I needed something portable to cool my studio (about 400 sq ft), especially with summer kicking in hard, and this unit actually surprised me. It’s a 10,000 BTU portable AC, but also works as a heater, fan, and dehumidifier Out of the box, it felt sturdy and heavier than I expected, but not in a bad way. Setup was simple — just had to hook up the hose and window kit, which took maybe 20 minutes tops. I’ve been using it almost daily for the past couple of months, and it cools the room super fast. On hot days, it drops the temp by 10+ degrees in less than half an hour. What I like: • It really cools well. • Haven’t had to empty any water yet thanks to the self-evaporating system. A few minor things: • It’s not the most compact unit — takes up some floor space, so just make sure you’ve got a good spot for it. • The hose connection isn’t perfect. I had to adjust the seal to make it more secure, but once set up, no big issues. Honestly, for the price and everything it does, I’m impressed. If you’re trying to keep a mid-sized room comfortable without installing a window unit, this is a solid choice. I’d recommend it to anyone who wants cooling and heating in one machine — especially if you don’t want to deal with permanent installations. Read more
This unit works well and keeps my 10x12' backyard shed warm in the winter and cool in the summer. While I did have an issue a couple weeks ago with the unit accumulating ice and failing to cool, I reached out to Wiytamo's customer service and they quickly resolved the issue since I was still within the one-year warranty. Excellent customer service and a great product. Read more
This review is for the OX-10KH Wiytamo portable heat pump model. TL;DR: I bought this product primarily for its heat pump functionality. If you do the same, you're almost certainly going to be disappointed. It's not a very well designed or efficient product. The heat pump performs poorly at best. After buying and using this product, I really have to wonder how many of the reviews here are real. I encourage you to read on, if you have the time. You get what you pay for. At first startup, after letting it rest for the required twenty four hours, it took at least ten minutes before the unit showed any sign of cooling. I began to wonder if it had actually survived shipping, or if it had been charged with refrigerant at the factory. I'm still suspicious as to whether or not it was charged correctly with refrigerant for reasons I'll get into later. The first problem is with the airflow design. This model uses a single tube to exhaust air from which heat or cold has been extracted. Unlike some models where the tube contains two separate pathways for supply and return air, the OX-10KH takes air from the room you are heating or cooling, pulls it over a coil to extract thermal energy and then throws it outside. This reduces operating efficiency in both heating and cooling modes, but it's especially bad in the heating mode, as the unit is working against itself. The air that it heats up is having the heat stripped back out of it as it flows into the lower air intake and coil. All that's really being added is whatever heat the compressor motor imparts to the refrigerant, making this a very inefficient sort of "resistance heater". Efficiency in cooling mode will suffer for the same reason, though I see it as slightly less of a problem there. Other questionable design decisions include the size of the included window venting adapter (there's no reason it should be about two feet long at its smallest size) and the water pans. Many windows just aren't that big, especially in an older home. At least you could cut it down to size for a smaller window. The water pans are also poorly designed. It's hard to tell from the fractured English in the manual, but it appears that the upper water drain (used in cooling mode) has to be connected to a suitable drain or container when running in cooling mode. The lower drain (for heat pump mode) is very close to the floor and will be awkward to use. The manual suggests putting the unit on a pedestal to make draining it easier and I'd agree. The presence of a small drain pan for the lower drain is implied by the manual. What's less clear is whether or not the unit will shut off when this fills up, or if you will have to watch to make sure it does not. I don't believe the unit will shut off when the upper drain has filled with water. Finally, there is the performance in heating mode. This is seriously lacking. In a 40 degree Fahrenheit room, the Wiytamo OX-10KH could only manage to put out air heated to around 75-78 degrees Fahrenheit. Any heat pump of reasonable quality will output far warmer air than this. I would have expected an output air temperature of at least 100 degrees. If you look at a temperature/pressure chart for Refrigerant 32 (the refrigerant used in this model), it's quite capable of maintaining sufficient pressure even at low temperatures to extract heat energy from what most of us would consider "cold" air. (There is still considerable heat energy in air as cold as 0 degrees Fahrenheit.) You just won't get that kind of performance from this model. At 23 degrees Fahrenheit ambient, the Wiytamo was unable to extract any heat from the surrounding air. At least it will try, although it would not let me select the higher fan speed in either the 40 or 23 degree conditions. I have yet to try the cooling mode and cannot comment on its performance at this time. If this product is still on the market in the near future, I will update this review accordingly. There is still a question in my mind whether the example of this product I received is properly charged with the right amount of refrigerant, or if the compressor is pumping properly. I seriously doubt there are refrigerant service ports inside this product. As an HVAC/R technician, I would love to put a set of manifold gauges on it and see if it really was charged properly. (Don't tinker with refrigerant of any kind unless you know what you are doing and have the proper handling licenses.) Ordinarily, I would return this product. Unfortunately, I'd have to bear the cost of doing so. Combine that with the time it would take to package everything all back up, along with the considerable expense of returning such a large (~40 inches tall) and heavy (~45 pound) item from almost clear across the United States and it just wouldn't be worthwhile. It might even cost more to do so than the initial purchase price. Read more
We love this unit. Our house doesn't have central heat and air, we use a few window units. This one works great for cool. It's a little loud when it runs, but to be expected for a portable unit. It was very easy to install. Could be moved from room to room as needed. The heat does not work as well. If we get heat moving though the room from another heater, it does an excellent job of recirculating that heat. We haven't used any of the other settings yet. Read more
We have owned this for 6 months starting in winter, then spring, now summer. If your room temp is 63 degrees in a 300 square foot room this will not raise the temperature a degree in winter, spring in midwest might raise the temperature a degree or two. If you want to cool the room in spring or summer it will not lower the temp at all, so if your room is 76 and you run this non stop your room temp will remail there or go up. The dehumidfier does not change anything either. I have followed the instructions to the letter and I am giving this 200 machine a 5 star rating for its excellence for the fan speed as it will blow whatever your current room temp is fast enough to blow everything off your table or desk at high velocity and loud enough to drown out your mother in law. Read more
