Close Comfort Portable Air Conditioner review | #CheckItOutwithYoungLim
Not satisfied with a fan but don't want to waste electricity by turning on the home air-con? A portable personal air-con is the perfect solution!
By Young Lim -
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Close Comfort is a portable personal air-conditioner for modern households.
We know Singapore is hot all year round, and most of us have air-conditioners installed in our homes to beat the heat. But not everyone is accustomed to living and sleeping in an air-con room all the time. I know, because my dad always complains that he's freezing in the middle of the night, while my mom complains that the air-con is not cold enough. There's always a debate around the dining table in the morning about whether or not to switch the AC on in their rooms at night -.-
Of course, there are also some people who suffer from sinus issues, which can be made worse when the air is too cold or dry. Now personally I don't mind living in an air-conditioned space, but I do feel bad knowing that the AC has to use up so much energy to cool down the entire room when I'm the only one around.
"But what about using a normal fan?" you may ask. A fan helps to circulate air around, but during those hot and dry 'summer' months we experience from March to May, a fan can only help so much by circulating the warm air around your body. I'm sure you've experienced it before, on nights that are so warm that even the fan doesn't help much right?
Now aside from fans, there have been several other cooling alternatives on the market. These range from the really old-fashioned air-coolers, that require you to pour cold water or ice into a bucket under a motorised fan, to the more high-tech but bulky standing air-conditioner units. The downside to buying the standalone units is that very often, they come with a large outlet hose that you need to direct to a window or out the door, which makes it really really unsightly! Imagine having to roll out a pipe every time you want to cool down.
In my search for a better solution to something that can help me cool down faster than a conventional fan, but with less hassle than getting those bulky standalone air-cons, I stumbled on this company called Close Comfort. It's an Australian company that has developed a portable personal air-con that promises a hassle-free operation and superb cooling performance. Best of all, there are no external pipes involved! I decided to give it a go.
Delivery from date of order was relatively fast, because I discovered they actually have an office here in Singapore. It's also good to know that there is a local point of contact in the event something goes wrong and I need help troubleshooting. Nothing went wrong, luckily. The box itself is actually quite small for an air-conditioning unit, I was expecting something larger and heavier. While the old-style portable air-cons are much bigger and weight around 32kg or more, Close Comfort measures 55 cm (height) x 29 cm (length) x 39 cm (breadth) and weighs 17.5kg. It's not light enough to carry with one hand but definitely not as chunky and clumsy looking as the old style portable versions.
Once unboxed, the unit looks fine in a bedroom setting. When placed on the floor, the top of the unit actually reaches the top of my mattress, allowing the cold air to be directed directly to my body when I'm laying down. Not sure if the maker had intended for it to be so fitting but it's definitely a great aspect of the Close Comfort portable air-con. As mentioned, there are no pipes to hook up at all, the machine comes with a remote control and is capable of working right out of the box. All you have to do is plug it into a power source. In terms of portability, there are handle grips on the side of the machine so you can lift it onto a table or carry it from space to space, but there are also castor wheels underneath, which roll smoothly over hard surfaces so you can wheel it from the bedroom to the study or wherever you may be working out or doing your morning yoga.
At this point you must be wondering how it works. Well, you just need to lift up the front flap (the larger panel) as well as the back flap (the smaller one). When switched on, the cooling actually starts to take effect within 90 seconds and you can set the desired temperature to as low as 17-degrees. Normal air is drawn in from the grilled portion below the air outlet vents, before it's cooled down and then blown out from the front panel. The front panel is also curved so that the cold air is directed horizontally across instead of just straight up towards the ceiling. Warm air created by the compressor is released through the smaller back vent. I was worried that the warm air might cancel out the cooling effects of the unit, but that wasn't the case. There's only a slight amount of warm air released from the back, compared to the amount of cold air blown out from the front, and the warmth of the air is slightly hotter than a blow dryer set on low. The company does advise that you use the unit with open windows to allow for better air circulation though.
There are three levels of fan speed to choose from, but I found that all I needed was the medium speed to keep myself cool throughout the night (without the room air-con on). The sound level of the fan is as loud as a normal fan, but the internal compressor does emit a whirring noise from time to time, which took me a couple of nights to get used to. I experimented with various placements of the unit to find the perfect spot where I could still feel the cold air without having the compressor's noise wake me up.
In this image, you can see how the cool air is strategically directed to be blown over the surface of the mattress. It's a terrific design, especially if you are sleeping with someone who prefers a warmer temperature because you can place the unit on the side of the bed where you want more cooling.
Aside from the bedroom, I also experimented with using the unit next to my WFH desk as well as next to my workout bench when I'm exercising. They were super great for keeping me cool without having to switch the room's air-con on! With this unit, I'm expected to save up to 75% on electricity, which definitely will help to bring down the cost of my utility bills! I've only been using it for less than a month, so I'll need to wait for my next bill to arrive before I can do a comparison but I'm definitely happier knowing that I'm wasting less electricity now since I'm not turning on the home's air-con when I'm alone.
Maintenance-wise, the unit is really easy to take care of. I roll it away when it's not needed and turn it on when I need a quick cool-down. Like a normal air-con unit though, you will need to check and clean the air filters situated on the front and back of the unit to ensure that there are no large particles obstructing the flow of the air. Aside from that, I haven't found anything difficult to deal with when it comes to operating the machine. It's definitely something I'd recommend to people who are looking for a cooling solution that works better than a fan, but without the hassle of messy wiring or piping.
Close Comfort Portable Air-con costs $649, with free delivery, and can be purchased on its website as well as Shoppee and Lazada. There are promotional prices available on both shopping portals though, so be sure to check them out first.