Whynter 12,000 BTU Dual Hose Portable Air Conditioner, Frost White (ARC-12SD) Feature
12,000 BTU cooling
Dual hose operation
CFC free R-410A refrigerant and lead free RoHS compliant components
Digital and remote control
Three operational modes: Air conditioner, fan or dehumidifier
auto air conditioning kits : Whynter 12,000 BTU Dual Hose Portable Air Conditioner, Frost White (ARC-12SD)Check Product Rating
Whynter 12,000 BTU Dual Hose Portable Air Conditioner, Frost White (ARC-12SD) Overviews
This Whynter GREEN ARC-12SD portable air conditioner features CFC-Free R-410A refrigerant and lead free RoHS compliant components. It uses patented advanced auto drain technology, which uses and recycles moisture collected during the cooling process to produce cool air. The dual hose operation provides fast cooling of up to a 400 sq. ft. space (ambient temperature and humidity may influence optimum performance). 12,000 BTU Cooling, Three operational modes: Air conditioner, fan or dehumidifier, Digital and remote control,m LCDI (Leakage-Current Detection and Interruption) plug, Dehumidifying Capacity: 101 pints per day, Designed to provide quiet and efficient cooling to any room, with no permanent installation, 3 fan speeds, Carbon air filter and washable pre-filter, Full thermostatic control (61°F - 89°F), Casters for easy mobility, 24 hour programmable timer, Noise level (dBA): <56, Auto restart after power outage, Extendable exhaust hose (up to 49"), Upgraded Plastic window kit included, Window kit length: Max. 36", Maximum power consumption: 1100 W / 10.5 A auto air conditioning kits : Whynter 12,000 BTU Dual Hose Portable Air Conditioner, Frost White (ARC-12SD)>Compare Prices<
Whynter 12,000 BTU Dual Hose Portable Air Conditioner, Frost White (ARC-12SD) Reviews
I'm in NYC in a basement apartment and my old junky LG 10,000 unit was doing nada.. I don't know if it was broken or just junky it never got anything that cold.Now really, 12,000 btu units are supposed to be for a small space.. 400 to 500 square feet.As I said I am in a basement apartment and I was SWELTERING... dying!!!!!I researched every portable air conditioner under the sun and was ready to go out and buy one but the ones in the local stores either blew out ho hum air or were not set up to try at all, and online with all of them I read a lot of people saying they didn't do much... or ho hum reviews... this was the only unit where people wrote really enthusiastic 4 or 5 star reviews. I also learned that you don't even want to MESS with unit that has no exhaust / or just a single exhaust vent. If you are going to get a portable A/C - you WANT a dual vented one. One takes air in, the other sends hot air out. This is MUCH more efficient, cooler, and FASTER than no vent / single vent unit and you don't have to be emptying buckets of water either.I'm an actor/director/editor so I have hot computers running too and there's nothing worse than going to an audition sweaty or having to edit a movie or video in 90 degree+ heat.I decided this was the one to try but I couldn't find ANY in NYC! Can you believe that? At $490.00 - amazon's price is slightly inflated but all other places that had it a little cheaper were out of stock or had ridiculous long shipping waits or high shipping charges.When I saw this puppy in stock, I grabbed it, and with the free trial of amazon prime shipping I ordered it 2nd day, (which would have cost like $180 on this heavy beast! but I got it free) and low and behold it came the next day!! HALLELUJAH!!! Law of attraction works I tell you!First off - this is NOT a 12,000 btu uit it is 14,000 btu. 2nd - it is HUGE, and fairly HEAVY, but it looks nice, like a droid from star wars and luckily it's on wheels, but when the ups guy came it looked like he was delivering a refrigerator.Second - and most importantly - this thing blows REALLY cold air. Within a few minutes of turning it on I could feel the blast of air was very cold. I knew that my space is really more like 700 to 1000 sf - so I set it on full blast and on 61 degrees. Within an hour it dropped from over 90 and disgustingly humid in here to a cool comfortable 69 degrees - even with all my computers running. If I turn off all the computers it gets even colder faster.CONS:The only con is that the venting hoses (like a dryer exhaust hose) should have been a little longer. They are about. This won't be a problem for most people but if your window is high, or you have a weird tiny basement window that only opens sideways you will have to mount the dual vents vertically, and it didn't quite make it, so I had to put the unit a little higher on top a little foot stool, and I had to do some duct taping on the window to make sure it was air tight sealed. That;s not their fault though I have really weird tiny nyc basement windows.Other than that I have no complaints and still give it 5 stars I'm very happy to be writing this in comfort rather than torture. NYC summer this year has been insane with temps hitting 105. This is an old house too and the power usage on this unit is only 10.5 amps so no blowing out the circuit breaker.The build seems quality - hopefully all is well and it will hold up performing as great as it is doing.Also - this unit is MUCH better/cooler than the newer Whynter arc-14s. Whatever they did with that unit - they messed up... I was going to buy it in a store and it didn't feel so cool and the guy kept saying that that's because it was in a big space but I mean the breeze coming right out of the machine with my hand right next to it or standing right in front of it was NO where as cool as the arctic blast that shoots out of this arc-12sd machine.I hope this review helps you out. If you have are looking for a portable AC unit I can't imagine one being better than this.
