AccessoriesIoT

Mistbox Gadget Can Cut Your AC Bill By 30 Percent

mistbox - for some reason we don't have an alt tag here

All across the country, people use heating and cooling units to keep their homes comfortable.

If you live in the hot and humid southern Florida, you most likely have your AC cranked high, to keep the interior of your house cool. If you live up north in New England and have central heating, you’re more likely do the opposite and turn on the heat to keep your house warm.

In either scenario using an air system to keep your home interior comfortable is expensive.

But it’s not just expensive regarding finances and bills. It’s also taxing on the environment. AC units use a ton of energy, which creates more emissions.

A new device called the Mistbox, already funded via the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, aims to change that.

What Is the Mistbox?

The Mistbox is a small, connected device that can be used to improve the efficiency of your AC. It’s designed to pre-cool the intake air – air coming into your AC unit – to improve efficiency, cut costs and cool the air faster. Ultimately, this saves you money on operating and energy costs, and it also helps the environment by cutting down on energy consumption.

Better yet, it’s designed to be easy to use. Just install the device, track changes and progress and use your AC or cooling system like you normally would. Unlike, say, a smart thermostat such as Nest it doesn’t take any time to learn your habits, patterns or routine. As soon as you install the device, it begins working.

mistbox 2 - for some reason we don't have an alt tag here

It does require a subscription fee to use, but other than an initial activation fee you’re not locked into any contracts. If you cancel, you won’t incur any fees either. Plus, the Mistbox comes with a lifetime warranty which means it will be replaced or fixed at no cost to you anytime something goes wrong.

All this sounds great, sure, but how does it work and what’s the true impact?

What the Mistbox Does

According to the team behind the device, the efficiency boost will provide cost savings from 20% to 38%. According to the Nest, operating an AC unit costs an average of over $120 each month, rated at just $0.134 per kilowatt-hour. If your energy rates are higher, it will cost even more than that. So, with the Mistbox, you could be saving up to $45 per month. That’s a massive boost in funds, especially if you’re on a tight budget.

The Mistbox achieves maximum efficiency in a couple of ways. When using the device, the AC unit doesn’t have to use as much power. The Mistbox cools air faster before entering the unit, which means the AC system won’t run for long cycles. The latter is especially true of hot summer days when the unit would typically be operating for an extended length of time.

Of course, the longer your AC runs, the more likely it is to freeze up which can cause it to stop working temporarily. The Mistbox also helps combat that problem too.

Installing the unit is relatively simple and requires a total of four different steps. First, you mount the wind turbine to the top panel of the condenser fan. Then, you fasten and sync up the control system which is attached to the side of the AC unit.

After that, you clip the cooling mist bars to the side of the unit and run the connected tubing along the side. Finally, you connect a water supply using a supply lead and something like a garden hose, which is not included.

The Mistbox also includes an integrated filtration system to remove harmful chemicals and make the water it uses fresher. You don’t have to worry about breathing in the cool air produced by the gadget.

Because the Mistbox is modular and can be installed or removed easily, it works perfectly even when you’re renting AC units instead of buying them. You can just detach the Mistbox system and reuse it elsewhere.

What About Crowdfunding?

The project began as a Kickstarter campaign, which means a community of people who thought it was a great idea and could be a great product funded it. Often, that means there are no guarantees it will surpass funding goals and be put into production.

In the case of the Mistbox, however, funding goals have already been exceeded. The first shipments are expected to go out sometime between August 2017 and the end of the year. That also means it will be available for anyone to purchase shortly after.

You can read more about the Mistbox on the official website.

Images via Facebook and Kickstarter.

Pocketables does not accept targeted advertising, phony guest posts, paid reviews, etc. Help us keep this way with support on Patreon!
Become a patron at Patreon!

Kayla Matthews

Kayla Matthews is a Pittsburgh-based tech writer contributing to MakeUseOf, The Gadget Flow and Smart Hustle. Follow her on Twitter to read her latest posts!

Avatar of Kayla Matthews