Page 1 of Air cooler half price £50 at Currys in store

With the summer coming, you might be interested in an "evaporative cooler" for £49.99 from Currys in store. It is a Carlton EC1000, which I can`t find on their web site (or on anyone else`s). It has a timer so it will turn itself off, can be used just as a fan (3 speed) and also as an air cooler.

To do the cooling you put cold water into the base (3 reusable ice packs are included so you can put these in too to make the water chilled) and then when you press the "cool" button, a pad starts to slowly move through the water and up into the stream of warm air coming through a dust filter into the back of the machine. Evaporation cools the air and it blows out the front of the unit through vents which can set the direction (and a motor moves the setting from side to side if you wish). Reading about this type of unit on the web, I saw that you must keep a window/door open when you use them (but we do that in any case when it is hot).

Just got one today and it produces a pleasantly cool breeze, noticably cooler than the room temperature - not chilled and not damp. It has a 7.5 litre water reservoir and it stands about 66cm high and is about 30cm square. There is some noise from the fan which might bother you if you wanted to sleep with it running.... but on a warm afternoon like today it`s great.

This item was edited on Monday, 2nd May 2005, 16:27