Hessaire MC18V Portable Evaporative Cooler, Green, 1300 CFM, Cools 500 Square Feet

I don't normally give five stars even for something I think is a great product at a good value. I reserve the fifth star for durability. Previous owners have testified to the durability. First the disclaimer. It is NOT air conditioning. You don't get that for under $200. It is an evaporative cooler. It passes air through a damp media and when the water evaporates it absorbs heat. It's not magic, it's physics. The more water that evaporates the more heat that is absorbed. Since water does not like to evaporate in high humidity situations this cooler loses its effectiveness as the humidity increases. If your normal relative humidity STARTS at 40% don't even think about using this cooler. Also, for the same reason, you don't want to try to use it in a closed room, not even a closet. As the cooler operates the evaporated water adds to the humidity so after a short time the room becomes so humid the cooler quits working. The air coming in the back needs to be 100% new, not recurculated. Back the cooler up to an open window and also turn on some bathroom or kitchen exhaust fans to encourage air to come in the open window. I only use mine outdoors. That's how they work. Here's why this one is so good. An evaporative cooler only needs water, a pump, a fan, cooling media and a switch to control it all. This one has a reservoir large enough that you can get several hours out of a full tank. It has a water pump that keeps the water circulating over the media no matter how much is consumed. The fan serves two purposes. It pulls air into the back through the cooling media and out the front to cooler the user. This fan is plenty large enough to do both. The real key to its success is the size of the media. It follows. The larger the surface area of the media, the more the water evaporates, the more water that evaporates the more air that is cooled. Evaporative coolers need to be big because they need their media to be big. When you see the little one cubic foot miracle coolers being sold they're a joke. The media and fan are far too small to be effective. And finally the controls. A single rotary switch with five positions. Hi/lo wet, hi/lo dry and pump only. Why pump only? For prepping the media before cooling but mostly for maintenance. The nasty thing about evaporative coolers is that when the water evaporates it leaves everything that was in the water behind. If you have very hard water your media could turn into a brick in a single season. Since bricks aren't absorbent they don't make good cooler pads. You can keep the mineral deposits under control by circulating acidic water over the pads periodically either vinegar or Limeaway depending on how bad it is. Drain the water after cleaning. The pump only position allows you to pour in your solution, turn on the pump and walk away. Come back later, drain and refill and you're good for weeks more use. If you have RO water, soft water or filtered water cleaning becomes less of an issue. Two features this cooler has that most don't that I'm utilizing is the float inlet and the analog switch. They give you a garden hose adapter so you can hook a hose to it, turn the water on a bit and the tank fills and stays full with no need for refilling. I did it with 1/4 inch irrigation tubing because it's much smaller and easier to keep out of the way. The switch is unique because it doesn't involve any electronics. You can plug the cooler into a smart plug and turn it on or off with a phone app or voice assistant. The cherry on top is that it's made to last so it's repairable with available replacement parts. Try that with ANY Chinese made products.

Unless you can put it in front of a window or a source of dry air and have a door open on the other side of the room, it is just a big humidifier. It needs to work like a dairy barn. Fan pulls Outside air in though the pad and into the room. Only difference is the fan is on the other end of the dairy barn exhausting and pulling outside air through through the pad.not blowing into the barn. If it just circulated inside air though the pad it wouldn’t cool and if there was no exhaust it would be a soupy mess lol. If the air going thru the pad is not dry and it’s humid then there will be little to no evaporation occurring on the pad and thus no evaporative cooling effect If you’re in a dry place this will come in handy don’t need anything there just turn it on.

As usual, most of the so called high end stuff I buy that's made overseas is useless. As you can see from the pictures the pump does not appropriately pump water where needed. I had set this up in my garage gym for my afternoon workout, I'm close to Palm Springs so it's dry heat, and water coolers typically work just fine. But not this one! 109 in the garage / gym area, and this did pretty much nothing. I would not recommend this to anyone wanting to stay cool, but if you like to have an expensive fan that masquerades as a cooler, by all means this is for you!

I have the cooler located in a well covered and shaded outside area for my outside pets here in the Southwest. Had to replace cooler pump at two months (June - July) of daily 14 hour use. If used a lot, or use is of any importance, I recommend keeping a new spare cooler pump on hand. Shopping around will show that replacement cooler pumps are readily available, ranging from $18 to $43. Cooler pump replacement is fairly easy with videos available online. I will have this cooler going 14 hours a day thru August, possibly September. The overall size is convenient and will fit just about anywhere. For me, supplying water via the hose attachment is an absolute necessity, but the float valve only allows the water level to rise just high enough to completely cover the cooler pump, about 1/4 of the tanks capacity. The existing float is fixed, but adjustable floats are available from Hessaire. I am disappointed in the plastic used for the housing as it seems to be brittle, so I am very careful with it. I never pick the cooler up by the provided handle if there is water in the cooler as I am not convinced the housing could take it. For the money, I think it does a pretty good job. I think I might have been happier paying a little more for a more durable, higher end, higher output model, since it is only used in extreme outside conditions (108F to 118F).

I purchased the Hessaire MC18V a couple weeks ago to use in what can be a very hot sunroom that houses my cat. There is a long bank of windows that face east that allow the morning sun on summer days to become brutally hot. The poor cat needed some relief. I bought the Hessaire after much research and contemplation. The model I bought fit my budget...I thought after reading reviews it would be adequate for the space. Setting it up was simple...put on the wheels, fill with water, switch it on. From that moment the Hessaire began cooling the sunroom and is keeping it in the high 70s most days. To maximize the evaporative cooling system I open several windows behind the Hessaire and down the line of windows in front of the MC18V I open every third window. I also run a Vornado fan to move the air around. The evaporative cooling system is working better than I'd hoped. It's not too noisy on high fan and the quieter low fan setting is adequate most days. There hasn't been any issue with excess humidity (probably because there are several open windows). I am happy with this purchase so far. It's easy to put water in using a watering can with long narrow spout. Rolling the unit to put it away each evening is easy. I decided to drain the Hessaire after the first week. The drain is accessible and easy to use. I have been adding a half cup of white vinegar to the water every third day. I haven't noticed any foul odors. I have no complaints other than the not so beautiful army green color is not my favorite. I do recommend this product.