Whirlwind Air Cooler/Heater/Humidifier/ Ionizer
by Fujitronics
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List Price: Our Price: $105.95 You Save: $14.04 (12%) Availability: Usually ships in 2-3 business days Category: Kitchen See more product details |
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Kitchen and Housewares Reviews of Whirlwind Air Cooler/Heater/Humidifier/ Ionizer
Customer Review: Cool product
Summary: 4 Stars
What attracted me to this product: multiseason multipurpose! A heater, fan and air cooler in one appliance.
(*Have not tried the heater feature yet-- our recent weather is too hot to make this feasible-- check back in
6 mos if you want to know my impressions of that.)
Initial reservations: Lack of consumer reviews, uncertainty whether a swamp cooler could actually cool the air
in the climate where I live (Portland, OR), no "Consumer Reports" writeup on swamp coolers.
Unexpected qualities: The air cleaning feature (negative ion generator) really does freshen the air-- enough
to clear my stuffy sinuses and neutralize annoying smells like catbox, deep fry oil, and that weird smell the
vacuum cleaner makes. Unit looks good & rolls easily away into small corner when not in use. The icepacks/
icebar are a great design improvement to the traditional "swamp cooler" concept (and can be borrowed to
chill your lunch.) Remote is more handy than anticipated. Overall awesome value for the price.
The web sez that swamp coolers work best when & where the relative humidity is below 55%. They will work
at a higher RH, just not as effectively. You can find the RH & temperature stats for your area on weather
websites. Don't be deterred just b/c yr area has "average RH" over 55%, as we do here in Portland. On closer
examination of the numbers, I found that our hottest days are typically also the most dry, quite below 50%.
Whirlwind cooling is not like "real" AC; the effect is much subtler, takes a few minutes to be felt, and requires
fresh air input (I.e. open windows on each side of a room). It's not so much an objective BTU type of deal so
much as a subjective sense of coolness. I actually appreciate this; AC often makes me feel chilled and raw in
the throat.
Minor design issues: For as frequently as one needs to refill the water tank, the tank is rather inconveniently
situated for filling using any pitcher, bucket or jug in my house (the best thing we've found so far has been
an empty whiskey bottle). Indeed, it almost seems designed to be filled using a hose, which is not something
often kept indoors. Why not a removable reservoir, like many humidifiers/dehumidifiers? Or at least an
accessory (port? hose? special long spouted watering can?) of some kind for easier filling... Turning the unit
OFF often doesn't turn it all the way off; it seems to want to stay in a standby mode unless you unplug it
altogether. Power cable is shorter than I like.
I ordered my Whirlwind from American eSuperstore on 5/27/05. I first tried to order through their site, but it
locked up, so I called the toll free #. The product was out of stock at the time and so I did not receive it until
6/20/05. It cost $119.00 plus 19.99 shipping, but if you go to their customer reviews page you can find a
code for $10 off.
Customer Review: ...
Summary: 1 Stars
Don't waste your money.
Very poor quality. Doesn't help to cool very much. Difficult to clean, and refill.
You can't remove the inside unit to add water. You litterally have to pour it in. Even if adding the frozen compress into the unit, it does very little to help cool down a room. If you want to cool down a VERY SMALL sized room, this may help, otherwise don't bother. I tried using it for my bedroom which is pretty average sized, and my fan worked much better than this.
Customer Review: Terrific Air Cooler
Summary: 5 Stars
I live in a dry, desert region in Southern California and the summers can get over 100o easily. The cost of running your AC here in astronomical and the fact that this unit uses only 57 watts on the high setting is already saving me tons of money.
The air purifier aspect seems to be working well. The air quality here is horrible, but since I've been using the FH-776 model, I've noticed it's somewhat easier to breathe.
Fan and air cooling ability? Very, very good. The fan can be set to swing mode so it'll get more coverage. The ice packs it comes with are somewhat useless(I just add ice cubes to the water tank), but the cold compress helps(it sits just above the water tank to help cool any evaporating air and cools it more before being blown out).
I mostly use it in a room of about 450 sq ft and it does ok during the day. To feel its effects during the day, you need to be sitting right in the air path, which feels great. I run it the most at night in front of a window(to pull in cool air) and the whole room is nice and cool by morning.
It's very portable: four wheel casters and side handles for easy moving and it can be put in a corner when not using it. The removable filter can be cleaned quickly and easily. The water tank is very accessible and will shut off if you open it to fill it up.
The modes you can run it in are good: nature, breeze, sleep. Nature has a consistent flow of air. Breeze will change just like actual breezes: strong one second, weak the next. Sleep mode automatically changes from off, low, med and high at varied intervals.
Finally, the 7.5 hour timer is great. I've set it right before going to bed and even after it had shut off, it still had some water in the tank when I got up.
Oh yeah, and the remote comes in very handy. The only button missing on the remote is to turn on the air purifier aspect, but that's ok.
Customer Review: the cooler is not ok
Summary: 2 Stars
I do not like this combination. The heater is good. but do not expect the cooler can cool your room in the summer.