I don’t know where you live, but here in the Washington DC region, summer is particularly uncomfortable. We were fortunate to have a relatively mild spring that lasted longer than usual, but now that July is here… so is the humidity.

Being outside in DC during July and August is like swimming with all your clothes on. It’s disgusting. And it doesn’t matter how nice a deck or porch you might have on your house, it doesn’t matter if you have a great balcony with a killer view, I don’t care if you have a perfectly manicured lawn… when it’s 97 degrees with 85% humidity? You don’t want to go outside.

And the DC region is hardly alone with this type of weather. Unless you live somewhere where summer and humidity are foreign concepts (and if you do, please let me know where that is), you’re going to encounter at least a FEW unpleasant days during the summer months.

And that’s where evaporative coolers have you covered. They bring the A/C outside and let you relax in a modicum of comfort while lounging (or working) outside in the sweat-inducing elements.

We recently had a chance to give one of Honeywell’s portable evaporative air coolers (model CO48PM) a test run… and in that aforementioned DC swampiness, we certainly gave it a run for its money.

Sure, in a nutshell, this is basically a big fan. So what sets it apart? It’s right there in the name: it’s an evaporative air cooler.

Let’s start with what that doesn’t mean. This isn’t an “air conditioner” since it doesn’t use refrigerant or have a compressor. Likewise, this also isn’t a mister or one of those fans that sprays water everywhere.

OK. So what does it do?

I’m glad you asked. It slowly evaporates water and then directs that water vapor into the air via the fan. Honeywell’s coolers (and there are several different units) have three central components: a fan, a pump system to circulate water, and honeycomb-shaped absorbent panels on three sides of the unit. The fan draws in warm air through the wet honeycomb media; evaporation converts the moisture into water vapor; and then cooler air breezes out the other side.

In short, it uses water vapor to cool down the air surrounding the unit. And it works surprisingly well.

You can connect the unit to a garden hose for continuous water flow (if you’ll be using it for a long time), or – if the 10-gallon tank is already full of water – you can just plug it in and turn it on. I had it connected to a hose during a long day spent building a raised garden bed, where it worked like a champ.

Since then, we’ve had it on the deck, drawing water from the internal tank – and let me tell you, it’ll take much longer than you anticipate before you need to refill the reservoir. You’ll get HOURS of cool breezes with a single full tank.

But when it comes time to refill the tank? You can either connect that hose for a speedy refill or use an inlet hole on top of the unit to pour in water from the tap (if you’d rather not drag the hose or the unit in order to connect them).

So, OK, you want to use this outside to cool a deck or patio. Thing is, you’ll be sitting there, maybe even trying to have a conversation. The obvious question then becomes, “How loud is it?”

The CO48PM has three speeds, and I’m not going to lie, there’s a noticeable difference in volume among them. I measured the decibel output (using an app on my phone, so it’s not 100% accurate), and at the lowest speed, it’s about 60-63 dB. At the highest speed, it’s about 70 dB. Both of those are squarely within the “quiet street” and “normal conversation” ranges.

So, on the whole, it’s not incredibly loud, but keep in mind that those readings were also measured RIGHT NEXT to the unit, so the farther away you’re sitting, the quieter and less noticeable it’ll be.

The unit we have and tested is also not overly huge. It’s big enough that we get the predictable “What is THAT?” comments, but it’s certainly not imposing or frustratingly in the way. It easily fits into your outdoor living space – and most importantly, it lets you use and enjoy that outdoor living space in the sweaty depths of summer.