We've come a long way from the misting fan. The IcyBreeze looks like a standard cooler you'd pack full of drinks and sandwiches and wheel onto the beach. And it is, but it's also an air conditioner. That's right, an air conditioner. It uses a fan, along with the chilled air inside the cooler, to blow a constant breeze of cool air up to 25 miles per hour at up to 35 degrees below the outside temperature. And it has a rechargeable battery, so you can stay cool whether you're on the beach, camping, or tailgating. Starting at $349, the IcyBreeze definitely isn't priced like your typical drink cooler, and a few issues hold it back, but there's no denying this digital home device is a fun, innovative way to stay cool. Design, Capacity, and Battery For the most part, the IcyBreeze looks like a classic cooler. Available in blue, green, or red plastic, it has a gray lid and handle, and a pair of black wheels. The plastic is of the thick, lightly textured variety, and the cooler has a well-built, premium feel.

There are two cup holder indents on top of the lid, as well as three-stop wheel to control fan speed. Next to that are ports to connect the power adapter as well as an optional corded remote. You'll also find the integrated vent and flexible air hose, which I'll describe more in the next section. The IcyBreeze is a midsize 38-quart cooler. From the outside it measure 18.5 by 23.5 by 16.25 inches (HWD), while the interior measures 11 by 11.25 by 18.5 inches (HWD). To give you an idea of capacity, it can hold up to 30 pounds of ice, or up to 49 cans. It's a bit heavy, with a dry weight of 21 pounds, but the pull-out handle on the side makes it relatively simple to tote around. The base model of the cooler comes with a 110V battery charger. The built-in battery takes up to 5 hours to reach a full charge, after which it can last for up to 6 hours on low, 4 hours on medium, or 2.5 hours on high. When not in use, the battery should last for 30 to 60 days. When plugged in, a light on the charger will turn solid green to let you know you've reached a full charge.

If you want to run the cooler continuously, IcyBreeze offers both wall and car power supplies. They cost around $40 each, though you can get them for less when purchasing as a bundle with the cooler. how to make ac unitThe priciest pacakge includes a charger, wall power supply, car power supply, extension cord, and corded remote for $425.size of window air conditioner needed PerformanceSo how does the IcyBreeze work? how much does an ac unit cost per monthIt's actually kind of simple. First you have to fill the cooler with two quarts of cold tap water; don't worry, there's a helpful "Minimum Water Level" line marked clearly on the inside of the cooler wall. After that you can add food, beverages, and as much ice as you'd like, as long as you can close the lid of the cooler completely.

For testing I filled the cooler up with six trays of ice and 12 bottles of beer. Once you have power, water, and ice, you're ready to begin cooling. When you flip the switch on top of the cooler into one of three fan speeds, chilled water starts circulating through a radiator. The fan draws air through the radiator, chilling it in the process, and the air is then blown out of the vent or through the hose on top of the cooler. It takes about 20 seconds after turning it on for the cool air to kick in, but once it does, it can get up to 35 degrees cooler than the temperature outside of the cooler. I tested the cooler in the relatively controlled climate of the PC Labs, which tends to hover around 70 degrees. Using an IR thermometer, I was able to measure temperatures as low as 37 degrees blowing though the hose, producing a breeze that felt downright icy. If you're sitting next to the cooler you can feel the breeze by opening the vent on the side. But if you're standing up, or you'd like more direct control over the airflow, you can also pull out the accordion-style air hose and point it wherever you'd like.

The hose itself measures 18 inches, so you can't exactly get it right up in your face, but the flow of air is pretty powerful, especially on the high setting. There are a couple of caveats. You can really only cool one person at a time, since the gust of air isn't much wider than the 2.5-inch tube it's pushed out of. And no matter the speed, the air conditioner is pretty loud. The lowest setting is bearable, but on high, the IcyBreeze is actually louder than my home window AC unit.If you're willing to spend $350 on a cooler, the IcyBreeze won't disappoint. The problem is, that's a lot of money to spend on a cooler, especially when you can get something similar—albeit minus the air conditioning—for about 50 bucks. So you really have to ask yourself if portable air conditioning is worth $300 to you. That's probably a hard question for many people to answer now, at the beginning of winter. But come next summer, you might see some people cooling off with more than just cold drinks the next time you go for a picnic.

