As summer approaches our apartment increasingly becomes more and more unbearable due to the heat that builds up during the day, the lack of ventilation and the fact that because of the floor to ceiling windows the sun beats in through the blinds into our living area for more than 7 hours. At the first sign of increasing temperatures life used to become a living nightmare and relations between my partner and I would become strained as we became agitated with the heat. This resulted in an ultimatum, buy an air conditioner or suffer further heated arguments.
Not being a person who normally rushes into buying things without researching them properly first I had to make an exception in this case and ordered the Convair Magicoolair conditioning unit without doing any real comparison in the spring of 2006. At that time
it cost 295 Euros (approximately £200) but I have no seen them advertised for lower prices, the cheapest being 220 Euros (approximately £155).
The air conditioning unit when it arrived required assembling. The box contained:
The unit casing measuring 76cm in height, 43.5cm wide and 31.5cm deep. A fan A water reservoir A set of very small screws A construction leaflet An instruction manual
Constructing the unit was quite difficult many due to the size of the screws, they were tiny and I had to go out and buy a very narrow four point screwdriver. Actually holding onto them long enough to screw the main sections together was some task but not the end of the world and I have to say the construction guide was very clear and the diagrams easy to follow. Made from a strengthened plastic, once fully constructed and prior to the reservoir being filled with water there is a considerable amount of weight to the unit and it weighs roughly 8.5kg.
The unit is an evaporative air conditioner, which works by blowing air using the fan through a wet filter membrane. Within the instruction manual the manufacturer gives a description of how it works that states that as the water in the membrane evaporates it causes cooling like when you wet your finger and blow on it. It also states that the unit is suitable to cool an area 9 metres squared.
Our living area is an open plan space measuring 18 metres by 12 metres, about twice the size of the area this unit is suitable for however this does not seem to have decreased its efficiency at all. The first time we used the air conditioner we placed it about a 100cm from the wall quite centrally and switched it onto its highest setting (of which it has three, low, medium and high). At that time the temperature according to our kitchen thermometer was running at 28 degrees centigrade and it was uncomfortable and stuffy no matter where in the room I would sit or stand.
As soon as it was switched on it juddered for a few minutes and then settled down but most impressive was the near instantaneous flow of cool air filtering out from the fan area. The higher the setting, the faster the fan spins and standing approximately 2 metres away from the unit I could feel the cool air blowing on my legs. After it had been working for an hour the temperature in the flat had decreased to 25 degrees centigrade and was a lot more bearable. When we used the unit in our bedroom which is smaller the reduction in temperature was far more dramatic. On the highest setting in a room 3.5 metres by 4 metres it never fails to reduce the temperature by at least 7-8 degrees centigrade when being used constantly.
Running the unit during the night is never a problem as it is actually a lot quieter than running a series of electric fans. There is noise produced but isn’t one of those noises that will keep you awake. As we have a busy road outside we rarely hear the unit over this noise. Ensuring that the reservoir is always full is the only problem I have with the unit. A warning light or an alarm would be a nice addition and a great time saver instead of continually checking to see if it needs to be replenished.
The initial outlay on the ConvairMagicool unit was a little excessive in my view and the fact that it has decreased so much in price over such a short space of time has left me a little bit vocal about the rush to purchase, however for the results it has produced it is nothing short of a life saving device, even in a area much larger than it is allegedly suitable for. As the temperatures start to become unbearable again this year we have dusted off the unit and despite 6 months of inaction it works today as it did the day I first set it up.
With the price it is available at today and the likelihood it will continue to drop in price I would certainly recommend this to people who find themselves restless in the hot weather and are looking for a device to make their homes that little bit cooler.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Effective coolong area is up to 10m² No vent hose is required - truly portable Ultra quiet ... more
stealth fan - ideal for bedrooms Uses tap water- 13litre tank Energy efficient - uses less electricity than a 100w bulb Reduce temperature by up to 30% Airlow 54...
exceptional by (2%):
very helpful by (98%):
