20 Best Outdoor Patio Air Cooler (2022 Updated)

I’m a big fan (no pun intended) of evaporative coolers. I have whole house evaporative coolers on my Nevada and California homes. They work well in “dry” climates, and can reduce air temperatures by 30℉ when outdoor temps are high and humidity low.

In my career I have extensive experience in ventilation and air quality measurements. I have used that perspective to evaluate the Hessaire unit. This Hessaire portable unit is nicely made from rust resistant plastic, uses quality evaporator media, and can be plumbed, connected to a hose, or filled by hand through a filler port.

The unit can be operated in fan only mode, or as a cooler with 3 fan settings in both modes. Unpacking and setup was easy. I purchased the unit to use in my barn, but recently have used it to provide a cool spot for my Border Collie when the temps climb above 100℉.

I have it set up on the shady side of the house, connected to a garden hose. Here’s typical performance in late afternoon (high fan speed). Air temp (in shaded porch): 99. 2℉ RH 33. 6% Cooled Air temperature (at outlet) 78℉ Based on Temperature and Humidity, (psychrometric curve), the cooler is attaining near max potential cooling.

This is my first experience trying to use a cooler outdoors. My coolers work well on my homes because the space is enclosed, and the positive pressure created by the cooler keeps warm air from entering the home.

The amount of fresh outside air brought into the house is a bonus. But this cooler is used outdoors in an “non-contained” space and 2 things become immediately evident: 1) The cooling effect diminishes rapidly; what feels cool directly in front of the fan (up close), feels just like a normal fan a small disatnce away (the dog seems happy enough with the just a breeze).

2) It’s pointless to try and cool a large open area. The cooling effect would be more effective if it was contained somewhat. For the dog I’ll probably aim the cooler into his shaded, partially contained doghouse.

I use the Hessaire MC18M near the Texas coast to provide spot cooling for rabbits in a well ventilated barn. I was skeptical about using evap coolers in such a humid environment, but another rabbit breeder’s success prompted me to give it a try.

I chose the smallest model because of the price and because it was portable enough that I could put it where I needed it. I put the cooler’s output a few inches from the cage and see a 10-15 F drop between the ambient air temp and the output air without any dampness.

I have since bought two more from another retailer. I wish they offered them in my local store. I deducted 1/2 point for being made in China and 1/2 point for engineering / design. The fan and motor feel solid, but the chassis build plastic feels a little thin for the job.

When filling, I worry that the weight of the hose will break the filler door. When I removed the back, the float valve felt flimsy and misaligned. I fill it manually, so these may not actually be problems.

The garden hose adapter is brass and feels solid, but I don’t use it at this time. Removing the back for cleaning required a Phillips screwdriver. I would like to see some sort of tool-less clip here, but that may add to the cost.

Reinstalling the back took two tries due to the thinness of the plastic, but once the two pieces were aligned, it went together solidly and that greatly improved the rigidity of the unit. The pump, distribution system and evap media have shown no problems.

I’m not about to get rid of my AC, but this seems like a good way to cool a couple people on a covered porch or a patio – or a larger area in a dryer climate.

Love BAF products and own many. BUT I made an assumption here – BAF is known for its superior engineering that leads to exceptionally quiet fans. THIS IS NOT Close to Quiet. A near silent hum of a motor is about 45 decibels.

This is 75- I missed this in the description. You can not talk to someone if they are near this fan. It also has a “turbo fan” sound (TWO) that is really cool as a workshop sound but the high speed whirls are annoying for a patio.

The quality is great- the sound is a disappointment. Please know the product works as described- it’s just loud.

Out here in the high desert of Central Oregon, our 4,000 sq. ft. motorcycle shop becomes almost unbearable in the summer heat! Not only did our technicians suffer from the heat, our productivity suffered as well.

One day while out for after-work drinks, a local brewery had a Big Ass Fan blasting indoors, keeping a comfortable 70F temp. A light bulb went off and the team immediately started researching Evap Coolers.

it didn’t take long to figure out that Big Ass Fans is superior in this industry. From the quality of the product to the incredible customer service, we recommend this brand over anyone else!! Cheers.

My company is based in southern New Jersey. We have a 40×70 pole barn and the Cool Space 400 does an amazing job and cutting the heat. We messed up the first week by not reading the directions (who does right?!) about adding the algae tabs to the bladder of water, but then read the directions and low and behold in the well written packet the fan came with was info on the proper care and maintenance.

Very well put together unit. Came in on time. Great customer service. Great service after the sale. Extremely happy customer.

Incredible evaporative cooler. I use it right now in the winter as a humidifier and for the white noise to fall asleep. It has a soothing trickling sound. Unfortunately I’ve read from some people the pumps tend to go out on these.

