Lucrative summer business: how dealers make money from fake air conditioners

The summer heat has gripped Europe tightly this year, leading to sweltering indoor environments that not only cause discomfort but can also pose health risks. As a result, air conditioners and other cooling devices have become highly sought after. Aggressive advertisements on YouTube and in online magazines promote products such as Epicooler, Cooling Ace, and Breezamax as “revolutionary.” However, the question remains: how much of these claims can be considered true? Promises of cooling miracles appear frequently in these videos, often contradicting the laws of thermodynamics. One ad claims, “This air conditioner developed by NASA cools your room down within 90 seconds,” while another states, “In the first test, the temperature dropped from 34°C to 17°C in under two minutes.” These claims are accompanied by assertions about extremely low energy consumption: “The performance is comparable to a conventional air conditioner, but it consumes up to 90% less electricity,” says a voiceover while showing images of frozen copper coils and space technology in the background. The advertised miracle device called “Epicooler” costs nearly €140 and, according to various—clearly fabricated—test reports, is said to cool a bedroom located in the attic from 29°C to 23°C within 20 minutes. A typical monoblock air conditioner from a hardware store would require around 700 watts of power to achieve similar results. According to the promotional material, however, the Epicooler uses only 0.38 kWh over eight hours of operation, which equates to just 47 watts of power. This would imply a performance factor of over 40, making it more efficient than even a built-in climate solution with proper insulation. Such efficiency seems implausible, especially since the device relies on a special “air guidance geometry” and supposedly does without refrigerants. The law of conservation of energy appears to be optional for this device, disregarding basic physical principles. What is actually behind these devices? Other products like Cooling Ace, Coolzy, BreezaMax Pro, and AiraBreeze similarly make bold claims, asserting they are faster and more efficient than traditional air conditioners, popular among customers, and easy to install. At least the last part is sometimes accurate, as the BreezaMax is essentially nothing more than a battery-powered fan. Inside the BreezaMax, there's mainly plastic, batteries, and a small motor. Meanwhile, the Epicooler and its optical twins, Coolizi Coolzy and BrezyMaxx, are designed for year-round use and can both cool and heat. Their names suggest some level of confusion, possibly intentional. Real air conditioners like the 7000 BTU monoblock “Breezy Cool 2.0” from Comfee share similar names with these largely ineffective Chinese fans. Research into the actual manufacturers of these devices on the wholesale platform Alibaba reveals that the Epicooler is not an air conditioner at all but rather a heater with a power output of 1,800 watts. One of the product images from Alibaba appears in a customer review on the Epicooler ordering page. In “cooling mode,” the Epicooler apparently turns off its PTC heating element and functions solely as a fan. Suspiciously similar: The photos from the Alibaba product page (top left) and the alleged customer review (bottom right) are identical. The same website exists with the brand name “Epicooler.” Another product, the “next-generation air cooler to combat heatwaves” named AiraBreeze (“smaller than a breadbox,” “98.7 percent less electricity consumption”), features a water inlet where water is absorbed via capillary action by some lamellae made of paper or cotton and used to cool the airflow of the mini-fan through evaporative cooling. This works theoretically, but in practice, it might not be effective enough to provide significant cooling.