Negligible cooling nets Cool Surge portable air cooler a Consumer Reports Don't Buy judgment

You can buy a decent small window air conditioner for as little as $140, as we found in our July 2009 report on air conditioning (available to subscribers). Or you can spend more than twice that amount—$298—for the Cool Surge portable air cooler (shown), which promises to cool an average-sized room "up to ten degrees" using the same energy as a 60-watt lightbulb. (Watch our exclusive video, below.)

The Cool Surge might sound appealing when you consider the roughly 500 watts needed to run even a small air conditioner. Ohio-based Fridge Electric LLC, which markets the Cool Surge, has even offered a two-for-one deal in full-page ads in The New York Times and other newspapers. But our tests show that when it comes to cooling a room, the Cool Surge is likely to disappoint you at any price.

The Cool Surge is essentially an evaporative cooler (also known as a swamp cooler) that bases its cooling claims on a concept thousands of years old. The unit's reservoir holds about a gallon of water and two reusable ice packs like the kind that go into lunch boxes and picnic baskets. The chilled water wets a curtain inside, and a fan moves air through it much the way a breeze would blow air through moistened fabric centuries ago. No compressor, no condenser, no refrigerant gas.

Could that ancient principle cut it in today's "average" room? Consumer Reports tested two samples of the Cool Surge in the same lab we use to test air conditioners. At just over 200 square feet, our test room is actually a tad smaller than the roughly 227-square-foot living room in a typical new home, and, therefore, should be easier to cool. We controlled conditions around the room to simulate an 85°F dry summer day with a relative humidity of just 57 percent.

As we found, the phrase "up to" in Cool Surge's cooling claims does some heavy lifting: Our string of sensors showed the device failed to appreciably lower the room's overall temperature during a four-hour test.

We also tested the Cool Surge at an even drier, desertlike setting of 25 percent relative humidity, again, at 85°F. Even in these conditions, which are suitable for an evaporative cooler, we measured a mere 2 degrees of cooling during the four-hour test.

Because of its negligible cooling in our tests, we've given the Cool Surge portable air cooler our Don't Buy: Performance Problem judgment. (The Cool Surge has a built-in heater with a faux fireplace; we didn't test its heater nor did we test this product for safety.)

Confusing pricing policies and complaints about companies associated with Cool Surge also left us cold. The Cool Surge debuted in 2008 and was originally promoted by Universal TechTronics. The same company is a division of Heat Surge, which markets the Heat Surge Roll-n-Glow Electric Fireplace—also known as the Amish heater—and pushed a "free" DTV converter box that ultimately cost nearly $100 when you added in the mandatory warranty and shipping and handling fees.

We ordered the two Cool Surge units that we evaluated online and paid $298 for each, with no shipping charge. But when we later called the Web site's order line anonymously, we were told we'd have to pay $49 per unit for shipping, or nearly $100 if we had opted for the company's two-for-one offer. Another call using a different number listed in a Cool Surge newspaper ad yielded yet another price of $148 per unit—plus $49 shipping—for versions with "slight cosmetic damages." The two-for-one offer had apparently ended.

The Better Business Bureau warned consumers about Universal TechTronics' "misleading advertising campaign" for the DTV converter and gave the company an unsatisfactory rating based on its pattern of complaints. While the BBB says it has no complaints against Fridge Electric LLC, that company shares the same Canton, Ohio, address as Heat Surge.

A label on the Cool Surge units we evaluated referred to both Universal TechTronics and Heat Surge (shown). And when we checked the box, it listed all three names: Universal TechTronics, Heat Surge—and Fridge Electric.

We found no problems with the Amish heater in our evaluations earlier this year. But our research found that the Ohio Attorney General's Office had 55 complaints against Heat Surge that included the product and its marketer.

Bottom line: Buy an effective air conditioner if you want to cool a room; click here for the latest Ratings (available to subscribers). Or consider a fan if you want to save energy and feel cool from the blowing breeze; 20-inch models cost as little as $20 and use roughly 80 watts on their low setting—barely more than the 73 watts we measured for the Cool Surge on high.—Bob Markovich and Tod Marks | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook