I Tried The Evaporative Air Cooler As An Alternative To Air Conditioning And Here Is What Happened

'Next year I'll be prepared", I said every time when the heat wave hits Paris and all the cooling options are sold out.

Most Parisian buildings don't have heat and cooling ducts. Even the French President has to use a portable AC with an ugly exhaust pipe in his residence at the Elysée Palace.

If you decide to storm the Bastille and install an air conditioner, you have a long road ahead

Step one: save a lot money for long and expensive drilling work

Step two: make sure you live in a place where you have a terrace or a balcony, to have enough space for an evacuation pipe

Step three: write a formal letter to the building manager explaining your need for an AC

Step four: the residents of your building will decide during the annual vote whether you deserve an AC

Step five: move to a different country and never look back

I picked a different road and ordered a personal evaporative air cooler — the eco-friendly alternative to the cooling devices we know.

Smagina Margarita

Of course, I had other options. However, I am not a fan of fans — for me, they just blow hot air around.

Portable air conditioners and their exhaust pipes are such an eyesore.

So, for these reasons and many more, I got the evaCHILL Ocean Blue model by Evapolar.

To my surprise, it arrived just a few days after the purchase. There is a letter, explaining the technology in the Evapolar devices.

I love when companies take it one step further and explain why exactly their product works. They know what they are doing, I know what I am getting and why it is working. Win-win!

Cherry on top of the fast shipping: DHL delivery to Paris was free. I mean, NOBODY likes to pay for shipping!

First impression: it is really light! The color was a perfect choice too!

Pen for scale. It is as portable and as small as announced. Let us see if it is powerful too.

It is as portable as they say!

The cooler comes with a USB cord and the description says you can use it with any external battery, no plugs needed.

Do you see that little thing next to my cooler?

It is a power bank that my insurance company gave me as a gift ... seven years ago!

Do you see that little light on top of the cooler? It means it is WORKING with any power bank.

I mean: YES! Last summer I rented a beautiful apartment in Portugal but it didn't have air conditioning. I can easily remove "air con" from my search on booking.com and simply take my cooler with me.

What about beauty sleep?

I love sleeping in a chilled, cool room. Every time I sleep with the windows open, I wake up with a running nose and a sore throat — the draughts have that impact on me.

I've been chasing the feeling of waking up refreshed since my last summer cold. Let us see if the air cooler can do the job!

We are good to go! I hope I am in for a VERY cool night.

First I tried placing it right next to my bed (you will see in the pictures below where I measured the water) but I felt more comfortable with it being slightly further.

The Evapolar evaCHILL has three speeds and a possibility to turn on the light mode. I prefer sleeping in complete darkness, so I just click twice and direct the air grill in my direction.

You will ONLY feel the best effect when you are in the direction of the airflow.

Just a gentle touch and I can direct the airflow towards me.

The Evapolar website and their social media are very clear about the purpose of the device: it is a personal evaporative air cooler. It is NOT an air conditioner.

It is an 'alternative' = another possibility or choice (for cooling, in my case) and not another type of air conditioner.

This is why you need to direct the flow towards you. The evaCHILL cools down your personal space, your body, and your immediate surrounding, not the whole room. Perfect for me.

The airflow is super gentle, so I don't worry about sleeping under a windstorm (the case with old school fans).

How exactly does this evaporation thing work?

Ahhh this is my favorite part! I am a journalist (with a few years of law school under my sleeve as well), so I happen to love PROOF.

"Trust, but verify," they say in my native language, so I fill up the water tank. According to the desciption, this tank can last up to 9 hours. In terms of energy and water consumption, this is next to nothing. 7W next to nothing, to be precise which is 100 times less than regular air con.

The picture shows the full tank of water before I am about to doze off. Let's see what happens in the morning!

Fresh, awake and not a single nightmare about electricity bills!

You did it, you little powerful air cooler! You got me through a very cool night and you still got juice in your tank. I feel just like I would feel after sleeping with an open window on a chill summer night.

I am giving my new buddy a break before I finish this post and verify the last thing that Evapolar promised — it is supposed to be super quiet.

But first — cooling mask

Ok, this is an unexpected bonus. I love using my jade cooling mask in the morning — I even feel like my eyes open faster and wider.

Today I cooled it down in front of the evaCHILL instead of going to the fridge.

Now I understand why they call laziness the father of invention.

Let us have some fun measuring the noise level (I am fun at parties, I promise)

I don't know how the noise is during the night because I sleep with earplugs. However, I want to make sure it is still quiet for those who don't use earplugs.

The Evapolar website says evaCHILL’s noise level is around 50dB. To measure the noise level, I went for the top-rated application: Decibel X.

Something about 17K reviews told me it was a trustworthy one.

I installed it on my iPhone and took pictures with my pre-historic iPhone 4 (hence the quality). I also took screenshots of the decibels in the app.

Speed 1: Rustling Leaves

Speed 1: the decibels are between 35 and 38. The numbers in the picture and the screenshot don't match 100% because the Decibel X app reacts to the tiniest sounds.

According to the app, this is as quiet as rustling leaves.

Speed 2: Quiet Whisper

This is my favorite speed in evaCHILL, it hits the right spot in terms of temperature.

Decibel X puts it somewhere in between 45 and 55Db and labels it "Quiet Whisper".

Extra points for true description!

Evapolar's website precisely says that evaCHILL is whisper quiet and the noise-measuring app says the same thing.

To be more specific, it is just a super quiet white noise. Again, I am not concerned because I am used to earplugs but it doesn't even remotely bother me when I am working, meditating or journaling.

Speed 3: Quiet Home

Speed 3 is really intense — it is slightly higher than the announced 50Db on the website but it doesn't change much in terms of noise. For Decibel X, it is the equivalent of a quiet home.

In my case, I don't even need this speed for when I am sleeping, Speed 2 is perfect for me.

The Verdict

Well, it looks like I have found a solution to the Parisian heatwaves.

I am giving it a solid 9.5/10 because:

* I couldn't hope for a smaller cooling device for a Parisian apartment. I can hide it in winter and use it when I need.

* It IS, indeed, super quiet

* Zero installation fees, zero hassle, zero conversations with the landlord or any bureaucratic organization

* 100% my kind of aesthetics.

I took away half a point for a reason that doesn't even concern me directly. During the nighttime, the little button is always on when the cooler is working. I really don't care because I sleep with a face mask. However, if you don't have a mask and you absolutely need a completely dark room, I recommend you place something on top of the button to block the light.

It is not a disturbance of any kind, the light is not bright — just a small reminder for those who want a 100% lightproof room. Can be solved with just a piece of clothing on top of the cooler!

This time, I am prepared.

Even though complaining is a very Parisian thing, I feel like Evapolar took away one very good reason for me to complain about. Bring on the heat, this time I am fully prepared!

You can check out my model of air cooler and other ones on the official website. The guys are very active on social media as well!