I’ve not had an issue yet but I try to prevent it from running dry. Mold and bacterial buildup can be an issue if you don’t drain it and let it dry out occasionally. It’s not too easily accessible to clean the inside unless you disassemble it.

Also, it does tend to go thorough water quickly but these are minor things. If you live in a humid climate summer, I wouldn’t count on this to cool you off although it does blow cool humid air. It’s better for dry climates.

I’m thinking of buying another, I highly recommend it if you live in a dry climate.

My wife purchased this product last summer. We had built a new outdoor deck but couldn’t use it much during summer hot sunny days. We tried regular fans and mist fans. Fans didn’t cool. Mist fans weren’t effective either, and made every thing wet and also messed up hair.

So I was a bit skeptical at first when I learnt that you have to use water for cooling. I had heard of swamp coolers before but in a somewhat negative light. I have to admit that I am surprised at how effective this product can be outdoor and indoor.

And it doesn’t consume much electricity. The product looks and feels sturdy as you’d expect from the Honeywell brand. All in all, a good buy.

The cooler was used in a southwestern home. The fan is a small high speed type. The consequences are that it has to spin at high speeds to move a significant amount of air. The cooler appears to be made from lower quality materials than my 15 year old convair machines.

Works well for the hot Tx heat. Used this under my covered patio. I did need to add ice to the water and the top compartment to keep the blown air cool enough. Another star would have been given to this product if the front air delivery section was bigger and not just at the top.

Returned this for the step up model with a large circle air vent at the front.

The fan blows like a boss ! A climate that is high in humidity the cool setting is as effective because the the water doesn’t evaporate . But overall very happy with fan

Bought 4 of these total for a large space. They do the trick, and you can feel the temperature drop. We plan on buying more in the future.

Austin, Tx At certain times of the day, this is fabulous and during the other times, I can not complain. It is cooler air blowing than what it is outside and I can feel it 20 ft away. Very pleased with the purchase.

This is the 3rd Hessaire MC37A evaporative cooler I have bought from Sylvane. This review reflects my experience with the newer, digital model and not Sylvane. In a nutshell, I wish I could buy one of the older models back instead of this newer model.

Living in Phoenix, we spend most of our free time out back with our dogs. The newer model does not have near as much cooling power than the older models. When it’s over 100 degrees, it’s hot. The older models could keep us comfortable even at 110 degrees.

This model, at 90 degrees outside, pointed at me from 3 feet away, leaves me sweating. Whatever changes they’ve made, this model does not have nearly the power as the prior ones. I get more power from a fan on low on the other side of my living room than I get from the ‘upgraded’ edition of this evaporative cooler.

I am extremely disappointed in this ‘upgraded’ model and I’d like to suggest to Hessaire that if bringing the console in as a digital model is the reason for the loss of power, they need to ditch the digital and go back to its prior effectiveness.

The second unit I received was perfect and cools extremely well. Here in northern CA the humidity is 20 to 30 percent so the unit can really do well, and it does. You may notice that I said second unit, allow me to explain.

the first unit came as scheduled, but it was missing parts and had some damage, which compromised its operation, though the shipping box was perfect. I called Sylvane and talked with Mark and explained the problems with the unit and he quickly arranged for another unit to be shipped.

Since I no longer had the box he agreed to ship the unit first and I could use that box for the return. That happened very quickly and I was able to get the box on the old unit on the same day, and Mark arranged for Fed Ex to pick up the unit.

I wish I could recommend Fed Ex but they were horrible and continued to miss dates for pick up. Mark handled this well and now I have a very satisfactory unit keeping my rescue animals cool in this 100+ degree weather.

Thank you Mark and Sylvane, you are problem solvers and stand by your products even when the problem was likely not yours but the manufacturer. You made me a very satisfied customer!.

I purchased this fan for a large collision repair shop. I was under the impression that it would drop the temperature about 10 degrees or so. I’ve been disappointed to find out that it dropped our temp about 4-5 degrees at best.

If I had known that up front I would have spent my money in other areas that I think would have helped a little better. The fan is great if your standing in front of it but that’s about all it seems to do.

I know it’s extremely hot outside right now, especially here on the gulf coast. If you guys have some ideas about how I can better results out of it I would be very appreciative. Thank you, Ray Parrish.

Pros: Cools very well: As long as there is fresh low moisture air and can exhaust the humid air, this cooler will cool one or two rooms easy. I had had no issues even on 100+ F days. Reasonably good assortment of features: Can turn pump on independently of the fan.

Swing feature is nice. Timer is good but could be better Coasters: The lock is nice and they roll nicely. Fan speeds: Multiple fan speeds Visual analog water level indicator Cons: Timer: Shuts off the whole unit.

