Portacool PAC163SVT 16-Inch Portable Evaporative Cooler with Vertical Tank, 3900 CFM, 900 Square Foot Cooling Capacity, Black

It is 109 degrees F outside. 10% humidity, dew point 43 F. A single unit is cooling the living room, family room, dining room, and kitchen to 81 degrees. Hallway is 83. Bedrooms are 85. Garage 93. House is 1600 square feet plus another 400 square feet for the garage. The air is coming out of the unit is 73 degrees. The air is being cooled by 36 degrees F and the the environment that its air circulates at is being cooled by 28 degrees F. Water consumption is very high in this weather. It burns through its reservoir in about 6-7 hours, evaporating 6-7 gallons of water per hour. 5 gallons per hour is the equivalent of a 4 ton air conditioner in BTUs, but it is more like a 3-ton with the open patio door and open garage entry door (bedrooms get zero cooling without that open as the hallway is the only air exchange to that part of the house). But can't beat 3 tons of equivalent air conditioning (2500-3000 watts) for a meager 450-500 watts (0.5KW-h plus 6-7 gallons of water per hour). You do need at least a partial open door (the door the unit is inhaling from is sufficient) or a single unit will drive the humidity in the house over 80% and stop cooling.Need to arrange for very good ventilation. A single unit keeps the whole house under 85 degrees with a helper fan blowing the humid air out the garage even with dew points creeping up. Need to make sure it is not re-ingesting humidified air.Does not cool satisfactorily with dew points over 70 degrees though (65 if its over 100 out, 60 if it is over 110 out). Best with dew points under 50.

This unit is really a big fan. The claim that the water hive cools the air is not really accurate. It may cool the blowing air slightly but I found that a large $100.00 fan will do the same thing and is a fraction of the size and weight. If you have the money to spend, go for it but I was disappointed overall.

We got this for a kidding barn for our goats, it brings the temp down fantastic. Only thing that prevents me from giving it 5 stars, is that you have to fill it with water and it will not hook up to a water hose. But it will go for about 8 hours between fill-ups! Drops the temp probably 20 degrees!

It helps, but make the area to humid. Best not to use in enclosed area.

It does cool like it says but I don't think it is as large a capacity unit as it says it is. I think I should have purchased larger. Much Larger for my needs. But it is a noticeable difference.

Works great in the garage,1500 sqft, and also on the patio as long as the dew point isn’t over 58°. Better price than local and has 3 speeds not just one like Lowe’s had. Get the tabs if you have hard water, or you’ll have to treat the pads a couple times a year.

Product arrived defective.

I bought this at Home Depot but later saw it here. I have been using it for several weeks now and here are my thoughts...PRO:-It works. It really does cool the whole house (~1300 square feet). Bear in mind that I live in a VERY dry climate (Albuquerque, New Mexico)-It is very well made. The machine is a hefty chunk of black polyethylene with what appear to be very solid components.-It is portable-but only in the sense that you can push it around. It is too heavy to lift, even empty.-It is American made. To me at least, that is a big deal.-It is simple to use. You fill it with water, open a flow valve and then flip two switches.-The manufacturer is VERY responsive and friendly.CON-It is loud. Even at the lowest setting the fan creates a VERY loud hum that is impossible to talk over if you are in the same room with the machine.-It "only" holds fifty gallons of water. That sounds like a lot, but it is not. That lasts about 10-12 hours on a hot day. Also, there is no hose connection to allow automatic filling.-The water pump doesn't shut off if the tank is empty. This could lead to damage to or destruction of the pump.-The pads are VERY expensive: one set cost me $160 from the manufacturer. Still, they should last a very long time if you have low-mineral water (I don't).-It is BIG. It will take up a lot of storage space.Now, with that said there are two ways to use this machine. One way is the inefficient way and that is to place it in the middle of a room or garage and aim it at you. The problem here is feedback: as the air is cooled, it is humidified. If that now humid air recirculates back around the machine, the relative humidity in the room will start to rise and the machine will function less and less well. It needs DRY air to cool well.Now for the RIGHT way to use this machine: Put it in a 36" doorway at one end of your home so that the cooling pads are facing outside and so that the machine is blocking the doorway. This will leave about two feet of open space between the top of the machine and the top of the doorway that MUST be blocked (else turbulence will recirculate humid air backwards to re-cross the pads and ruin cooling. I stapled some Tyvek up to do this. Now you have a doorway across which outside air can only flow in by crossing the cooling pads (and inside air cannot retreat backwards around the machine). Set-up like this, the machine will work wonders.All in all, this is an excellent product whose main limitations are imposed by physics. The engineering and quality are fantastic. It does exactly what an evaporative cooler should.