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It seems that once a company (this one being Fridge Electric) gets a “Don’t Buy!” rating from Consumer Reports (for their Cool Surge evaporative cooler) they just figure they have to wait a summer and release it under a new name: Mira-Cool. The Consumer Reports article on the air cooling unit opens with:
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.
I first started researching the Mira-Cool product when I saw their full-page ad in USA Today. I guess they decided to change the name of the unit after Consumer Reports suggested that nobody buy it. From what I can tell, there is no difference between the Cool Surge and the Mira-Cool. Their ad in USA Today starts off incredibly misleading with the title, “Public set to get free air cooling units” and goes on to say, “A new miracle air cooler is actually being given away free to the first 11,337 readers..” Well, after further reading I discovered that it was really a buy 1 (at $298) get 1 free, but you still had to pay for shipping on both units! But why who cares if you get both of them free if they don’t work as advertised?
Any company that says this in their FAQ has to be joking:
Q: Can I leave it on when I’m not home?
A: It’s recommended that you don’t because when you get home, the MIRA-COOL can quickly blast out ice cooled air.
Unfortunately I don’t think Mira-Cool and Fridge Electric is kidding even though their claims are a joke. Whenever you read something that seems too good to be true…it probably is. There are hundreds of companies out there trying to take advantage of the public’s ignorance on energy issues. Keep reading Mapawatt Blog (and keep your eyes peeled for other energy scams) and don’t get taken advantage of!
P.S. : If you want to see the Mira-Cool product for yourself (and at your own risk) go to www.mira-cool.com and enter claim code MC1008.
wow, what scam . was ready to order one of the units , but decided to try & research weight & dimensions . could not find any info on unit or company. checked bbb results & very glad i did. many thanks to all who posted their info about this co. saved me alot of frustations & money. thanks everyone . hollis .
Whoa, I ordered one Arctic-pro air conditioner weeks ago, My CC was charged $266.00 on or around June 10th 2011 and I just received it today, the unit been on all day long with no issues, like it cold I am cold and I hope that when we really need it this summer it works as it working now, Sorry I have no issues so far.
BTW if you’re all wondering I do not work nor have I know anyone that works, nor have I ever heard nor read anything about this company, If you don’t believe me, that’s your issue not mine. I felt I had to share this… Sorry to hear everyone’s got scammed, but for me I wasn’t scam as far as I can tell!
I agree, I have bought 2 of them and love them. No issues here either. I see Bonnie thinks anyone that likes these “work/own ” the company. She wants proof that they work,yet sounds like she is giving bad reviews on something she dosent own,so can’t know anything about ! I tend to think for myself. IF there are any problems, I have had none to date.I have run mine since June 3rd,every day. I loveum! Nice to see yours do too! Thanks.
Bonnie
JulioC, when no one has complained about your response and you want to assure everyone that you don’t work for the company – BS!
These same ArcticPro, so called air conditioners, are being advertised in Louisiana for $398 plus shipping. You say you paid $266. That ought to tell you just how crappy the company is.
…..And where does the water go that is taken out of the air by dehumidifyng the air as “all” true air conditioners do?
As far as “US based” in their ads goes, having a set up office in the US to sell cheap, junk foreign made products, doesn’t set the scammers above the foreign money scammers or any other low life. It is even more disgusting.
Bonnie, like I stated it is your issue if you believe I work or care about this company, I just dislike the manner you are applying your hatred. As for the experience with this cooler, it’s been awesome the only thing a can add is I wish it made my place colder, I understand that if I wanted a “REAL” air conditioner I would have gotten one from say Sears. BUT I WANTED THIS ONE AND IT WORKS FOR ME!
BTW the water comes out the back of the unit, you can attach the hose and cup this is supplied, but if you have owned one you would have known this. Go get a life!’ENUFF SAID.
Julio, apparently you own one and Nick owns one and the two of you disagree on how it works. Nick says you add tap water to it and you say condensate (water) comes out of it. Using tap water, THAT is IMPOSSIBLE!. Two years ago we called and were told the Cool-Surge (same thing-same company) would air condition a large room on one (1) tray of ice from your freezer. What a crock!
Have you read their adds this year for the ArcticPro. They are the most intentionally misleading adds I have ever read. They are designed to scam good people out of their money and that is all they are meant to do. If Fridge Electric’s products are so good, why do they not sell them more than one year. Oh…I forgot, they do! They just change the name and the appearance slightly and peddle the same crappy product. I have seen the elderly scammed by this company – and their related companies under Arthur Middleton Capital Holdings. The real Arthur Middleton would come out of his grave and squash these people if he could.
I do hate what they are doing and I’m not going to fight back for those who can’t.