First published September 2009, last updated May 2013 One of the big challenges of off grid living in a hot area is cooling – both food and yourself. It’s not just a matter of being water and energy efficient for the sake of the environment, but often due to the limitations of resources available. On my little patch of outback Australia, I was able to tackle the food cooling issues to a degree with an electricity-free Zeer pot. However, in the summer of 2008, Niki the Wonder Dog and I learned that air conditioning sometimes isn’t a luxury, but a real necessity. I usually love the heat, but when native animals adapted to living in dry, hot conditions started started dying from heat stress; even with water available to them, that’s when I realised I might be in trouble. We got through the worst days that summer using a few old techniques for keeping cool indoors, but only just and it was terribly uncomfortable at times. One day it reached 48C (118F) inside and there were many days of 40C+ (104F+).

Given I only had a small mobile solar power rig (single 130 watt panel) to run my notebook 12 hours+ a day and some lighting; I didn’t have a lot of capacity to spare for power assisted cooling. Refrigerated air conditioning was definitely out of the question and even evaporative air conditioners are mostly rated at 150 watts +. I started to design a small personal evaporative air conditioner; but I’m no designer. Even in my head, it looked like something out of the Flintstones. I searched for solutions around the world off and on for months and found nothing that was compact, light on electricity and water consumption. Then I came across MightyKool, a product from USA company Swampy Cooling Systems who have been making 12 volt portable cooling systems since 1989. What follows is going to sound like an ad for the MightyKool, but I assure you I paid full price for my unit. It’s just that I’ve been so impressed with the Mighty Kool as it does *exactly* what I need it to and I can see it being very useful to not only folks living off grid, but for use on camping trips as well.

Here’s what my unit looks like – also to give you an idea of the size (please excuse the pinkish tinge – the unit is white). Looking at the Swampy Cooling Systems site, there appears to have been some cosmetic updates since I purchased mine: It’s small, but very powerful; able to crank out over 200 cubic feet of air per minute. The first thing I want to mention, and this is very important, is that this particular unit will not cool an entire room. It is designed to be a personal cooler, making the immediate area around you more comfortable, nothing else… but it does that incredibly well. Also bear in mind that this is an evaporative air conditioner, so it’s not really much use in very humid areas. The two vents can be moved to direct cool air in different directions and there’s hosing you can also add to give it more reach. This unit holds nearly two litres of water, enough for a couple of hours and you can attach a larger water bag to it for longer periods between refills.

During my initial testing and measurements, it was reasonably cool inside – a mere 37C (98.6F) Here are the results; set at its least powerful setting: Ambient temperature: 37C (98.6F) Temperature of air at vent: 20C (68F) Temperature 3 feet away (air from single vent): 24C (75F) That was pretty amazing – and when temps hit 45C, I was still comfortable enough to work and not even breaking a sweat. Of course, the further away you’re sitting from the vents, the higher the temperature, but placed on a desk around 3 feet away from me, I’ve been able to continue working in all conditions – with just a single vent blowing cool air my way. The second vent I direct at Niki the Wonder Dog’s bed. Swampy Cooling Systems have a variety of models. The one pictured above is the MW1, a 12 volt model (110 volt adaptor available). At its least powerful setting, it draws just .8 amps (11.3 watts), which by air conditioner standards is nothing. It’s about the same as a small 12 volt desk fan.

As mentioned, it only uses just over a litre of water an hour; so it’s great in situations where water supply is limited. The MightyKool MW1 is powered by twin brushless double ball bearing motors that should last at least 20,000 hours. I was very pleased to discover it’s even quieter than the desk fan I had previously. The MW1 is very light, just over a kilo (under 3 pounds). It’s a simple unit, but well constructed and easy to pull down and clean. The special cooling pads last around two to four hundred hours – and they are cheap to replace. The Mighty Kool isn’t cheap, but what it does, it does very, very, very well. At the time I bought it, there was nothing else on the market that came even close to what this little powerhouse could do. The other thing that impressed me about Swampy Cooling Systems was their level of customer service. I communicated mainly with Jack, the owner of the company during my original purchase and he was very attentive. Shipping it over from the USA with a few accessories was a worry as I was concerned about damage, but I think the MightyKool folks must be expert Tetris players too – I had never seen a box so well packed.