We did a lot of research before choosing this Whynter "Eco-Friendly 12,000 BTU Dual hose Portable Air Conditioner". We have an older Victorian house that does not have central air that we had been cooling with standard in window units but, with the rough winters we get, we were getting tired of moving them in and out twice a year. This portable unit does a great job and more than meets my needs. Here are my observations:Pros -+ Cooling Ability; this unit easily chills my 15' x 20' (300 square feet) family room+ Compressor Noise; this is surprisingly quite, even at the highest setting+ Size; not too intrusively large, about the size of the old upright radio we have it setting next to+ Portable; unit is fairly heavy but it is on wheels (note that the window vent needs to move with the unit)+ Remote Control; a handy addition with a digital display that lets you change the temperature, fan speed, and timer from across the room+ Easy Setup; my son and I had this unboxed and running within 15 minutes of opening the box, only one Philips Head screwdriver required to attache the screws to the window vent mountCons -- Ugly Vent Hoses; while it can't be helped as they are needed, the white vent hoses (look like dryer vent hoses) are an eyesore when extended out and totally incongruous with any decor (we keep ours retracted as much as possible except when needing to aim the Air Conditioning output to a different room)Misc -*Fan Noise; this can move a lot of air and makes the expected amount of fan noise when on the highest settingsThis portable unit was a good solution for my needs and we will likely be getting at least one additional unit in the near future for use our the second floor.Highly Recommended!CFH
I did a lot of research, and called a bunch of local A/C shops before I bought this. They all recommended the dual hose feature - they said I'd be "wasting my money" getting anything else - pretty impressive, considering they sold both types and could have made money on me either way.It's amazing. Within 20 minutes our whole bedroom (20 x 16, or 320 sq ft) is crisp and cool, and if we leave the door open it cools the hallway and the bedroom across the hallway, too.I recommend this completely, but a few cons you may want to know just in case they're deal-breakers (in no particular order):1) It's not quiet. However, it's not ridiculously loud, either. I can sleep through it, and I'm usually not able to sleep with much white noise. If being cool is your #1 priority (as it was for us), you can deal with the noise.2) It's not small. We call it our R2D2 (Star Wars), as it's about the same size. We have a tall California King, and it still stands a few inches taller than the bed. Again, worth it for the cooling capacity.3) The window install kit is small. Isn't tall enough to fit our 4' window - I had our handyman rig it up using other materials he had to get at a hardware store. Without this, you really can't install it in a window much bigger than 2 or 2.5'. And no, it cannot be used unless it's installed in a window (in case you were hoping to get around that).Honestly, you won't regret this purchase if your main concern is beating the summer heat - this is a lifesaver.
I read many reviews of several portable air conditioners and I knew I wanted one that had a dual hose connection since I read that those are more effective (some said it doesn't really matter - *shrug*). I finally whittled it down to two units to consider. I eventually decided on this one because the other had the temperature reading on the top of the unit rather than on the face. What's the point of a remote control when you can't see what the temperature is set at on the unit? The Whynter Eco-Friendly 12,000 BTU Dual-Hose Portable A/C has a large temperature display on the front of the unit which is easily read from across the room. The remote control also has a display on it to show what temperature you are setting the unit at. Very handy! What is interesting is the colour-coding and the positions of the lights on the front of the unit to show you what you are setting the unit on. Rather than having to read words, you just see if the mode light is Green for cooling, Purple for dehumidifier, or Blue for fan. Very cool! There are also other blue lights in separate columns that tell you other settings just by their position on the display (top, middle, or bottom indicate other settings such as high, medium, or low). The best thing about this unit is the cooling that it does. I usually don't need to leave it on for long because it cools so well. I am in Southern California and I have an average-sized bedroom that gets direct late-afternoon sun and I am top floor so it gets really hot in here but this air conditioner cools my room wonderfully. I do have another portable A/C from SPT in another bedroom that works well but being a single hose, it doesn't cool as well as this one. This unit is a bit noisy but not much more than many wall units I've heard. It is a bit large and heavy but the casters help with moving it around. I have those annoying Jalousie windows (louvered glass) so a portable A/C was the best option. However, it does make installation slightly more complicated since the screen is on the inside rather than outside, plus the width of the casement is odd, so I had to improvise since the panels provided were too long for my window. Otherwise, installation would be very easy. I am extremely pleased with my Whynter portable A/C and definitely highly recommend it!
