QUBO EBERG is a powerful portable air conditioner whose task is to effectively cool the temperature inside the room. How does it work in practice and is it worth buying? Reviews, test.
We live in the attic in a multi-family house. I work from home and often, especially during film editing, the temperature in the room becomes unbearable. West window, bevels, and additionally water cooling, which makes sure that the computer’s processor does not heat up to more than 85 degrees Celsius. All this means that on summer days the temperature in the room is practically the same as outside. I can neither think nor work. That’s why I’ve been thinking about installing air conditioning for a long time. It turned out, however, that I am not able to use the split solution – numerous slants in the attic rooms mean that there is simply no place to hang the unit. And it is split type air conditioning that is the best solution – it is quiet, efficient, relatively small. And for people who cannot make a hole in the wall because, for example, they rent an apartment or there is no place for it, solutions such as portable air conditioners have been developed. The choice fell on EBERG QUBO for two reasons – first of all, higher cooling power than compared devices (It’s better to have a reserve of power and use its parts than vice versa), and the fact that I once bought a dehumidifier for a garage that has been working for almost 4 years non-stop stop in smart mode and additionally produce demineralized water. It works great, nothing happens to it, so I trusted again and entrusted my own money to EBERG. And it was not a small amount, because QUBO costs PLN 2,150.
What is a portable air conditioner and how is it different from others?
A portable air conditioner is a device that is used to cool and regulate the temperature in a room. It works in a similar way to a traditional air conditioner, but it has advantages and disadvantages that are worth considering before deciding to buy it. The portable air conditioner consists of several main components such as the compressor, fan, heat exchanger and controller. It works on the principle of evaporation and condensation of the refrigerant in a closed circuit. The process starts with heat sight glasses inside the room that absorb heat and moisture from the air. The fan then directs the airflow through the heat exchanger, where the cooling vapor evaporates and the heat is removed to the outside. As a result, cool and purified air enters the room.
What are the advantages of such a portable air conditioner? First of all, its portability. The device is usually equipped with wheels or handles, which allows it to be easily moved from one room to another. This can be especially useful if you want to concentrate cooling in a specific area of your home, or if you’re renting an apartment and can’t install a permanent air conditioner. Most of these devices are very easy to install. Usually, it is enough to connect the device to the power supply and lead the hot air hose outside the room (usually through the window). This does not require any complicated installation work or wall mounting. Due to the technology of operation of such an air conditioner, most of them also perform additional functions such as air purification (thanks to filters), drying, circulation, and as in the case of the EBERG QUBO tested by me – also the process reversal and the possibility of heating the room in winter. Among the functions of this device there is also a night mode, three-stage fan speed control, programmable working time, oscillation mode (the ventilation grille moves only in the horizontal axis), remote control and the ability to connect the device to TUYA Smart to control it, e.g. with smart plugs, run remotely or by schedule.
What are the disadvantages of portable air conditioners? Most devices suffer from the same problems related to the way they work – they are less efficient compared to split type devices, they take up more space, consume more energy, they must be able to discharge the warm air outside the room (usually a hose through the window), which forces a bit of a place where it can be placed in the house. However, quite a noticeable problem of portable air conditioners is significant noise during its operation. These are values reaching up to 65 decibels in some units, which is louder than a working vacuum cleaner.
EBERG QUBO – first impressions
The device is big and heavy. I had the wrong impression that it would not be bigger than, for example, an air purifier or a larger fan. Meanwhile, it weighs 37 kilograms, I barely carried it up the stairs to the attic, and it’s bigger than an office refrigerator. The appearance of the device is fine – the shape and colors are associated with modernity and fit different rooms.
Included with the air conditioner is a remote control, flexible
air exhaust pipe (1.5 meters long and folds into a concertina), condensation drain pipe and ClimaLock window seal. In fact, ClimaLock is a Velcro tape that needs to be glued to both the window and the frame. A plastic material is applied to it. A zipper runs through its center. After fixing, put the warm air pipe through the opening, slide the zipper and thus create an outlet of warm air to the outside. I am not entirely satisfied with the quality of Climalock. I asked the manufacturer if I would be able to open and close the window as needed after installing this system. I got the answer that no problem. In fact, it is very difficult, and when I finally managed to do it – the material ripped. The zipper tape itself is also quite stiff and it is impossible to fit it perfectly to the flexible tube. There is always a hole at the top and bottom big enough to put two fingers in it. The window is reasonably secured from the top, bottom and handle side. However, on the left – where the hinges are, no longer. As part of the tests, I closed the ClimaLock sliders, pulled the pipe from the air conditioner and checked the tightness. On a windy day, the curtain moved with … maximum ClimaLock sealing.
Air conditioner parameters and performance
The air conditioner has a cooling and heating capacity of 4 kW (14,000 BTU). The dehumidification capacity is 70L per day, the air flow is 450 m3 per hour. The minimum noise is 54 decibels.
The airflow of this air conditioner is actually quite good. Even at the minimum blow level, it moves all the curtains in a small room. Certainly it is not equipment for small rooms, more for large living rooms. It is dedicated to rooms of 50 square meters. It will easily push the air up to 7-8 meters ahead. I tested it in a room less than 10 meters in the attic. While with the door closed it cools very quickly and noticeably, after opening the door, only after a few hours you could feel the temperature change in the corridor. There was no chance to cool the bedroom across the apartment. The effect was achieved only by adding a fan, whose task was to additionally push the air in the corridor.
EBERG QUBO – work volume
What about device volume? No chance of sleeping with him in the same room – don’t believe this marketing gibberish. With the compressor running, even the minimum level of blowing is loud. So much so that I turn it off at night, because even in the aforementioned bedroom at the other end of the apartment I can hear it. It would be much better to throw the device onto the balcony/terrace and blow cool air into the apartment, not the other way round (warm outside). I just don’t have that option.
Efficiency
As I mentioned earlier, with the door closed, the device cools down quite well and, above all, quickly. However, the coolness is felt only when the air conditioner is operating. There is no chance to set it, for example, for a few hours in the evening to enjoy a chilled apartment all night. After a dozen or so minutes, the effect is as if we did not have an air conditioner. I mention this because I thought and read many questions about this – many people justify the purchase of a loud device, hoping that it will turn off at night, enjoying the coolness. It is not and you must be aware of it.
Smart functions in the air conditioner
Here I had a slight problem, because the manufacturer on his website suggests installing a dedicated application for this device. However, after its installation, creating an account – the application was unable to detect EBERG QUBO. I also tried TUYA Smart, because I use this application with many devices at home. Here, however, it was necessary to reset the device to factory settings to start its synchronization. It is a pity that the manufacturer did not write in the instructions how to do it. It was only in the network that I found a mention somewhere that after connecting to the network, the device cannot be started, and the function button must be held down. Then I was able to add the device to the list. The preview itself in the application is terrible – the contrast is so bad that it’s hard to read the parameters. In addition, despite the cooling function being turned on, the application shows it as “heating”. But you can remotely start the device, set the temperature, fan speed, etc.
