GE PPHH12WWF Review

Initial Analysis

The GE PPHH12WWF is a 12,000 BTU portable air conditioner according to older ASHRAE guidelines for measuring cooling capacity.

It’s also a 12,000 BTU air conditioner according to newer DOE guidelines for measuring (seasonally adjusted) cooling capacity.

In other words, it has 12,000 ASHRAE BTUs and it has 12,000 SACC BTUs.

Most competitors, like the Midea Duo and Whynter ARC-1230WN have 14,000 ASHRAE BTUs and 12,000 SACC BTUs.

Do the extra 2,000 ASHRAE BTUs make a difference for the Midea and Whynter? Not really. As I’ve talked about extensively in other guides on portable air conditioners, seasonally adjusted cooling capacity (SACC BTUs) is a much more accurate representation of actual cooling capacity.

This is reflected in our tests.

In a 100 sq. ft. room, the GE cooled just about as well as the Midea and Whynter. There was a slight difference in how fast each unit cooled the room initially, but over longer time frames all three units cooled the room the a very similar final temperature.

We conducted three different tests, each at a progressively higher outdoor temperature.

In the first test, at an outdoor temperature of 83° F, the GE took 13 minutes to cool the room from 86° F down to the 72° F. They Midea took 12 minutes and the Whynter took 11 minutes.

After one full hour of runtime, the GE cooled the room to 63.7° F. The Midea cooled it to 63.1° F and the Whynter cooled it to 63.0° F. So you can see how the difference in performance is minimal between the three units after one hour of runtime.

In the second test, at an outdoor temperature of 89° F, the GE cooled the room from 86° F down to 72° F in 15 minutes. The Midea also took 15 minutes. The Whynter took only 13 minutes.

After one hour, the GE cooled the room to 64.2° F, the Midea cooled it to 65.3° F, and the Whynter cooled it to 64.4° F. So in this case the GE actually cooled slightly better than the Whynter after one hour, though taking into account the margin of error that’s possible in this test, all three results here are basically the same, which is to be expected since all three units have 12,000 BTUs of seasonally adjusted cooling capacity.

In the third test, at an outdoor temperature of 91° F, the GE took 17 minutes to cool the room from 86° F down to 72° F. The Midea also took 17 minutes. The Whynter took 16 minutes.

After one hour, the GE cooled the room to 66.0° F, the Midea cooled it to 65.7° F, and the Whynter cooled it to 65.3° F. Again, accounting for margin of error, these results are basically the same.

The bottom line – the GE performed just as well as the other two 12,000 SACC BTU models we tested in our cooling tests.

All three of these models performed substantially better than lower capacity units.

For example, the LG LP1025WHSM cooled better than any other (approx.) 10,000 SACC BTU model we tested. It took almost three times as long (46 minutes) to cool the room from 86° F down to 72° F in the third test. And it left the room more than 6° F warmer (71.6° F) after one hour.

The GE is not as energy efficient as the Midea Duo and Whynter ARC-1230WN.

It has a combined energy efficiency ratio (CEER) of 13. The Midea and the Whynter both have a CEER of 13.8.

These manufacturer specifications for energy efficiency match our own test results.

Five minutes into our first cooling test, the GE was measured to draw 1396 watts of power. At the same time in the test, the Midea was measured at 1269 watts and the Whynter was measured at 1276 watts of power draw.

So the Midea and Whynter draw about 100 watts less power and cool just as well as the GE. This makes them more energy efficient than the GE overall.

The GE PPHH12WWF is much more energy efficient than lower capacity units though. The LG LP1025WHSM was also the most energy efficient (approx.) 10,000 SACC BTU model we tested, and it has a CEER of 7.9 – almost half the CEER of the GE. It also drew just as much power as the GE in our tests (1393 watts) with much worse cooling performance.

So, overall, the GE isn’t quite as energy efficient as other 12,000 SACC BTU models we tested, but it is still significantly more energy efficient than >12,000 SACC BTU models we tested.

The GE does run slightly more quietly than the Midea and Whynter on high fan speed. It was measured at 62 dB on high vs 63.2 dB for the Midea and 62.7 dB for the Whynter.

It was second quietest on low. The GE was measured at 52 dB on low vs 52.5 dB for the Midea and 51.5 dB for the Whynter.

Most of the portable AC units we tested (including lower SACC BTU models) had very similar noise output on high though these 12,000 SACC BTU models were able to get significantly quieter on low. The quietest 10,000 SACC BTU model we tested on low, for example, was the Whirlpool WHNP141AW. It was measured at 58.2 dB on low vs 52 dB for the GE. That is a significant difference in noise output.

All of the 12,000 SACC BTU portable air conditioners we tested, including the GE, were large and heavy.

The GE is just over 31” tall and weighs just under 76 lb. The Midea and Whynter have similar dimensions and weigh just about the same.