Wish there was a way to just turn off the pump after some time. Smell: You need to cycle (and subsequently throw away the water) for at least an hour or two before the smell goes away. Wish this was explained more clearly.

You also need to clean the water tank every 6 weeks or so, otherwise the smell becomes very strong again. Plastic attachments & general construction: The way the swing motor is attached to the louver does not lend itself to transportation.

I received the unit without the swing working. On looking more carefully, I realized that the plastic knob had fallen off, so the swing motor was no longer attached to the louver. Fixing it was easy, but time consuming (had to remove the fan and other bits and pieces before i could access and fix the issue).

The back is also incredibly difficult to open (at least on my unit). This is a problem because the coasters were inside the cooler. Additionally, only way to access the water tank for cleaning is to pop the back.

Since the water pipe is attached to the top of the back to a plastic water dispenser, it is inevitable that something will break. Water meter: It can sometimes get stuck when filling water, which is a problem that can lead to overflow and spillage.

You should tap it just to make sure it isn’t stuck. I also use a flash light to visually check the water, just in case. Water dripping noise could have been reduced.

It’s a nice unit for the price I paid. It was a recon unit and when I used it for the first time it would only draw water from the tank if it was completely full. I contacted portacool and asked them if a hose could have been left off of the pick up in the pump.

They described how to take the unit apart. What I found, and I won’t mention the name on the green sticker inside of the unit, was the pump itself was installed upside down with the suction side twords the top and not on the bottom as it should have been.

Now it works pretty good and has a great air volume to it.

Love this little Portacool ! It gives the air flow that I need with the cooling effect lowering the temperature at least 10 degrees on my patio. I relax and work on home projects on the patio ( not enclosed ) so a drop in temp.

Is always welcome. I am very happy with my purchase, this unit is well designed and built to be used in a small shop area.

Used it this weekend, temps right at 100 with humidity at 70%. Set it up on the patio while grilling and while the family was visiting outdoors. Really helped keep it sorta comfortable. I did place an oscillating fan in front of it to help spread the cooler air.

Wish the cooler had oscillation built in.

I wish I’d bought this years ago! When we are in the hundreds and low humidity the barn roasts in the afternoon. I put this in the isle of my 6 stall barn and it cools it to a tolerable level nicely.

Don’t expect a huge difference but I’d say about 20 degrees. The dogs and cats approve too and once they realized that it had cool air coming out of it they happily laid in front of it!.

Bought this model for a specific job in the central valley because of its ease of moving around the job and loading back up in the truck by myself. Now that the job is done I have it in my shop and love it when I’m welding on hot days! The only thing I wish it had was a variable speed motor (switch) because it’s kinda loud when it’s the only thing on.

This model was the one available from the store or I would have bought one with an adjustable fan speed.

I needed an emergent cooling solution over the weekend and opted to purchase the Cyclone 140 to augment a portable AC unit in bringing a laboratory temperature back to near normal operating temperatures.

The unit was easy to install and operation is simple. Maintenance appears to be simple at this point as well.

Not sure if I am using this correctly, but I absolutely did not feel any cool or refreshing air. We live in Northern AZ. The heat isn’t like Phoenix but it still gets hot and this cooler just didn’t cut it.

Instead our living room felt muggy. For the price, I expected outstanding performance but no. I don’t mind the design and the level of noise, but since it isn’t putting out cold air like I expected, it’s just an annoyance.

I was super excited for this and really wanted it to work out but I plan to return.

This portable air cooler is a godsend! It blows the perfect amount of cool air. It makes sitting outside in the Louisiana summer heat bearable. Easy to use.

Super easy to set up and get working. Great coverage area, we can feel the air throughout most of our living room when the vents are swinging. We love the fact that it is rated for outdoors so we have the option to take it out to our patio and not be concerned about damage from the rain or sunlight.

The evaporative cooler worked Ok. The circulating system sometimes takes a while to wet the pads completely. Overall, as far as the cooling unit itself, I think it’s not the greatest but it does help get my employees get by especially during the heat wave.

I would’ve given it a 4. The sad part about it was it came with only 3 casters. I asked for a replacement caster and had to send in model, serial number, order and invoice number and many other questions were asked.

I understood all the required details and after all that was submitted, until now, September 26, I still have not gotten the replacement. I was moving my KoolKube around in a cart until I finally found a good location for it.

It is now sitting on top of 2 plastic milk crates. I think it’s just fair for me to take 1 star off my review just for poor quality control and customer service behind the deserving 4 star product.

