5.0 out of 5 stars Compact, lightweight , and powerful

S. · August 7, 2018

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } I received this air conditioner a few days ago. I selected it based on the fact that it is "self-evaporative", lightweight, (47 lbs) and relatively small. My husband and I have 3 portable air conditioners now . All of them work well and we like all of them, butI think this unit may turn out to be our favorite . It's kind of a long story, but I learned a lot & got some good info from reading reviews , so I'll tell you what I know. The climate where I live , coastal southern California, has changed a lot in the 50 years I've been here. The summers used to be so mild that older houses like mine don't have air conditioning . It simply wasn't needed. That's the past. My husband & I bought our first PAC a few years ago . This unit is 12,000 BTUs and meant to cool a much smaller area than our living room . Running it full blast morning to late evening it keeps the living room at a much more bearable 77 degrees. This unit is not self-evaporative . We run a hose out the door into a bucket . We use thesurprisingly large amount of water we collect to water plants. (This really makes me think about the viability of atmospheric water collection.) The only bad thing is that we've had regular problems with it leaking in the house where the drain hose connects. This can make a mess before we notice anything is going on. We bought the second unit a year ago for our home office/ workshop. This is a 20x12 room with a vaulted ceiling that a previous owner built onto the back of the garage.One wall is mostly glass and it's a little hot box in summer. This time we knew enough to look for a self-evaporative unit .I bought the SPT WA-8088E 8000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner , 8,000 BTUs and about 51 pounds. From reading other reviews we understood that elevating the unit would speed up cooling the area. Also from reading reviews I was doubtful about the self-evaporative thing really working . I installed the unit on top of a tall dresser , and suspicion made me hook upa drain hose to a bucket. The unit makes the workroom a lot more comfortable . The unit has never run any water into the bucket at all . The norm for our area has been that it always cooled down at night , but for the past month it has stayed warm all night making it hard to sleep. I decided to buy another SPT-WA for the bedroom. When I looked on Bolo I saw that the price had gone up, and I stumbled on this unit, the COSTWAY 10,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner. The BTUs arehigher and the unit is smaller and lighter. I was a little concerned that we might have to wait a bit for delivery as it was not Prime eligible , but delivery was free and it actually came in two days anyway. We again installed the unit elevated, in a recessed window seat When we turned the unit on it took a few minutes for the air coming out to be cold, but then it did. Our bedroom is 12'x13' . We close up the bedroom and turn it on about an hour before bedtime. In that time it makes the room COLD. Not sure about the evaporation thing yet, but so far so good. If we do have to dump it ,at least the unit is relatively lightweight.One caveat : all of these units came with window kits that were inadequate to our needs. These "window kits are usually about 48" long . Our living room has 4 double sliding glass doors, no "windows". Our studio/office likewise has glass doors,no windows. The windows in our bedroom are 55" high by 68" long. My husband has become adept at adapting the insertsto fit . Because two of these units are installed in doors , and the panels are somewhat wide, for security reasons we feel obliged to remove the assemblies from the openings when we leave the house. The living room unit has a panel that is 10"wide, wide enough perhaps for someone to squeeze through. Another nice thing about the COSTWAY 10,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner is that the panel is slim: It looks to be about 4" wide. With a dowel blocking the sliding window wefeel secure enough to leave it in place when we go out. I should really take pictures of the inserts my husband has made and adapted , but I'll have to leave that for another day . I should be doing something else right now, but I am delighted enough with this purchase that I thought it might help someone else if I passed that along. So far we haven't had problems with any of these PACs . Also our electric bills are not astronomical , which was a concern when we went into this.

