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Terry Brendemuehl photo
Australia, Canberra
1 Level
719 Review
20 Karma

Review on 🌬️ Hessaire MC18M Portable Evaporative Cooler: 1300 CFM, Cools 500 Sq Ft (Color May Vary) by Terry Brendemuehl

Revainrating 4 out of 5

and FAR is the best. Full Disclosure - I only owned it for .

I didn't buy this through Revain but since no one commented on here I went with it. This is my fourth swamp cooler since 1995 and by far the best. Full Disclosure - I've only owned it for a day. The last unit was the Arctic Cove 350. It leaked after a year of use, sucked air through the flow control valve around the same time and died after three years so it was time for a replacement. I have used a few Arctic Cove 500 and 700 models in my work - I used to think I might upgrade but I will never buy this brand again. This Hessaire has a 1300 cfm capacity (the Arctic Cove model numbers above correspond to their cfm capacity). If I don't succeed I'll downgrade my rating, but for now: this is a real swamp cooler with no BS. The fan is far enough away from the filter media that this should not be a problem, the tank can be refilled on the fly and there is no need to turn off the unit and pull out the tank to refill. The downside, of course, is that it's a bit harder to maintain, but unless you know you don't know swamp coolers, you should either get an education or just stay away from the whole genre. Two issues on first impressions: the drain plug seems to be a definite point of failure (leak) going forward, and the control switch seems REALLY cheap and flimsy. The time will show. The two wheel casters were so difficult to install that I was afraid of breaking the whole block. But if like me you live in a greenhouse royalty and don't like paying hundreds of dollars for AC power, this thing (again with a day of ownership but years of swamp cooler experience) seems like a winner. EDIT 7/26/2018: Thing works. I've drained it twice (not out of necessity, just to test) and so far have had no issues with the previously mentioned drain plug issue. The best swamp cooler I've ever had. It uses a lot of water on high settings, but low settings are still better than anything I've had and lasts 8 hours. At the moment my points of criticism are few and far between - the "door" for water reloading is difficult to close. You have to be careful not to break the latch. I also wish there was a timer mode to "air out" the filter media for 30 minutes after turning it off. But if the thing works the same way in Summer 2019 I will definitely raise my rating to five stars.

Pros
  • Free for educational purposes
Cons
  • Speed