I've yaked on and on about my portable evaporative coolers here for a couple years now. In this year of multiple heatwaves all over the world, it seems appropriate to finally share some details of what happens to keep me and mine safe and comfortable. Not a good choice for folks in humid climes.

This is "Big Sister," as my kids dubbed her (the decorations are their work), a Mconfort brand (Spanish company out of Valencia) model Elite 28, which is no longer produced as it was kind of an oddball higher end consumer model. It was the first serious portable evap cooler I bought and while it's currently the weakest performing of my good units, it was the one that showed me how much was possible and it still has a place in my army. It is taller than my other units and thus the vents completely clear the top of the bed, which makes it ideally suited for use while sleeping.

The energy consumption officially peaks at 120w, it has four fan speeds, up to 8 hour timer, ionizer, a high humidity cutoff function, low water pump cutoff and dubious "anti-mosquito" feature. Officially, it can move up to 2400 cubic meters of air per hour or around 1412 CFM at max power. It has three filter pads for greater evaporative surface and better cooling performance. I get 4-6ºC of cooling versus ambient temperature under typical summer conditions.

Please excuse the ugliness of the water. While I've perfected keeping it free of bacteria between washes (mild hypochlorous acid) iron still builds up, giving that rusty tinge. The dark-colored rectangle is a plate of copper, which has its own antimicrobial properties to help keep the bacteria down.

Generally Big Sister is run on low or medium fan speed as a balance between volume of air and noise. On low, she's a perfectly viable companion for TV and she to this day remains designated night cooler for my wife and I.

I’m afraid of my HR rising outside in the summer, heat stroke, heat exhaustion. For my children I’m fearful of it being way too hot on them outside. Went outside for hours this week and it was nerve racking as hell but I did it. Really hot day but I did it!

I have heard that having a bowl of ice a fan can make a room colder but it would be difficult to do with a ceiling fan... any advice for how to make it cooler?

I live in the south of the U.S. if that helps to tell how cool it is...

i dont know if this question is serious enough for this subreddit sorry if not

i dont want to put my ac down further for environmental reasons