Cool’n or Fool’n? Cool Surge Portable Air Cooler

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As I thumbed through a recent edition of USA Today I noticed an ad for the Cool Surge Portable Air Cooler. The look and feel of the ad was vaguely familiar, something like deja vu. Then it hit me, the Amish Heat Surge portable heater!

What tipped me off was the familiar phrase “engineering genius from the coast of China” also used in the Heat Surge ad. A quick phone call to the customer service number on the Cool Surge website revealed it was indeed marketed by the same people who brought us the Amish “Roll and Glow” heater.

The technology behind the Cool Surge consists of a fan blowing air across two freezer packs similar to the ones used to keep beer fresh in a camping cooler. This cooling technique was popular in speakeasies during the Roaring 20′s where a tub full of ice blocks was placed in front of a big fan and aimed at the dance floor.

The freezer packs used in the Cool Surge measure 3″x5″x1″ high and are called “glacier ice blocks.” If these are glacier ice blocks then global warming is in full swing at the Cool Surge factory. Maybe “glacier ice chips” would be more accurate.

Another selling point featured in the ad is it only costs pennies a day to operate. This is true. The cost to run the 60 watt fan for twelve hours would be around 7 cents. However, each set of two ice blocks needs to be rotated and re-frozen every four hours in, guess what? A freezer that usually runs on electricity. Now it might sound like I’m splitting hairs, but if you don’t pay for the electricity to run your freezer, you can’t make ice.

Look, I’m not trying to be mean for the fun of it. If this portable swamp cooler was selling for $69.95 I’d tell you to give it a shot. But at $298 it’s just not a good value.

Don’t get fooled. Get the right portable room air cooler the first time.