When my son and my new daughter-in-law moved into a small studio apartment last month, we knew right away that there was going to be an issue with the heating and cooling system in the apartment building. The indoor air quality in the building just wasn’t up to speed, in our opinion. But then my husband and I decided that we wanted to buy them something to help out. We couldn’t exactly change out the entire heating and cooling system in the building, but we knew that we could help fix the situation in their apartment by buying them an all in one heating and cooling unit. I wasn’t really sure what was available and my husband didn’t have time to go shopping this week. So I decided to go to Home Depot the day after they finished moving in. I wanted to price a few units and see what might work for them in the new apartment. Honestly, I’m probably better at comparison shopping than my husband is, anyway.
The first unit that I looked at was the Honeywell 14,000 BTU, 115-Volt Portable Air Conditioner with Heater, Dehumidifier and Remote Control in Black and Silver. This unit is a portable air conditioner like I was looking for, but it also combines a dehumidifier, a fan, and a heater. It has a remote that works for every function, and it doesn’t require permanent installation. That’s important for us since this unit will be going in an apartment that my son and his wife won’t be living in for too long. It has caster wheels so it’s easy to move and it has an auto-evaporation system. I like the idea of that because there’s no messy water bucket to empty out. The Honeywell 14,000 BTU, 115-Volt Portable Air Conditioner with Heater, Dehumidifier and Remote Control in Black and Silver comes with everything you need to install it, like an exhaust hose and a window venting kit. It cools rooms up to 700 square feet and heats rooms up to 500 square feet, which would work for their little apartment. It has three speeds and a 24 hour automatic timer to shut it off. It also has an adjustable humidistat so you can adjust how much humidity it will take out of your room. I like the idea of the adjustable humidistat because sometimes you need extra humidity in your home, especially when the air outside is extra dry in the winter. This unit is returnable for 90 days and it has a one year warranty. On the day that I looked at these units in Home Depot, they were priced at $617.99 each.
The second unit I looked at in Home Depot was the Premium 14,000 BTU (8,600 BTU, DOE) Ultra Compact Portable Air Conditioner and Heater with Remote Control – White. This unit also operates as an air conditioner, dehumidifier, heater, and fan. It cools and heats up to 525 square feet, which cools less of an area than the first unit but heats a little bit more. It has an energy efficiency function so it would help my son and daughter-in-law with their utility bills in the new apartment. The Premium 14,000 BTU (8,600 BTU, DOE) Ultra Compact Portable Air Conditioner and Heater with Remote Control – White has three fan speeds and three cooling settings. This unit has an automatic temperature control, it’s easy to move, and it has a carbon filtering system. It has a programmable timer and sleep mode, along with a remote control so you can adjust the temperature from anywhere in the room. I know that the kids will like this fact, because my son is all about his remote controls. He has a little basket that he keeps all of his remotes for the TV and his games in, so I know he would appreciate having a remote for the heating and A/C unit. This unit also includes a window venting kit but for some reason, it doesn’t say that it comes with an exhaust hose so you must have to buy that separately with this one. Like the first unit, it’s returnable for 90 days and it has a one year warranty. It didn’t have the same kind of auto-evaporation system as the first unit, though, which is probably why this one was priced much more affordably at $379.99.
The last unit I looked at in Home Depot was the Honeywell HL Series 14,000 BTU, 115-Volt Portable Air Conditioner with Heater, Dehumidifier and Remote Control in White. This is also a portable air conditioner with a combined heater. This one says that it combines 4 in one technology so that it will heat, cool, dehumidify, and fan any area up to 550 square feet. I have to say that this unit was the most pleasing to the eye out of all three that I looked at. This unit featured an auto-evaporation system like the others, and has a dehumidifying function along with a three speed fan function. It has a full function remote control, and it has caster wheels so it’s easy to move around. This unit comes with everything you need, including the window venting kit and a flexible exhaust hose. It doesn’t have a bucket to empty, so that was a plus. When I read the fine print, though, this unit mentioned that it cools areas up to 550 square feet but it only heated up to 400 square feet. So the Honeywell HL Series 14,000 BTU, 115-Volt Portable Air Conditioner with Heater, Dehumidifier and Remote Control in White wasn’t going to work for the apartment. I was a little disappointed because this unit really looked nice and sleek and modern and was priced reasonably at $599.00.
I ended up purchasing the first unit that I looked at, which was the Honeywell 14,000 BTU, 115-Volt Portable Air Conditioner with Heater, Dehumidifier and Remote Control in Black and Silver. I didn’t even ask my husband’s or son’s opinion, either. I knew I had done my due diligence in comparing prices and checking out the functions. I’m going to have an HVAC technician come to the apartment to install it, just to be on the safe side and to make sure they aren’t going to overload any electrical circuits. All in all, though, I think that my son and daughter-in-law will be happy with this unit and hopefully it will last them a long time.