Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This air conditioner is not particularly powerful nor well thought out. "A leading consumer magazine" says that portable air conditioners don't work as well as window units, so given that, I suppose it works as well as one could expect. It did cool a 400 square foot room, but not powerfully so. And nearly every other aspect of this unit is annoying.
Performance: I started the unit in a 400 square foot room - the size it's rated for - at 84 degrees, with the outside temperature about 95. The room quickly felt cooler, and within a couple of hours had cooled down to 79. There it stayed - the unit could not get it any colder. But it sure felt better than when it was 84. I consider this performance barely acceptable.
I tried it in some other rooms. Rolling it between rooms was not hard, even on a pretty deep carpet. Surprisingly, it didn't cool much faster in a 300 square foot room with fewer windows. And in a much larger room than recommended, all it did was circulate the hot air from near the ceiling, raising the temperature at people level. Don't fight the laws of physics.
Operation: This is where it gets irritating. The air louvers are useless, because they're on the top of the unit. They adjust a bit vertically, but you can't direct the air left or right. This hardly matters because the air can't be aimed at someone unless they're standing next to the unit. It's noisy at all fan speeds, less so on low. I didn't notice much difference in cooling between those settings.
The LED temperature readout is difficult to make out when there's light behind it, and since the air conditioner typically sits in front of a window, that'll be most of the time. The room temperature reads two to four degrees low. So with the thermostat set at 78, the room temperature leveled off at 80 (according to three different digital thermometers).
The remote control works OK, but doesn't get any information from the unit. So if you change the settings on the unit, and then use the remote, the unit will pick up all the settings from the remote. If this is confusing, use one or the other but not both.
The water tank is unlikely to fill except under high humidity conditions, says the manual, and I agree. Our humidity indoors was 35%,. After three hours of operation there was no water in the tank.
Assembly: The assembly instructions need more details. The hose adapters that screw to the window plate can go on eight different ways - facing in or out, inserted into the plate from the outside or inside, and with the latching tabs on the sides, or top and bottom. I ran through most of these before getting it right: Insert the adapters from the outside, putting the flanges through the plate to the inside. Put the screws through the plate into the adapters. The tabs should go at the sides in most cases, so the hose connectors will angle down.
The other thing they should tell you is how to remove the hose connectors. Pressing the locking tabs is difficult. But just turn the connector a bit on the flange. It'll press the tabs for you and pop right off. Once all this is clear, the hose setup is quite convenient. The hoses extend to 44"; if the hose connectors are included then the total length is 52".
Recommendations: A lot of other Royal Sovereign models are available. If I had to do it again I'd get a 14,000 BTU model with louvers facing forward. Always get two hoses. The single hose models don't cool as well because they vent inside air outside. This sucks air back in from somewhere, and it's probably hot.
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Royal Sovereign ARP-1200EX Portable 12,000-BTU Dual-Hose Air ConditionerWith an energy-efficiency rating of 9.2, this portable air conditioner offers comfortable and economical cooling for rooms up to 400 square feet. The unit features three fan speeds and a dual-hose system with 12,000 BTU's per hour for fast results and quiet performance. In addition, its convenient, digital LED with remote-control settings provides the option for either continuous operation or setting the automatic 12-hour timer. The 12-hour timer programs the machine to turn on or off anywhere from 1 to 12 hours in the future, making it easy to cool the house for the evening or shut it off during sleep. Durable casters ensure smooth mobility, allowing the unit to be put to use almost anywhere, from bedrooms, family rooms, and computer rooms, to wine cellars, garages, and attics. Other details include a rotary compressor, 5-foot-long ventilation hoses, a 4/5-liter-per-hour humidity-removal capacity, a thermostat ranging from 64 degrees F to 90 degrees F, and simple-to-clean carbon filters that collect large dust particles and prevent bacteria build-up. The 1300-watt air conditioner measures 16 by 20 by 33 inches, weighs about 79-1/2 pounds, and carries a one-year parts-and-labor warranty.
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