Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The first thing that I want to tell you is that the directions for use are wrong. After a disastrous first start and three calls to customer service before finding one who would actually listen to me, I found out what was wrong with the directions. So let me enlighten you. The directions say to fill the water chamber TO THE MIN. INDICATOR and not ABOVE THE MAX INDICATOR. That is NOT WHAT THEY WANT YOU TO DO. If you attempt to fill it until the water hits minimum, water will flow from the seam about 3/4 of the way down (about 1/4 way from the floor). The customer service person with whom I spoke read the book with me (the third guy; the first two denied that the directions were wrong). He said, "You are absolutely right. It is not correctly described." We spent about 30 minutes talking about how it could be improved; and he is submitting an edit. HERE IS WHAT YOU DO: There is a white float. It is a cylindrical vertically situated float which rises as you fill the water chamber. When its top comes above minimum, you are at the "minimum amount of water". Watch it carefully. When the top hits maximum, you are at the maximum. I recommend you NOT go that far. It's hard to see. If you over-fill it, water flows from that seam. So be careful. The first day that I used this, it was 91 degrees outside and 30% humidity. Within 45 minutes, it cooled my house 4 degrees. Now, let me explain: I am cooling a tiny house on wheels. It sits on a trailer which is 8-1/2 by 24 and is 11-1/2 feet high. 8 x 24 is 192 square feet. I bumped up to this bigger model (the online description said up to 300 square feet; the box says up to 278 square feet. No idea why the discrepancy) because of the tall ceilings. After about an hour that first day, the house had cooled about 6 degrees. I am perfectly fine with that. It went from 80 to 74. I do not like air conditioning. I do not want the house cold. If I had wanted air conditioning, I would have had a split unit installed. This is fine for me. If you want air conditioning, this is not your machine. Today is the second day I've used it. It is 91 outside and 20% humidity. I turned it on about an hour ago and it's cooled the house down about 3 degrees in an hour. The house had gotten to about 89, and it's now about 86. Now, bear in mind though, that my thermostat is an antique (literally) and a wall about 2/3 of the way up, so it's measuring warm air rising. I don't have an actual thermostat with my house;; and this one is about 100 years old (literally) and actually not intended by me as a gauge for the house; it's a collectible from my original 100 year old house which I sold. I probably should get a modern house thermostat and install it on the functional first floor area of the tiny house. Also bear in mind, I have a ceiling fan. I have a window open about a foot square by the cooler, a window open about a foot square on the same wall above it (loft height) and a window open in the bathroom with a small fan blowing outward for circulation. I need to experiment with this. Please note: THIS IS NOT AN AIR CONDITIONING UNIT. It is a "cooler". It cools. I don't know if it will be perfect for me. I've kept the box. I have until July 14th to return the item. I'm trying it out whenever it's hot to see if it will suffice. One other note: It's a lot bigger than I expected!!!! Check the footprint and check your space. Finally -- let me make mention of why I picked Honeywell. An important consideration in using an evaporative cooler is the humidity level where you are. The lower the humidity, the better you'll like its functioning because they do put water into the air and if it's humid outside, that will make your house worse. I compared humidity charts from several manufacturers. Honeywell's most accurately corresponded with the national weather humidity maps. That suggested a very realistic assessment of whether and where their product would work. I liked that about them. In terms of size and shape, it was not my first choice. But they didn't overplay the humidity issue, by understating average humidity. That suggested that they were a company with which I wanted to do business. Finally, the customer service people. It's a third-party. The first two people just stated whatever their script said. Ask to talk to a supervisor. They actually know something. This guy actually said he was standing in front of my model. He did stuff at his end and then described what he did. I think he was actually doing it. That impressed me. UPDATE: i AM DOWNGRADING MY REVIEW. We finally had a day over 100, at about 60% humidity which is the highest in this area. I tried the evaporative cooler since I figured this would be its challenging day. I put ice in the compartment, made sure the water level was on, checked my wall thermometer (which read 90 degrees) and fired it up. It lowered the house about 2 degrees and that's it. I had a window opened right beside it, and one at the far end. It was like an early June day inside the house, somewhat warm and a bit muggy. Total fail as far as I am concerned. I got online today with Amazon tech support and they said, and I quote, it's basically just a fan that uses evaporative cooling. Stand in front of it for maximum cooling effect. Call the manufacturer. I'll do that tomorrow; and if they hold out not much more help, I'm returning it. I can get a fan for a lot less than $200. UPDATE #2: Their customer service people agree that I should return this. I already had, but it's nice to know that they concur. And I had to pay return shipping, which I did not realize when I bought this on Amazon Prime!!!!! Oh well, Lesson learned. I hope this review helps. Nobody asked for, or compensated me for, this review. It's entirely voluntary and intended to be helpful to other buyers.