Royal Sovereign ARP-1008 Portable Air Conditioner 8,000 BTU
- Self evaporative technology-no messy buckets to empty.
- 3 speed fan for low, medium or high cooling
- Adjustable louvers to direct air flow
- No additional accessories needed: Window Kit and Remote Control included
- Removable, washable air filter
Product Description
Fight the summer heat this season with the Royal Sovereign ARP-1008 portable air conditioner. Its 3-in-1 air comfort system combines an 8,000 BTU Air Conditioner to cool a 200 sq ft room, Fan Mode to circulate air and a Dehumidifier that will remove up to 81 pints per day. You’ll never need to empty a bucket because this unit has an advanced self-evaporative system. It includes a fully adjustable thermostat, 24 hour timer and variable-speed fan controls. The A… More >>
Royal Sovereign ARP-1008 Portable Air Conditioner 8,000 BTU
I’m submitting similar reviews for the top portable AC units listed on Amazon as I’m determined to enlighten the public as to how single-hose portable air conditioners work so that people do not make the same mistake I did.
This is an air conditioner, which means it takes air from the room, runs it over cold coils, then uses a fan to blow it back into the room. All well and good, I’m sure this unit like many others does an adequate job of making cold air at the advertised capacity.
The problem is that air conditioners keep those coils cold by compressing the refrigerant. The compressor is the noisy, rattling, scorching-hot part of any air conditioner. In a car it’s under the hood. In a window unit it’s the part that sticks out the window. In a central air system it is usually the fan-thingy sitting on the concrete pad in the backyard. In a portable AC the compressor is right there in the room with you, in the lower part of the unit. The heat that this makes must be carried away, so what happens in a single-hose unit is that the unit takes air from the room, runs it over the hot compressor with a second fan, and then blows the air out the “exhaust” hose outside along with the condensation from the cooling coils. The exhaust is nothing more than moist, hot air but wow does this unit crank it out. It’s like standing in front of a hair dryer on high and then some.
Various units do better jobs than others about insulating the noise from the machines, but all single-hose portable AC units must obey the laws of physics. If they are blasting air from inside the room to outside, that air must be replaced or a vacuum would result. Either outside air will seep in around cracks in the windows, or air from elsewhere in the house will be pulled into the room you are trying to cool. If you are living in a refrigerated warehouse, terrific — the air you pull into the room from elsewhere will be nice and cool. For most people who are trying to cool a hot attic or garage or some other isolated space, the air pulled into the room may be as hot and humid as outside, or worse. Hair dryer out, hair dryer in. This is a fundamental difference to, say, a window unit, which keeps recycling the air over and over, cooling it down each pass through the machine. With a single-hose portable AC you are cooling some of the air but also firing it outside and replacing it with non-conditioned air. It is exactly like running the AC in your car with the windows open a couple inches. See how that works for your comfort.
So to review, this unit has two intakes — one for room air that is cooled by the unit and blown back into the room, and one for room air that cools the compressor and goes outside. In my experience, the cold air generated by the unit will never be enough to keep up with the massive flow of hot air being sucked into the room, so while you will be nice and cool if you stand right in front of this thing it is incapable of progressively cooling down a room even if left to run for hours. This is why people often complain that a 10,000 BTU portable unit will not work as well as a 6,000 BTU window unit. It’s not that the BTUs aren’t there, it’s that the incoming air simply overpowers them.
The only proper way to manufacture a portable AC is with dual hoses. One hose then supplies outside air to the compressor and the other sends the hot air back outside. The conditioned and cool room air is never wasted on the compressor and can progressively chill down and dehumidify, and there is no negative pressure to suck in surrounding hot and humid air.
Honestly, single-hose portable ACs should not even be sold; their manufacturers should be put in engineering jail and Amazon should just ban the things. Save yourself the suffering and purchase a dual hose unit (there are many available on Amazon) and stay well away from any single-hose machine.
Rating: 1 / 5
First, the good – it is utterly simple to set up with excellent instructions. It glides smoothly across the floor and has an ample cord. I purchased this one because of one I bought several years ago that has run like a charm. The cooling ducts angle well and move smoothly.
Why only 3 stars you ask? Some moron designed this air conditioner to run only with a remote; there isn’t even a power switch on board. If you lose the remote (we all know that never happens), break the remote or it ceases to function you have no air conditioner. Would I have bought it knowing that – NO and Amazon should be ashamed for not making that little feature clear in their product description. Too bad as this is a 5 star unit in 3 star clothes.
Rating: 3 / 5