However, it’s very important to note that that’s much less you’ll spend to run an air conditioner. A powerful modern example might consume around 1,100W when working hard, costing around 33p an hour on the same 30p/kWh tariff. As far as features go, the Honeywell keeps things simple. One dial switches between off and the three fan settings, while the other selects cooling, oscillation or cooling and oscillation. What matters more is that it dishes out a consistently good, cooling airflow, with the louvres shifting side to side to spread it over a wider area. You’ll still need to clean the honeycomb cooling membrane regularly to avoid unpleasant smells, but if you’re keener on keeping cool than faffing around with modes and features, this is the air cooler to buy.

Princess Smart Air Cooler 3.5L | Toolstation

This air cooler with a capacity of 70 Watt has three different speed settings, a 24-hour timer function and a sleep mode. So you can adjust this cool item exactly to your needs and preferences. This Princess Air Cooler not only has a sleek white appearance, but also overheating protection, making it very safe to use! All fans can adjust the amount of air that comes out of them by adjusting how fast their blades spin: the slower they go, the lower the air flow. Having control over the air flow is very important for different situations, and where you sit. So, as our tests show, the slower the fan speed, the less the impact is at distance, so if you sit further from the fan or want to cool more people, you need a higher fan speed. Conversely, if you’re sitting at a desk and just want to cool yourself, then you can get by with a lower fan speed, which will also mean that you don’t blow papers around on your desk. This cheap cube desktop cooler doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles, but it’s a good way to chill your fevered brow while you’re plugging away at your desk. Its two removable 300ml tanks mean it doesn’t constantly need refilling, and you can freeze them if you want some extra cooling. The three-speed fan gives you options from subtle breeze to full-on gusting, and on the lowest setting it’s quiet enough that it won’t disturb you while you work. Want a fan that ties in with the rest of your smart tech? Look for a WiFi- and voice control-enabled model that can be operated remotely or from another room in the house. Our tester found app control particularly helpful – no more struggling to get the remote to connect if you're not sitting right next to the fan. Air purificationLike Princess’ traditional tower fan below, this connects to a user-friendly app and is compatible with voice control. It also feels sturdy and has a good range of air strengths. It's not tall though, and it only oscillates 50 degrees, meaning it works best when positioned nearby and directed at one or two people. Most fans can only be used in the hotter months of the year, taking up space when they’re not wanted. Not so with the Dyson Purifier Hot+Cool Formaldehyde. As well as being a powerful fan, it’s also a purifier and a heater, complete with thermostat. Air coolers are much cheaper to run* than portable air conditioners, averaging 2-4p compared to 20-40p per hour. They’re also much lighter, averaging around 6-7kg rather than 20-30kg, and require no complicated set-up – although it’s wise to leave a door or window open to avoid too much humidity building up in the room, reducing their effectiveness. The question is, can they compete when a heatwave strikes? As the name suggests, it also has basic smart features. With the cooler connected to your Wi-Fi network, you can control it from your smartphone or even an Alexa or Google Assistant speaker, although the voice commands don’t cover much more than switching modes or turning the unit on and off.

air coolers 2023: Evaporative fans tried and tested from Best air coolers 2023: Evaporative fans tried and tested from

AirConDirect’s Victor Stoica, another longstanding aircon expert, adds that they’re more environmentally friendly than refrigerant units, since they don’t use harmful chemicals. “Also, unlike air conditioners, they’re suitable for outdoor spaces like garages, workshops and patios,” he says. “They create spot cooling, dropping the air temperature by a few degrees.” Even better, the fan has a filter inside it, so as it cools you, it purifies the air. There’s no auto mode on this model, but as long as the fan is one it will clean the air it blows at you. As with previous models, all control is via the remote which clips onto the front of the fan. The only thing missing from this model is app control, which is a minor shame.Unlike a fan, which can’t affect the actual temperature, the evaSMART can reduce the temperature of the air it blows at you: we measured a 3C drop. This is a small amount, but the cooling envelope of air around us made us feel much cooler than if we’d just used a fan. We found this a good fan for small- to medium-sized rooms. On its high setting, the fan reached an airspeed of 3.2m/s at a distance of 15cm. That’s good but there are more powerful fans that are better suited to larger rooms. At this speed, we found that the fan wobbled slightly, too. At 1m distance, the fan speed was still a decent 2.2m/s, providing a noticeable cool airflow. We were impressed with how quiet this fan was: at 15cm, we measured it at 66.2dB, and at 1m, it was just 50.3dB. Tower fans are a great space saver but they often sacrifice power to get a slimmer body. Not so with the VonHaus 35″ Tower Fan, which manages to deliver some of the best fan performance that we’ve seen, both up close and across a room. The problem with fans is that they’re great during the hot weather but just take up space when it gets cold. Things don’t have to be that way, as the Princess Smart Heating and Cooling Tower shows. As the name fully describes, this is a tower fan that also has a heating mode. To top things off it even has a smart app. Having tried other air coolers I now realise it’s a bit of an outlier, with a more efficient motor enabling a greater airflow. It is considerably lighter than other air coolers, too, with a small footprint that makes it better for smaller spaces.