Port-A-Cool KuulAire PACKA44 Portable Evaporative Cooling Unit with 175 sq ft Cooling Capacity, Silver

I got this as an early mothers day gift. I am having a baby any day now and I do not have central ac in my apartment. It blows really cool air without taking it off the regular fan setting and putting it on the "cool" setting. When its on the cool setting the air is very cool. You can put ice in it as well with water and use it like a swamp cooler and the air will be even colder. Basicly the colder the water the colder the air. You do need to have a window or door cracked open for the air to circulate and the cooler to work properly. It only works for one big room at a time but its soo worth it, you just have to move it room to room. It makes like a white noise sound almost like a fan while its on. That may or not be good for someone. It's perfect for me since I can't sleep in quiet. I'm glad I got it so now me and my baby don't have to be super hot all summer.

This little tiny cooler works GREAT! It is lightweight, easy to clean, and easy to refill/drain. Our a/c is broken at work, so this little machine makes a big difference. I'd say it cools 5-7 degrees depending on the time of day and makes it just a little less stifling in the office (I will take 80 degree heat over 85 degree heat anyday). The air coming out is slightly cooler than the surrounding air but it's not cold like an air conditioner because it ISN'T AN A/C. It does use a good deal of water and needs refills almost everyday. Works even better if you put a little ice in with the water tank... the air coming out gets icy cold and feels fantastic. It is a bit loud and can sometimes rattle a bit, but I just keep it on the intermediate setting instead of high and haven't had any real problems with it. For the price, you won't find a better cooling fan unit. Now I just want to buy a few more of these so I don't have to roll it from room to room!

The unit was very affordable and arrived quickly with the shipping offered. Quick to use right out of the box was a pleasant surprise, as no assembly was required. I wish more devices were "plug and play" like this. The cooler had a remote control which worked great, and three blower settings for the functions. My interest was cooling, ad we filled the large capacity reservoir with very cold water and a lot of ice and the unit had an immediate impact during our major heat wave. It really blew cool air, and it was a simple matter to drain off a bit of water and add more ice to keep the room very cool. As the cold water is pumped up to the top of the unit to pour down over the filtered evaporator screen to create cold, it is also a simple matter to open the top access door and add ice there as well. It made the unit extremely effective. I also found that draining all the water out and letting it completely dry keeps the unit clean and free of any odor. There is a slight "new equipment smell" for the first hour or so, which as the instructions state, clears quickly. For the price I was impressed and certainly recommend the unit.

Wow. I cannot believe how many stupid people write reviews on this product. This is an EVAPORATIVE COOLER, not an air conditioner! It cools you by blowing moist air into the room and absorbing some of the heat. Of course the room's going to be more humid! You're blowing moisture into the air (the definition of humidity...)! My wife and I use this in our room and it works fine. We live in the Nevada desert and our room faces the afternoon sun. This cooler takes the room temp down almost 10 degrees during the summer when we aren't using our A/C system. It's just right for one small room but won't do an entire house (not even close). As for noise, it's a fan that running, so yeah, there's some noise to it but it's not incredibly loud. The only drawback to this is that you will have to clean it often and change the media every year if you have hard water. The calcium deposits will build up fast and clog the paper media inside. It also leaked water after the deposits caused the water to weep out the back under the dust filter. But again that was not unexpected, just annoying. If you have soft water the media should be fine for a long time. Also you have to clean the water reservoir out occasionally as it will start to smell. A bit of bleach in the water will kill the smell but it still collects dirt in the bottom slowly.

I ordered this online & got it 4-28-12, I live in Arizona. I bought it because KuulAire is a well known name in cooling. I also liked that it had the 4 gallon water reservoir. My last one was made by Fujitronic & had a 2 gallon tank. I plugged it in & turned it on & it blows great cold air, my only problem is that it's too loud. The air coming out is really loud & I have this in my bedroom next to the bed to cool at night. There's no way I can run this at night & sleep, plus I can forget about watching tv near it, it's so loud I have to turn up the tv volume. So Im either gonna give it to my girlfriend who lives upstairs in a apt complex & they get really hot up there or return it. But Im gonna buy another Fujitronic cooler I found them online under there name. At least their quiet when they run

I read the reviews before I purchased and was a little apprehensive but purchased anyway, and I am glad I did. With being an evaporative cooler it puts out a lot of cold air, add ice to the water on a 90 degree day and it keeps the room about 71 degrees. Very impressed for being such a small unit.

I got this a couple days ago and it was cold when you were close but didnt do much. but after a couple times it started to work great and made me actually cold lol. i think it needed a couple times since it was new to get it working good. i would recommend this to friends and family

I'm glad that I purchased this despite some of the reviews. The important thing to remember is that the drier the climate where you live, the better it will work. Living in the dry AZ desert is optimum for this. I have a small home and no evap cooler, only AC. I purchased this with the idea of using it to keep just one room or where I am cool when the temps are up but not so hot that the whole house AC is needed. I am very pleased, it works great. I am thinking of purchasing another one to keep permanently in the bedroom. I dont find the need for using ice as the other reviews have mentioned, but that is an interesting option. It is rather loud if you are trying to watch the tv, but thats what the volume is for right? For the price, this is a great deal and it will more than pay for itself in AC bill savings.

I was hopeful when I bought this, even though I had seen several negative reviews. Most people know that evaporative coolers are really only effective in arid climates, and I thought previous reviewers may not have adhered to that. I live in Southern California, where it's about as hot and dry as can be, and was looking forward to plugging this in in a back bedroom, but was sorely disappointed. The advertising says it covers 175 sq. feet. I think that 1.75 inches is a bit more accurate. There was no difference in the temperature just a few feet away (I had a thermometer). When one's head is right up to the unit, one can feel the cool air, but that's it. I'll be returning this as soon as I'm able.

Where we live 40% humidity is typical. Summer nights are 65ish and days 95ish. We use a whole house fan to cool down to 70ish over night. We use the whole house AC only if we need to because it costs almost $1/hr. If temp inside is below 80 we use a standard fan. 80-85 we use the Port a Cool as a fan and it's quite effective. Above 85 we use the whole house AC. The Port a Cool consumes 80-90 watts/hr and one gallon of water every four hours. Since a gallon of water requires 8700 BTUs to evaporate, the unit cools at a rate of 2200 BTU/hr (20ish BTU/Watt). A small 600 watt window AC unit will cool 5000 BTU/hr (8ish BTU/Watt). The temp drop we measured is 5-8 degrees from room temp to Port a Cool outlet. Thus if the room is 80 the Port a Cool blows 75ish which we find quite comfortable. The Port a Cool cools the air more cheaply than a room AC and it is much much cheaper than running the whole house AC ( 1cent/hr vs 1$/hr). But we did not find it very effective at cooling even a small room. I does work quite well as a "misting fan".