5.0 out of 5 stars Ease of use and effectiveness portable A/C unit

c.l.v. · January 21, 2021

The media could not be loaded. I think it’s pretty well built. It cools down right away. Main modes are Cool, Dehumidify and Fan. Comes with the hardware to run the exhaust out of a window (see picture).We bought it to use in our bedroom, cause sometimes at night with the heat on get so hot and we can’t sleep, our old one broke so we decided for this one that is more compact and versatile since combines 3 functions in one, has 8000 BTU, two fan speed and also is a dehumidifier with 50 pints per day dehumidify capacity.What’s nice is that you don’t need a hose or a bucket for the water. The water evaporates and goes out via the exhaust. Remote control: LED screen that tells you the current settings. You can control every single setting with the remote; even on/off.The unit “beeps” every time it received a signal from the remote. Other features… You can select Fahrenheit or Celsius. You can set a Timer. Lights on control panel can be turned off (too bright at night). The “Sleep Mode” will make it quieter during the night.It's not quiet, but the sound it makes is more "white noise" than "noise" and it is a smooth, consistent sound which you can adapt to, the wheels are good an and makes easy to move around.You can move the shutter vertically and horizontally, to change wind direction.Filter slide out rinses easily under a faucet, leaving the air fresh as well as cool. Extremely happy with our purchase, recommended.

4.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for surviving night shift in the summer

M. · July 17, 2020

My husband and I moved to night shift last autumn, and even during the winter noticed that our room gets quite warm during the day when we were asleep, so we needed an AC unit. Our building prohibits in-window machines, so I grabbed one that would cool down the room without getting us in trouble.Installation and set-up was very easy, except for the part that fits into the window. We don't exactly have small windows, but the piece that slots in was about four inches too long and needed to be cut short. Other reviews suggested I may have to do this, so I was prepared for this eventuality. After cutting the piece to size, it slotted nicely into the window.Setup and installation went very smoothly aside from needing to cut a piece off. Everything fits together snugly and doesn't feel loose or cheap during assembly. The hose could be a little more flexible, but most people probably will not be trying to use this unit in a window with blackout curtains.Another issue I noticed from other reviews was the reservoir filling very quickly. For the first week or two, we had no problem, and did not even need to empty it. But it was extremely hot during that time. When the weather was forecast to start cooling down and raining for a few weeks, I placed the unit on a raised surface, and put a small bucket beneath it. The manual indicates that tilting the unit while it is full could result in the water within the reservoir spilling into the unit, causing damage. As the drain is almost flush with the carpet, I was not looking forward to either of us having to try to haul this unit across the apartment to empty into the bath, as would have otherwise been the only option. I also was not looking forward to an alarm waking us up if it needed to be drained while we were asleep, as the entire point of this for us was to run while we are in bed, and be off for the rest of the time.When I drained the unit after placing a small tupperware bucket beneath it, very little water came out - less than a cup. The next day, however, it rained, and when we awoke that evening, we found the bucket had completely overflowed and made a giant mess on our carpet. We swapped out the bucket for a larger, 1-gallon one with a handle, to make it easier to empty. This unit filled this bucket to the brim, and still occasionally overflowed into the roast pan we put down to protect our poor carpets.The last few days, it has been hot again, and the unit has since returned to a very small dribble that evaporates over the time between waking up in the afternoon, and going to bed the next morning. I do not consider the water itself a fault of the machine, as there is little it can do to defy the laws of physics. It's obvious that the hose being hotter than the air outside the window is just causing quite a lot of condensation in the hose/unit. However, what I would consider a fault of the unit is way it drains. Had I known the drain outlet was at the very base of the unit, I would have probably gone with a larger machine that had a removable reservoir. We will likely be continuing to use through the summer, and then switching back to fans when the rainy season returns, because rushing to empty a gallon of water into the sink isn't exactly the best way to wake up each morning, and the alternative is being woken up by the alarm that sounds when the unit needs to be emptied.However, this machine definitely does its job. We do not have to be running several fans and swamp coolers in the bedroom in order to get a very restless sleep. Having a cool room has allowed us to sleep through the hottest part of the day without even noticing the heat. Buckets of water and emergency roast pans on the floor are a small price to pay for trying to sleep during the day in the summer.

