TAD-T40LW 14000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner with Heat Pump

We live in an area with moderate climate, so we don't have central air for our small house. However, during the summer months, heat waves happen with regularity, and can result in brutally hot interior temperatures.The Toyotomi portable air conditioner saved us. We used it to cool the living room during the day and the master bedroom during evening. It's incredibly effective at cooling-- the fan is strong and the air is cold. As for the exhaust, the system works better for windows that open vertically, but can also be used with windows that open horizontally. If you have a tall window that opens horizontally, you'll want to consider fashioning some cardboard or white form boards to extend the build-in window blockers.A couple more tips:1) Be sure you have enough power to support the unit. I believe this unit uses slightly more power than the average portable air conditioner.2) When you're ready to turn off the air conditioner, run the fan without the air conditioner for 10 or so minutes. This will reduce the amount of water in the drain catch.Overall, we're very happy with the purchase. It's reliable, effective, and well-built. An easy 5 stars.

Update: It's April 2021. The unit woke me up in the middle of the night. It's making a loud squeaking noise that sounds like three mice being strangled. Since I use this unit it in the bedroom, there's no way I can sleep with that kind of racket going on.My unit is about five years old, and it's way out of warranty. I don't know of anyone in my area that works on Toyotomi AC units. And I doubt it would be cost effective to ship it somewhere and have it fixed. I decided to see if I could possibly fix it myself. It turns out that the horrible racket was caused by a loose fan blade. I tightened the nut that holds the blade to the motor shaft and voilà, the three strangled mice are gone. While I had it apart I gave it a good cleaning too.I feel lucky. I had envisioned a bad motor, a bad compressor, or something else that would have forced me to buy a new unit. So after a minor fix, I'm happy to say that my Toyotomi is still going strong.Update: It's October 2018, and I've had this unit for two years now. So far, it still works great. At the beginning of this summer season, I decided not to drain the unit every week and see what would happen. So far, no draining has been necessary. Perhaps if you live in a really humid environment, you might need to drain it once a week. But after using it in a North Texas summer, no draining has been needed. Note: As of this date, the website for Toyotomi USA still states that this item is made in Japan. Not true (see my original review).My original review from August, 2016:I like to sleep in a cool bedroom year round (about 65 degrees is perfect for me). And for those of you who don’t know it, Dallas, Texas gets really hot in the summertime. Unfortunately, my central air conditioning system can’t cool my bedroom to my liking once the weather hovers around 100 degrees.I live in an apartment. And I’m not allowed to use a window unit. So fifteen years ago I purchased a Japanese made Toyotomi portable AC (model TID2400, 8,000 BTU). And for the past fifteen summers, I’ve used it in conjunction with my central AC to keep my bedroom cool and comfortable. With tax, it cost me $1,063.16. Yes, it was expensive. But it was worth every penny I paid for a good night’s sleep. And in fact, it’s still working just fine without a single problem. That says a lot about Toyotomi and the quality of Japanese made products.The only problem with the old unit is that it has a removable condensation bucket that needs to be emptied about every three to four hours. And if you don’t empty it, the unit shuts off. And then the room gets too warm. And then I wake up. And then I have to empty the bucket at two or three O’clock in the morning. Not cool. Literally.I needed to find a better solution. I initially thought about modifying my existing AC unit with a drain hose. But for various reasons, I decided against it. What I needed was a new portable AC unit. And I needed to make sure that it would meet all of my requirements. What requirements, you ask? Read on.Cooling: I wanted something that would cool at least as well as my old unit. My old unit is rated at 8,000 BTU, while the new unit is rated at 14,000 BTU. Specifications aside, what does this mean in the real world? Without a doubt, the new unit is more powerful and cools better than my old unit. That’s pretty good. Especially when you consider that the new unit cost about half of what I paid for the old one fifteen years ago. By the way, my new Toyotomi unit also has a heater. But I only turned it on briefly to verify that it works. Living in Dallas, I don’t need any supplemental heating in my apartment.Condensation: Although my new Toyotomi AC doesn’t have a removable condensation bucket that needs to be drained after a few hours of use, it still has a built-in condensation tank that needs to be drained periodically. How periodically, you ask? The manual says to drain the tank once a week.That’s what I’ve been doing. And so far it hasn’t quit in the middle of the night due to excess condensation (the owner’s manual says that the unit will shut off, and a warning lamp will illuminate if the condensation tank gets full). I can live with a once-a-week draining routine. But Toyotomi could have done a much better job in designing the drain plug. It’s located too close to the floor, and only a rimmed baking sheet is short enough in height to fit underneath the unit.Reliability: Given my excellent history with Toyotomi quality and reliability, I decided to go back with the Toyotomi brand. However, in my research of the different brands and models available, I noticed many similarities in design and specifications. Therefore, I highly suspect that certain brands/models are actually made in the same factory.Noise: Some people have commented on the objectionable noise that this unit makes. Seriously? To that I’d like to say the following: “Attention, citizens of the United States of America.” “This is an air conditioner, not a lava lamp.” Of course it’s going to make some noise. But even when the fan is set to “High”, it’s basically a “white noise”, which I find no more objectionable than the noise made by a box fan running at medium speed.Since the unit is only a few feet from my bed, I’m happy to say that it doesn’t squeak, rattle, or make a high-pitched whining noise. However, I can easily hear when the compressor cycles on and off. But that’s to be expected.Other comments:One of the things I don’t like about this unit is the limited airflow adjustment. It only has one big horizontal vent on the top of the unit, which provides a minimal amount of up and down adjustment to the airflow. And because it doesn’t have any adjustable side-to-side vents at all, you have to rotate the entire unit to point the airflow in the desired direction.The side-to-side air vents may not be a big deal to some people. And obviously, it wasn’t a deal breaker for me. But it’s a far cry from my old Toyotomi unit. The old unit not only had adjustable side-to-side vents. But they were motorized too, and could be set to oscillate from left to right automatically. On the other hand, my old unit didn’t come with a remote control like the new model.Top five likes:1. Powerful, and cools better than my old Toyotomi unit.2. No condensation bucket to empty in the middle of the night!3. Remote control.4. Reasonably priced.5. Quiet, for an AC unit. I don’t find the “White Noise” objectionable.Top five dislikes:1. The drain plug is located too close to the floor. To drain the unit, I use a rimmed baking sheet (less than 1” tall) as a drain pan.2. No side-to-side adjustable air vents. Again, the only way to direct the air flow to the left or to the right is to rotate the entire unit.3. Non-dimmable display. This may not be a factor to many people. But I use the unit in my bedroom, and I don’t need a night light. The solution? I placed a sock over the display panel.4. The sliding panel that goes in the window doesn’t have any weather stripping along the top and bottom edges (like the panel that came with my old Toyotomi). As a result, the window sealing is less than ideal. Solution? I put strips of ¼” wide self-stick felt along the top and bottom edges of the panel. It seals better now.5. Toyotomi is not telling the truth about where this unit is made (see my closing remarks).Closing remarks:Would I buy this unit again? At this point, yes I would. But the final chapter in my review hasn't been written yet. Although it appears to be well made, and it cools very well, I’ve only had it a few weeks. Therefore, I can’t speak about the long-term reliability of this unit. And reliability is obviously very important. And that brings me to the source of my apprehension…something that must not go unmentioned in my review of this product.As I said earlier, my old Toyotomi unit was made in Japan, and it’s still working after fifteen years of use. But the new unit wasn’t made in Japan. It was made in China. How do I know it was made in China? Simple enough. There’s a label on the unit that says “Made in China.”I find this rather annoying since Toyotomi’s USA website (located under “Company Information”), currently says, “All Toyotomi products are manufactured in its state-of-the-art plants in Japan.” Obviously, Toyotomi needs to update their website. In addition, their website for this unit makes further reference to its “Japanese design and quality control.”Instead of misleading us into thinking that the unit was made in Japan, why doesn’t Toyotomi just come out and say that it was made in China? That’s obvious, isn’t it? Everyone knows that China has a history of making a lot of products that are crap. Given that Japanese made goods have an enviable reputation for quality, it’s not hard to figure out why Toyotomi still markets their products as being of Japanese origin.Over the years I’ve noticed that a number of “Japanese” brands are no longer being made in Japan. So the question is, has the quality and longevity of this product been sacrificed by being made in China instead of Japan? That’s debatable. But what’s not debatable is the fact that this unit would have definitely cost more if it had been produced in a Japanese factory. And while I would have paid considerably more for this product to see “Made in Japan” on the label, I know that many people would not be willing to do so.In all fairness, I’m old enough to remember when Japan used to make some of the cheapest junk in the world. But that was yesterday. And things change. Chinese quality is getting better. Maybe someday China can fully shake their image of being a country that only makes shoddy junk. The Japanese did it. Maybe the Chinese can too.But for now, I’m not fully convinced that my new Chinese made Toyotomi is going to be as reliable and last as long as my old unit. I certainly hope so. But the only way I’ll know for sure is to go through a lot more hot Dallas summers.A note about the packaging: My unit arrived double-boxed and in undamaged condition.