One notable difference between the GE and the other two 12,000 SACC BTU models we tested is that the GE has two distinct hoses. It’s more of a traditional dual hose portable AC unit. The Midea and Whynter feature a “hose-in-hose” design.

We generally like the “hose-in-hose” design better. It’s easier to handle a single large hose vs the two independent hoses of the GE. The Midea and Whynter also radiate a lot less heat back into the room than the GE.

We measured the maximum hose temperature of all of the portable AC units we tested, and the GE’s hotter hose (the exhaust hose – the other hose is an intake hose) was measured at 100 to 101° F. The Midea hose was only measured at 78 to 79° F because it “insulates” the hotter exhaust hose inside of the cooler intake hose.

Pros and Cons

Conclusion

The GE PPHH12WWF is an excellent portable air conditioner. It cools fast, its highly energy efficient, it runs fairly quietly, and it’s easy to install.

That being said, we generally recommend the Midea Duo over the GE PPHH12WWF if you’re shopping for a 12,000 SACC BTU portable air conditioner.

The Midea cools just as well as the GE but is even more energy efficient. It also runs quietly and it’s also easy to install as it also comes with an extensive window kit.

Other than being more energy efficient, the other big advantage the Midea has over the GE is it’s hose-in-hose design. Again, we found this design easier to handle (to move around, install, adjust, store, etc.) during testing and it radiates significantly less heat back into the room.

The Midea Duo is the best portable air conditioner we’ve tested, overall.

The GE PPHH12WWF is a solid alternative.

Additional specifications and notes

Number of Window Panels – 5 (primary panel with hose cutout + four extension panels)
Minimum Window Width (one panel) – 19 13/16” (length of primary panel)
Minimum Window Width (two panels) – 19 14/16” (primary panel + extension)
Maximum Window Width (all panels) – 63” (primary panel + four extensions)
Weather stripping included – none

Notes

The GE PPHH12WWF ties the Midea Duo for having the most included window panels of any portable air conditioner we’ve tested. Most other competitors only come with two or three panels. This limits the maximum width of the window that you can install into, and in many cases the lack of (especially short) extensions requires you to cut certain extensions to properly fit these kits into certain windows.

End Adapters – pre-installed? - yes
AC Side Hose Connection – permanently attached to the back of the AC unit
Window Kit Side Hose Connection – push into place
Hose Length Min/Max – 11.25 to 50.5"
Hose Diameter – inner diameter was measured at 5.25” (each hose)

Notes

The GE has its two hoses permanently installed onto the back of the unit. This makes first time installation and storage easier (you don’t have to remove these hoses to store them). Each of the GE’s two hoses has the same inner diameter as the single hose on single hose units (like the LG LP1025WHSM, for example). These hoses can’t extend quite as far as those single hoses on single hose units. Single hoses can usually extend about 60”. The GE’s two hoses only extend 50.5”. The hose-in-hose of the Midea Duo and Whynter ARC-1230WN is even slightly more limited – it can only extend 48”.

Modes – auto, cool, dry, fan, heat
Set temp range - 61 to 86° F
Fan speeds - low, med, high
Swing – yes
Smart – yes

Notes

The GE PPHH12WWF can also be used as a dehumidifier (dry mode) or heater. The base Midea Duo (MAP14S1TBL-A) can also dehumidify but it cannot heat. The MAP14HS1TBL-A is identical to the MAP14S1TBL-A but adds heating functionality.

Otherwise, the set temperature range of the GE is fairly standard (very close to that of the top rated Midea also). So is the number of fan speeds, “swing” functionality (being able to set the unit to automatically swing its louvers up and down), and “smart” functionality (being able to control the unit remotely using an app) – i.e. these are all settings you get on most competitors (including the top rated Duo) as well.

The GE does uniquely offer "quiet" and "turbo" settings, but these settings are really not very useful and they don't really offer any additional functionality (at least not according to our testing). Pressing the "quiet" button basically sets the unit to low fan speed and pressing the "turbo" button basically sets it high fan speed. In our testing, the "turbo" function really didn't impact cooling speed at all. It only seemed to impact fan speed. And you can manually set the fan speed to high without selecting turbo mode.

Dehumidifier mode pints/day – 60 pints/day
Drainage options – 3x drain outlets – the first outlet is higher up on the back of the unit. You can either connect a garden hose or connect an included cap and hose to this outlet to drain the unit continuously on dry (dehumidifier) mode.

The second drain outlet is at the very bottom of the back of the unit. This outlet is used to drain the internal water tank of the unit if it fills up in especially humid conditions on cooling mode, or if you want to drain the unit for storage.

The third drain outlet is slightly higher up and to the right of the bottom outlet. It is required that you connect the included hose to this outlet to drain the unit on heating mode.

Drain hose – included

Top filter (over evaporator) - very easy to remove – clips in with no screws
Bottom filter (over condenser) – none