I bought one of the MRCACL Models about 6 months ago and the Heater and fan worked well. When the heat set in, I began filling the cooler reservoir every 2-3 hours and notice a small drop in temp., but tonight, the cooler pump or whatever went out and I can’t reach Mira-Cool for help. It is 103F in my studio apt.
Help if you know some means to fix it. Tom Marrs
Tom. Your claim is bogus. The heating,needs NO water to run. (try again?)
You have to be kidding me TOM……
Really, Tom? Have you read the comments? Fixed or brand new, you’re screwed!
I bought these (yes at buy 1 get 1 free) for $217 so far I have had NO problem with either of the units. People read. It’t an AIR-COOLER NOT an air-conditioner . As an air cooler they are fine. I even take mine camping for the heater in early fall. No problems here
You are so confident…so make a believer out of me. How much ice are you using? How big of a space are you cooling? How long does it cool in that space? What is the temperature drop for the “entire” space, not just the air 1 inch from the vent? Where does the water go?
The better Business Bureau should fine these scam artists and shut them down.
Ginny B sounds like she either works for or owns the company, these units are a joke!!!!!!!!
Prove I work there and I’ll give you the deed to my crap hole house….2nd it’s an air-cooler where do you think the water goes ya airhead…my 1st room is 16×13,,,2nd is about the same,,,I hate to burst your bubble sweetie ,,but I am not medicly able TO work,hence why I buy CHEAP! They work fine,,, period.
BS! A 16′x 13′ room – how cool for how long? Where do you live – Alaska? You ought to be ashamed to promote that crap! If you need to buy CHEAP, you should buy a large fan. It’s cheaper and it works a whole lot better. The whole reason I’m even on this website is to discourage people who can “least” afford to waste money to waste it on crap from Fridge Electric. They would be better off sticking their heads under a water faucet than trying to cool off with this company’s crappy products. They are scammers….legal scammers….but still scammers! Maybe you don’t work for the company….maybe you’re an owner. They surely are staying silent under all this negative publicity.
W/E. Buy it don’t ,, I could care less. Done.
You btw,sound like an employe that got fired. Just don’t go “postal”.
There is a full page ad in today’s Dallas paper touting these units. Here’s the simple answer to your concerns: it is impossible for any electronic or electromechanical device to operate at 100% efficiency. To illustrate, if you leave the refrigerator door open for anything more than a few minutes, the room will warm up. That’s because the cooling unit gives off more heat than it absorbs, which is the same for any air conditioner. Air just in front of one of these scam units can feel cooler, but the room itself will warm up. It’s just basic science that any ninth grader should be able to explain.
Wrong!
People read. Its an AIR-COOLER NOT an air-conditioner !
My Mira Cool is broken how to I call the company?
Are u kidding,,,there’s #s on the paperwork you got,,or do a scearch on here for the co. Geesh!
Elizabeth,
Don’t mind Ginny. She’s associated with the company in some way and knows you aren’t going to get it fixed. It probably isn’t broken anyway. It’s just a piece of crap that doesn’t work. However the following from their website might help:
“The products you purchase from Fridge Electric, LLC are satisfaction guaranteed. If any product fails to meet your reasonable expectations, it may be returned for replacement or refund less shipping. The product must be returned in the original packaging or in preapproved packaging within the 30-day period.”
You won’t find a “service” phone number, but try this one: 1-888-448-2469. You’ll get an answering machine or have to wait while they transfer you and then you’ll get cut off, but it’s worth a try. If you are beyond the 30 day from purchase, you are on your own. Of course, if you happen to get through, they’ll delay you until you are, but let us know how your try turned out anyway.
Got a Mira-Cool air cooler/heater yesterday and it works fantastic. Cools my 130 sqft bedroom to near airconditioner levels with only tap water and the heater is the most powerful I have ever seen, and can tell I will not have to use the main heater all that much this winter. I am not sure why everyone slams these “ice pack” air coolers. They do so on not only room air coolers but also food air cooler and personal cooling system air coolers. Well I have all 3 of them and can say that my igloo ice pack air cooler in a hot car for hours keeps the inside like a freezer, my shaper image personal cooling system keeps me cooler when I am walking at the zoo for 5+ hours in 90+ degree weather, and as I said before my Mira-Cool air cooler is incredible. Nick
WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP! You cooled a 130 square foot bedroom to “near air conditioner levels” (?) with only tap water?! Where does the “cool” come from to “cool” the space? If tap water cooled the air to “near” (whatever that means) air conditioner levels, every air conditioning system in the world would be running off tap water instead of Freon!