I got this to help keep the dog and I cool in our 8×20 shop. We are in Northern California and this has been an extra hot summer. Triple digits most of the summer. This cooler does the trick. I really like that I can connect a hose instead of having to worry about filling it when it runs low.

I live in Arizona and cooler is the best. Huge volume of cool air. I drain the water and it is very light so I can take to someone’s home and use it there.

Living in a hot climate pretty much guarantees you will need to invest in a good cooler if you want to survive. This is the best one I have had in 20 years of getting ones and replacing them! Solid construction and great cooling power – what more is there to want, especially at such a low price?.

An amazing product – cools us all down swiftly and the delivery was very quick too. It is very energy efficient, so we do not have to worry about massive electric bills, which is always a welcome bonus! Also, what I did not realize is that it would help us with the mosquito issues – the little pests are almost all gone now!!.

Really happy with the Cajun Kooling ck3000. Been huge relief for us over the last few weeks. Was really impressed by the level of service the folks at True Home provided for me. Thx again!

This portable combination fan and cooler is a great addition to our home. For those that live in drier climates, the optional evaporative cooling feature allows you to direct cool air directly into an area without having to cool the entire home.

The unit is attractive and a nice size. It can be set to 3 different speeds, with and without evaporative cooling. The water reservoir is large enough that it doesn’t run out too quickly. There are different modes, including speed changes, timer, and “swing”, which blows the air in a random pattern.

It’s pretty quiet, too. Why didn’t we give it a 5? While minor, there were a few things that we think could be improved. Learning the different settings is a bit of a challenge, and isn’t entirely intuitive.

Fortunately, there is a guide that you can work through to understand what the different settings do. Secondly, to add water to the reservoir, there isn’t a door that you can flip open and pour water in.

You need to pull the drawer partially open, and pour water in that way. This is minor, but it would be better with the access door. Also, you need to be careful with a full reservoir when rolling the unit around as it can slosh water.

Overall, we think it’s a good value and allows you to spot cool and area, and the timer feature is handy (it can be set in 1/2 hour increments up to 7. 5 hours) for bedtime until the room cools down at night.

The unit is serviceable and looks like it will serve us well! We’ll come back and do another review in a year to let you know if our initial impressions hold up.

I received a sample product. All opinions are honest and my own. As a mom that sometimes wakes up hot, I love that I am able to use the remote control to turn on this portable cooling fan for quick relief.

The white noise also helps me to fall asleep. Luckily, it doesn’t wake my husband up either. Let me share more details. This was easy for me to set up. I timed how long it took to unbox, read the manual, and get going.

I should disclose that I overthink everything and am careful when I read instructions, but it still only took me 14 minutes and 39 seconds to unbox, read, and get started! I feel like the NewAir team created a user friendly experience as it was simple to get started.

I especially love that the controls are easy to access and make sense! You may either press buttons directly on the machine or use the remote control. As mentioned in the description, the portable cooling fan uses CycloneCirculation technology to keep cold air moving.

This proprietary invention is incredible! It creates a wind chill effect that feels even cooler on your skin than still air does. The enhanced oscillation and adjustable fan speeds cool any room quickly by pushing cool air from the pads to the farthest corner of your living area.

I usually keep it in my bedroom and love that it helps when the air feel stagnant. The results are great! Since it’s on wheels, it’s also easy to move to other parts of our home as needed. In summary, this product has been great! I just wish that I would have known about it sooner!.

Okay I will give a full review of this product. First, it is a wonderful fan. It blows in 3 speeds and is modern and stylish. Second, there is the feature to fill a compartment with cold water and frozen blocks.

The blocks that come with the unit are not adequate to chill down the air. I have larger reusable ice blocks that I used along with cold refrigerated water. If your ambient air temperature is not very hot then this fan and water cooled air could work for you.

If you are in a heat wave area like California the last 10 days then this does not work. The air is minimally cool and the water runs out quickly and the unit makes a very loud and annoying sucking sound.

I would have bought an actual air conditioner for just a bit more money as this unit is pricey for what it does. There was not a clear review like this about how it won’t work in hot temperatures. I would have sent this product back on day 2 and requested an exchange for another product on this website, but I threw the box away upon receiving it.

In the final review, it is a wonderful fan, and wonderful cooler if you just need to take the edge off of some warm temps. If you are in a hot area this is not the product to get, as it blows the hot air around even with ice water in the unit in temperatures in the high 80’s and above.

I hope this was helpful!.

I like the water capacity. I don’t like that it doesn’t cool as well as the Large Honeywell Evaporative Cooler. I have used both and l am sticking with the Honeywell. The Honeywell has more compact cooler filters that allow for more of a cooling surface.

The Mason and Deck just doesn’t do the job. I am returning the Mason and Deck and going back to the Honeywell.