The story of my friend, a young man who knows physics.

And my short comment.

The story is told in the first person.

Over the past couple of years, a kind of “Portable air conditioner” (air cooler) has been actively and aggressively advertised in America, which, they say, “will cool your room to comfortable temperatures in two minutes”! Moreover, the girl advertising this miracle device, holding it in her hands, with a promising smile lies to illiterate fools who have hung up their ears, about its remarkable qualities, about the almost negligible current consumption, that no pipes are required to drain condensed water!!! And radiators that give off the heat taken from the air are also not needed! And there are a lot of such “air coolers”! For every taste and PRICE!!!

In general, a MIRACLE of science and physics!

But only FOR ILLITERATE FOOLS!

In fact, this is an ordinary weak (LOW-POWER) humidifier that uses the cooling effect known even to elementary school students due to the EVAPORATION of WATER!

The cost of the miracle device varies depending on the degree of greed of the sales company from tens of dollars to hundreds.

I bought it very cheaply and just for fun, in order to verify my assumption about the TRUE fraudulent nature of this “portable” air cooler!

And so it turned out…

Where can this device actually be working? In areas with a continental, or better, arid, that is, desert climate. The humidity is constantly low there, and therefore this device can create the appearance of some kind of cooling effect. And even there, five watts of the device’s power consumption CANNOT quickly and efficiently cool dozens of cubic meters of hot air – the Law of Conservation of Energy cannot be violated even by this Chinese miracle!

In all areas with a marine, subtropical climate, etc., that is, where the air has high relative humidity, this “device” is completely useless! In winter, yes, it will slightly increase the humidity in the apartment and COOL the air, which just needs to be warmed, and that’s it! But it’s NOT advertised as a humidifier, but as a “Portable Air Cooler”! (Although the authors blurt it out in the instructions themselves and call it a “Humidifier” several times!)

So, there is a run-of-the-mill scam to push through the next Chinese shit under the guise of some miracle of modern science.

Since my wife and I have a three-story house located just a few kilometers from the Atlantic Ocean and the humidity in summer does not fall below 70-90%, this “cooler” can only be suitable for psychotherapy of fools.

I was convinced that this “cooler” does not cool anything by setting up a children’s experiment:

First, I set the thermometer for about ten minutes at the inlet, air-sucking opening of the device, and then for the same time at the outlet, for the “cooled” air opening. The thermometer showed the SAME temperature both times!

In general, it’s an outright scam.

My next thought was: But how do we make sure that this stuff cools something?

The answer is the same for children: It is necessary to reduce the humidity of the incoming air! Then, due to the absorbed heat of water evaporation, it will become wetter and colder again!.

What is the easiest way to reduce the humidity of humid air?

Passing it through a layer of water-absorbing silica gel. Bags of it can be found in all kinds of jars with pills and other things. But you can also buy it inexpensively.

So, by placing a frame with a layer of silica gel at the entrance hole, you can get cold air for a while, even in conditions of general high humidity.

Of course, periodically drying the silica gel in the microwave.

That’s what I’ll do!!!

The end of the story.

My comment.

An effective method?

Not effective, although IT SEEMS true. (A lot of energy is required for frequent dehumidification of steam-soaked silica gel.) This is exactly the energy that is taken from the indoor cooled air.

And the question is: Does silica gel heat up when large amounts of steam are rapidly absorbed? I think it’s heating up. This means that THERE WILL BE NO temperature difference with silica gel!

Thus, the summary:

My friend’s idea looks quite workable.

BUT IT JUST LOOKS LIKE THIS!

In fact, it has two aforementioned and unavoidable drawbacks.

They’re nullifying it!

So you don’t need to “do” anything!

It’s cheaper to use a regular good old heat pump – air conditioner!

Not portable, not a miracle device, but really working!

You can’t go against the laws of nature!

24 VI 2025