Do evaporative air conditioners actually work?

doopydug · 19 Jul 2013 at 15:42

This heat is murder - want to buy something for the bedroom to help keep it cool.

Looking at evaporative air conditioners - free standing units about £100 - £150

Does anyone have any experience of these?

Mat · 19 Jul 2013 at 15:50

That's how your body does it so I imagine it will keep the unit cool if nothing else

doopydug · 19 Jul 2013 at 16:04

Hehe - thanks for the help - lol

Reaper 392 · 19 Jul 2013 at 16:08

I have a pretty old free standing evaporative cooler sitting in my room. Its nowhere near as good as proper air conditioning, but it is much better than a normal fan. When it gets really hot a normal fan just blows warm air into your face, but the cooler will blow cool air into my face. It doesn't cool the room down very much, but it cools down whoever is sitting in front of it a good amount

krooton · 19 Jul 2013 at 16:10

They do work, but are heavily linked to humidity. If it is very muggy in your house, then they won't do much.

mattyfez · 19 Jul 2013 at 16:12

I picket one up from B&Q a few years back for about £30.

As said, better than a fan, not as good as air con.
Wont cool a whole room very well, but fine if you aim it toward your bed/sofa.

zola25 · 19 Jul 2013 at 16:28

I used to use an evaporative cooler, but as mentioned it can make rooms very humid which can be just as bad, or worse than the heat. If you shop around, you can find portable air conditioners for a little more than the £150 you quoted. From my experience these are far more effective.

Pawnless Endgame · 19 Jul 2013 at 21:56

Yeah you want the opposite really. Air con that condenses water as opposed to giving water out. Humidifiers (what the OP is asking about) is better for the desert environment where it's dry heat.

Lt_Red · 20 Jul 2013 at 02:02

Monserrat said:
Humidifiers (what the OP is asking about) is better for the desert environment where it's dry heat.

"Knock it off Hudson!"

httk · 25 Jul 2013 at 23:35

I want to get one of these, just to cool me while I'm trying to get to sleep. I realise it won't cool the room but it should cool me enough so I'm more comfortable.

Does anyone know where I can get one for about £50? Argos have one on offer but it is not available ANYWHERE, which is annoying.

v0n · 26 Jul 2013 at 00:11

As mentioned before, in hot weather humans will prefer dehumidified higher temperature to humid, sticky environment even at lower temperature. Even relatively ineffective portable air con unit will be always better than swamp cooler/evaporative cooler even if (which is highly unlikely) its cooling properties were worse, purely because it doesn't rely on increasing humidity for cooling.