Your Igloo ice pack is cooling a very small, closed ice chest type space (1-2 cubic feet)to keep food or drinks cold. It’s a WHOLE LOT colder than tap water!…And you couldn’t cool the inside of your vehicle with it if you left it open, much less a 130 square foot room…and you expect people to believe that you have air conditioning off tap water. Like I said, WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP!
You’re an idiot. Anyone with half a brain can figure out that you are lieing!
the “cool” comes from the evaporating water sent out by the fan and cooling system of the device into the air to bring down the temperature of the air. It gets so cold after evaporating a gallon that even if I cover up I am still freezing. The air cooler is a supplement for central air, not a replacement for it. Any more stupid ignorant questions? Nick
What a laugh! Just hang a wet towel in front of a fan, or better yet, try an atomizer with tap water. You can walk around the house spraying water into the air.
Air conditioners “dehumidify.” That means that air conditioners take moisture “out” of the air, so if you are using the Mira-cool as a supplement for central air conditioning, your air conditioner is taking the moisture out of the air as fast as your Mira-cool is putting it in. Any more stupid, ignorant answers?
putting evaporated water in the air is what dehumidifying is and what the Mira-Cool does so therefore it is just like an air conditioner as far as that goes for cooling the air. Nick
WRONG – “Humidifying” is putting water into the air. “Dehumidifying” is taking water out of the air. Air conditioners “dehumidify.” That is one of the important things that sets air conditioners apart from evaporative coolers which “humidify” the air.
From Mieriam-Webster’s Dictionary:
HUMID – containing or characterized by perceptible moisture especially to the point of being oppressive
HUMIDIFY – to make humid
DEHUMIDIFY – to remove moisture from (as air)
The Mira-Cool dehimidifys in cooler mode and humidifys in heater mode if there is water in the tank. Nick
WRONG! If the tap water you put in it isn’t sprayed into the air, then the water has to circulate through a heat exchanger and has to be cold (many degrees below the air temperature) for the moisture in the air to condense on the heat exchanger thereby “dehumidifying” the air. The condensate then has to be collected in some kind of reservoir and removed or it drips on the floor.
Does the water in your kitchen or bathroom water faucets cause condensation on the fixtures?…..NO, it doesn’t. That’s because tap water isn’t cold enough to cause condensation. If it did, all the water pipes in your house would have droplets of water forming on them and dripping into your attic and down your walls.
It’s really hard to defend a piece of crap like Mira-Cool, or Cool-Surge, or ArcticPro – all the same crap made by the same crappy, scammer company, Fridge Electric.
Some very good, financially strapped, elderly people have lost money to these legal, scamming thieves. Do you really want to be a party to that?
You must have a big fat ass to be able to talk out of it so much. Nick
Ha! I must have hit a nerve!….maybe one of the owners?
Wow another worker ,,,big suprise ,Guess all responders work there lmao, ,,,,,,,,,Wooooooooooooo hoooooooooo finally someone put Bonnie in her place. She is. Know it all that knows NOTHiNG about how GREAT these coolers are! And Nick she has so much crammed up her butt, only sh*t comes out her mouth Ha!
Ginny, I’m guessing you work for the company? Who else would get so passionate about an overpriced cooler that practices misleading advertising tactics?
Folks, I’m closing comments on this one. If you feel you have something productive to add to this conversation, please email info@mapawatt.com.
Dear Bonnie…
http://209.160.46.93/ds_img_direct.php?i=theres-the-.jpg&t=8&d=rrznp8upht&x=360&y=480&l1=615&l2=659
I own one. It’s not great, but it does the job for a small room, for a fairly low operating cost. Not worth the $400, maybe $50-100. End of discussion.
Chris,
So are you defending the product as it is advertised?
Why does every retard who posts bad things about a product somewhere online automatically assume that the ones who have positive things to say have some involvement with the company making that product? It isn’t even as if they let the person get their 2 cents in and look into whether or not the person actually is associated with the company, they just start shooting their fat ignorant ass retard mouth off about it. Nick
Well, Nick. It’s like this. When products like Mira-Cool, Cool Surge, and ArticPro don’t do what the company making and selling them claims they will do, and they keep on making the claims and selling the products, they know that they are cheating people out of their money. The products are not going to meet the claims and perform for some people and not perform the exact same way for others. The product(s) should perform the same way every time. So when people like yourself get on sites like this when they would have no reason to go looking for information on a company for a product that is working well for them, it throws up red flags. Follow that with the continued insistence that your unit does exactly what the company says it will do, even though the various testing groups, such as the Consumer Protection Agency, say that it doesn’t, and those of us who know that it doesn’t work and know that people who could ill afford it have spent their very hard-earned money because they trusted the newspapers that they saw the ad in, and trusted the company because of all the implied claims on the product, and were misled to believe that the product is a quality product made in the U.S., we get a little upset. Those of us with personal knowledge of this or who feel a sense of moral responsibility, just plain get angry about it and feel the need to respond. Some of us have such a great sense of what is right and wrong that we continue to speak up, even when we are attacked personally for doing so.
