Does the “As Seen on TV” Arctic Air Evaporative Air Cooler really work? Will it lower your air conditioning bill? Will it reduce the temperature of your room? In the interest of hot women everywhere, I’m giving you all the deets in this unbiased Grownup Dish review.

These days I am one hot mama. And no, I’m not talking about my looks. I’m talking about my body temperature. Like a lot 50-something women, I am often VERY hot at night. And to fan the flames even more:

• Our master bedroom is the hottest room in the house.
• I am one of those people who can NOT sleep without covers. I need (and like) the weight of a blanket. In fact, I’d use a weighted blanket if I wasn’t always so damn hot.
• My husband gets a sore throat when I run the ceiling fan.
• I’m already a lousy sleeper. So is my guy.
• I’m grumpy when I’m hot and tired.

What I want is some way to make our bedroom really COLD without having to push the central air conditioning down to the 60’s and without having a fan blowing in my face all night long.

My husband Paul is an engineer so he immediately started looking at big (ugly) evaporative coolers that cost $500+ and cooled large areas. On the other hand, I wanted a solution that was “cheap and cheerful” so off I went to our local hardware store where I purchased the Arctic Air Evaporative Cooler for around $40. I had seen it advertised on an infomercial and I thought it was worth giving it a shot.

The infomercial claims that self-contained Arctic Air is quiet and cools the air to the point that you won’t need air conditioning. So I set it up in our bedroom and tried it.

How the Arctic Air Works (or Didn’t Work)

• It’s not quiet. It definitely makes a noise and depending on which fan speed is used the noise gets louder. I was hoping that it would eventually be processed by my brain as “white noise” but it was a little bit too loud for that.
• It’s pretty much just a fan. Yes, it blows cool air. But, using it in a room with central AC, it doesn’t seem like the air is significantly colder than a traditional fan. I didn’t do the blowdryer test that was pictured in the infomercial, but I checked out several other online videos where people tried it and it did not work. And in the photos in this post, I have it turned on full blast and am holding it right up to my face, and it’s barely blowing my hair.
• It did made the room feel more humid. This was expected because the unit uses water as part of its cooling process. Given that Colorado is so dry, I thought I would really like this feature. In fact we’ve discussed getting a humidifier because it is SO DRY here. But I actually found the additional humidity annoying as it made me feel sticky.
• The water tank does last for 8+ hours.

In summary, if you need something slightly better than a desktop portable fan, this unit may suit your needs. But it will certainly not cool off a large area, nor will it replace traditional air conditioning or even a ceiling fan.

I ended up returning it.

Check out my other reviews HERE.

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