Worse than the Avillon two-hose unit I just returned before this thing which is now getting returned too. Does not blow cold enough air.My 6-year-old LG single-hose unit beats both two-hose units I've tried so far hands down for cooling power. The downside is it lacks humidity control and kills me on the electric bill. I don't know what to do about portable a/c. My landlords will not allow a conventional box window unit at my apartment.I'm convinced that the single-units have the best cooling power. The brick-and-mortar stores feature single-hose units almost exclusively. I don't think there is a decent two-hose unit on the market that truly kicks for cooling power.This Toyotomi also had a cosmetic defect: a warp at the bottom of the control panel leaving and unsightly gap, cheezy plastic molding. Also a little hole in the filter mesh.I think I can order a Danby two-hose unit for about $700 from Walmart: should I give it a whirl? Walmart has liberal return policy.Products this day and age don't seem to be much worth a damn anymore in this world. It's probably because the human race in these times is about worthless. Pride died and went to hell.

First day of use, do admittedly not a reasonable duration to gauge overall performance. But on startup, there was obvious fan clatter that sounded like metal hitting metal. I checked manual for troubleshooting help but nothing found. I further investigated and wire mesh (finger?) guard just below the air vent had fallen down until it touched fan blades. I could not figure out how to install such that it wouldn't fall again. So I lifted it out and am now running a unit with no such safety device.Otherwise, it runs well and is helping both cool and dehumidify a large family/kitchen room that was way too hot.