People like me wonder why people like you continue to defend a lousy product unless you have something to lose if people stop buying it. That is why we assume that you have something to do with the company.
There is no way for anyone on this site to look into whether or not you or anyone else is associated with the company….and you know that.
If I were ignorant and retarded, as you say, then even a moron could figure out this is a lousy product and a lousy company. No one is stopping you from saying anything you want to say. No one is going to stop me from doing everything I can to shut down these legal scammers.
Go enjoy your wonderful Arthur Middleton Capital Holdings, Fridge Electric product and consider yourself very lucky that you are so completely satisfied with how it performs for you. If you are not associated with the company in any way, what the rest of us think doesn’t really matter, now does it?
Who is getting scammed? Last time I checked this was America and if you are unhappy with a product you get your money back. I paid $6 for my Mira-Cool at Goodwill and if it wasn’t the $300 to $400 air cooler/heater it is supposed to be I would have gone to get my measly $6 back for it. It is in mint condition, the air cooler has let me put my thermostat at 80 degrees in my nearly 1400 sqft condo in record heat here in St. Louis and I tested the heater and it is more powerful than heaters costing hundreds. The only thing is I wish the model I have also took ice packs so I could see how cold it can really make the air. Other than that it is perfect and anyone who doesn’t think so can get a refund. End of story, Nick
Nick, I think you said it all when you said you paid $6 for it. Would you be just as happy with it if you paid $300?
There are not many things I would pay $300 for because I am not stupid, therefore the point is moot. I will say that if something costs hundreds and I get one for a good deal I expect it to work like something costing hundreds and the Mira-Cool does just that. Example, the other thing I got the same day at Goodwill were 2 solid wood cabinets with a shelf on top perfect for a flatscreen TV and 3 cabinets below for componets. They were $70 each and it was Goodwill’s 1/2 off furniture day. So I got both of them for $35 each. They are roughly 42” H x 50” W. Cabinets like these would cost in upwards of at least $350 and even though I paid 10 times less than that I still expect them to look at function as if I had bought them for $700, which I would never do, and they do. Nick
You should go back and read this entire site. You paid about what it is worth.
I read things like this all of the time. There is nothing but one bad post after another about the Riddex Plus and I have had those plugged in for years and they operate above and beyond. So I am familiar with these negative posts and I am certain in the case of this product the comments are coming from people like you who do not even have one in the 1st place. Nick
Maybe people like me have had loved ones scammed by these people for this worthless product and they couldn’t get their money back.
Bonnie you can KMA ,,never have you said anywhere that you OWNED one and hD. Proble
With it.. Say I work/own the co all you want ,I can see that it matters not that anyone thT says these work are not ok with you….. You had a bad w/e from this co and now your on a personal mishion to … well at this point I don’t know what your prob is. I can however see you have way to much time on your hands to spend all this time trashing an item that (sorry if you don’t like it) DO work for some. In this my last responce , I will say this,,,,,,get,,,a ,,,real,,,,life!
It works for some and not for others…..how interesting…I wonder if the portable air conditioners off the shelf in reputable stores work for some and not for others? Naaah….the stores would stop selling them if they did that…..but Fridge Electric just keeps on selling. Glad yours works.
NICK needs a barrel of ex-lax. Also, he’s taking way too many tokes, sniffs, snorts!
“how interesting”, as Bonie’s fat ass would say, that her buttfuck buddy Vladimir just happenes to show up at the end of her fat ugly ass being taken down once and for all. Nick
When there is no reasonable defense, the personal attacks begin.
Interesting, Nick, how you say you aren’t associated with the company, but you are vicious in your hatred for someone who has a complaint about a product and a company you have no complaints with….And words won’t take me down…. or shut me up.
Sebastian, thanks for the laugh. You may be right.
Reasonable defense? There is nothing about what you have said that is reasonable and therefore doesn’t need to be defended reasonably or otherwise. You never had one, you never used one. I use mine everyday and the room it is in is dramtically cooler than the rest of the condo, one tank of tap water gives up to 12 hours of cooling, the regular fan without the cooler is one of the best you can buy as is the 1200w heater which can heat over 600 square feet of open space. The bottom line is whether it is the $6 I paid for it or full retail price it is a product of the highest quality that does everything it claims to do and more. The people bad mouthing it need to get a life because it is very sad that they come to sites like this to bash a product they have never used, never seen, and probably never even heard of to begin with. Nick