ever breaks.
I had the same thought when recently buying a air conditioner. More stuff to break. The worst thing I saw was remote controlled air conditioner. The chance of being able to find the remote when you want it is slim to none. Of coure, this air conditioner had no controls on its front panel, so if the remote is lost, your screwed.
BTW, I have found your Scenix / Ubicom pages usefull for many years, Thanks
I bought a Soleus Air Conditioner and Heater from HSN and when it arrived the case was broken, but i kept it anyway and got an $85.00 refund from HSN. It still works but the problem i am having with the unit is that the plastic adapter that the hoses fits into gets hot and melts and then the hose falls out. I guess i will have to replace with an aluminum fitting.