I purchased this unit to supplement the central AC in a ~150ft? home office with generous eastern/southern exposure and a vaulted ceiling. It has performed adequately in this role for about a month with average highs of 105F in TX. It does not perform as well as a 12,000 BTU window unit I have in another room (which can refrigerate some 300ft? down to 65F with ease), but I was not expecting it to. It has been able to cool the office to about 75F easily enough.I use the remote exclusively; I have not used the controls on the unit. I have found the timer function helpful, although I wish it were more sophisticated: it will count down to deactivation when running or count down to activation when off. The remote also sends commands based on its sense of the state of the unit (a mild inconvenience); for example, if you set timer then after it turns on wish to adjust the unit, the remote will be sitting in "timer" mode and it will take two (or more) button presses to get the unit to adjust to your preference.This unit is not quiet, but I do not find it excessively noisy, either. The blower generates what is effectively white noise and is louder than the hum of the compressor. You will notice when the compressor shuts off, but the unit will not be much quieter. It's not as bad as the vibration that window units tend to produce and transmit to the structure of the house.Thus far, I have not had any issue with the condensation collector - the unit appears to be recycling condensation onto the hot coils as advertised.Installation was a fairly straightforward process - I unpacked the unit from its fairly sturdy packaging and followed the instructions.I had to modify the vent plate because the window opening was approx 16" - too narrow for the included plate in stock form. A few minutes with a hacksaw and a miter box chopped it down to size - not terribly neat, but sufficient for its function.After the plate was modified I installed the hose connectors and taped it in place with generous amounts of duct tape. Coupling the hoses to the connectors was simple enough if one exercised care to "thread" them properly. It blew satisfyingly cold as soon as I fired it up.The nature of the hoses makes it difficult to situate the unit directly in front of the window. I wanted it off to the side, so that was not a problem. The hoses will get nearly hot to the touch, which is expected for the hot side of an air conditioning unit. I used the bottom of the shipping crate as a baffle to isolate the hoses from the intake.This unit will benefit from some improvements. I will fabricate a better vent plate next season that seals up better and leaks less heat. I also intend to us some rigid piping for the hot side, either insulated or with a better baffle to isolate the intake from the outside exchange piping. I may also build a small stand in case I find that condensation starts to collect in the drip pan.
Arrived with plastic cover cracked and taped together. The cover is very flimsy and difficult to align in replacement. Otherwise, I am pleased with performance. It is not too noisy and cools a former attached garage which has been converted into a home gym and office. Only gets 4 Stars because of cover problems. I have owned it for one month.
Just a quick review - this is an air conditioner that pumps out a tremendous amount of cold air, has a remote, and has all the amenities expected in a portable AC unit. It makes noise, sure (it's moving tons of air!) but it doesn't seem like it makes more noise than it has to.So I am please with it's cooling power, and I'm pleased with it's manners - I like this unit.Don't believe all the marketing on the dual-hose design though - they do still use a fair bit of the air from the cooled area in the exhaust stream - it will create a significant negative pressure in whatever space you are cooling.That is likely not an issue for anyone, but I had two potential uses for an AC unit and this one is only useful for one of the uses I have because of this negative pressure, so it's worth noting.
I'm using this thing to provide supplemental and off-season cooling to a small server room (four rack mount servers). It's no louder than the servers when it runs, but it's noticeable. The drain is at the bottom, so I've had to prop it up on risers to get it draining into the condensation pump properly. It runs almost constantly, but it handles cooling servers that are pulling over 2000W total, so I'm extremely impressed.
Instead of going with another window AC unit we wanted something that we can move from one room to another. It's a bit loud, but not any louder than our old window unit. Also the venting is kind of cumbersome but the advantage of being able to move it from room to room exceeds the disadvantage of the bulky hoses. It has kept our front room (approximately 375 sq. ft) comfortable when the temps outside have been hot and humid. I'm very happy with this purchase.
I purchased this unit to alleviate the extreme heat inside of one of my rooms. This particular room housed the majority of my electronic equipment. This thing sure made a difference. After about a day of running it dropped the temperature about 20 degrees.The only downside that I would place on this would be the window adapter. It wasn't quite wide enough to completely seal my window (it missed the mark by about 4 inches). A simple fix of a piece of wood cut to size and some duct tape fixed it up nicely though.
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