Great little air conditioner.

d. · July 29, 2021

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } Regrettably, I had to return this air conditioner. That being said, the issue was a clacking noise which could easily have been caused by poor handling during shipping. In terms of effect, it's a great little air conditioner. It cools surprisingly well for something so small - easily the smallest out of all the air conditioners we have (and we have 4 others). It's also very light and was easy to move around to different rooms, and the ir burst remote worked well even from quite a distance. The only reason we opted for refund instead of replacement for the clacking is the long wait for shipping since we are in the midst of summer. I will be keeping this on my list for future if we ever need to replace one.Their customer service was also very helpful and friendly. Because of the super long shipping times they offered a partial refund with no return needed if I wanted to keep it. I decided not to as the clacking was very distracting in my office workspace which is what this one was for ( and would be in bedrooms as well). Very accommodating and let me keep this one until I could go to best buy for a replacement. 10/10 customer service.

Noisy, not cold enough, very disappointed

B. · May 27, 2023

For starts, I thought I bought 8,000 BTU but yellow energy guide label in box says 5,000.I bought this in June 2021 during Lower Mainland BC Canada heat dome (43c temps). It was meant to be a backup to my older Arctic King a/c in case that one didn’t survive the extreme heat. I made the HUGE MISTAKE of gaving away the old one over this past winter as I decided to start using the Costway a/c this year. BIG MISTAKE!! It had been securely stored for 2 years in original packaging (box never opened). I set it up in my bedroom and was immediately disappointed that the lowest temp setting is 18c, not 16c like other a/c’s. It makes a whirring noise which is more annoying than the motor. It turns off and on when it decides it’s reached optimum cooling temp, but I wake up sweating and frustrated waiting for it to come back on. Very loud, very inefficient and very much a waste of the $600 I paid for it in June 2021. Today is May 27, 2023, and I’ve used this Costway for a total of 9 nights, on and off depending on weather. There will be no tenth!!! I’ve had enough sleepless nights of noise and sweating and frustration. This morning I went online to BestBuy and bought a 12,000 BTU with temp setting starting at 16c (18c is not nearly cold enough). I’ll donate this Costway to a senior’s home where residents are hearing impaired. Someone may as well use it - just won’t be me! Sadly, the extra expense will hurt very much, but as a 64 year old gramma I owe it to myself to be comfortable and sleep well! DON’T BUY THIS A/C.

Loved it!

A.m. · May 25, 2022

Got the one I ordered and it works amazing!! Not loud and easy to drain out the door for every piece I was suppose to get and instructions were easy to understand I also got a two year warranty because they are always amazing to deal with as I have had with them before love dehumidifier too fills up fast and isn’t hard to drain all and all it was worth the money and the shipping was about a week only and in perfect condition when I got it also got a tracking number with it which made me feel much more comfortable

COSTWAY Portable Air Conditioner with Remote Control Dehumidifier Function

J.S. · July 29, 2021

Nice compact portable A/C unit, that rolls easily for portability and mobility. Louvers allow you to control the airflow around the room and to direct the cold air as needed. With climate change, higher temperatures, more humidity, and more heat waves, this was a no brainer. Not as quiet as I had hoped, but in low fan mode, it is bearable to sleep with. Remote control works fine from anywhere in the room.Downside, is the fan selector is either High or Low. No medium. The exhaust hose was also not long enough, considering the small size of this unit, so I had to buy an extension hose to be able to reach the window. (Unless your unit is directly below the window, it is going to be a stretch).For the money (I paid $475), I would recommend this unit.

As an air conditioner it does it's job, but...

Q.F. · September 4, 2021

It works well. It is a nice air conditioner. Although is may not be powerful, it fits well for what I have intended to use it for.Problem is, it acts oddly making it hard to use what I intended it for. It stopps running when it believes the location's air tempature reaches what number it believes I want the room at. It does not turn back on when it heats up again, when surprisingly the air conditioner is not running. I want use it at nights to make my room cool, but it never stays on for long due to this weird function. This function is not even told in the description nor the user manuel, which frusturates me.I wish I could turn off the function that makes it turn off cooling when it reaches it's temperature it was set to reach. It will cool nothing if it cannot stay on and compete with the heat. If this function could be controlled so I could circumvent it, I would rate it many times higher than now.