The €163 “air conditioner” Europe is buying from China is a PC fan and a heater.
Germany’s Stiftung Warentest opened one. There is no compressor, no condenser, no refrigerant, and no cooling. Inside: a standard PC fan and a small heating element. The unit weighs under 3 kg. A
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The €163 “air conditioner” Europe is buying from China is a PC fan and a heater.
Germany’s Stiftung Warentest opened one. There is no compressor, no condenser, no refrigerant, and no cooling. Inside: a standard PC fan and a small heating element. The unit weighs under 3 kg. A real split-system indoor unit is around 13 kg; the outdoor unit can hit 40 kg. The sticker on the device is almost honest: “Wall heater.”
Epicooler (also appearing as Coolizi and similar names) markets itself as a revolutionary, NASA-inspired, no-installation air conditioner that cools a room in minutes.
Aggressive AI-generated videos and ads have been running across social media, YouTube, and websites during Europe’s heatwave. The price is low enough to look tempting when real air conditioners cost several times more and many buildings have installation restrictions.
The company claims a US address and, in other places, that it is “100% German-owned” and that buying supports local jobs. The units ship from China — testers tracked one to Dongguan. The website has redirected between brands.
The legal entity sits behind a web of companies with virtual addresses. Returns, when they happen, often require the buyer to ship the thing back to China at their own expense.
This is not an isolated gadget. The same lightweight wall-mounted “cooler” has been sold under multiple names, advertised with fake reviews and countdown timers, and listed far cheaper on Chinese wholesale platforms.
In “Cold Wind” mode it does not lower room temperature. In heat mode the testers shut it off because it got too hot.
Europe has been buying air conditioners it never needed before. Chinese factories and drop-shippers answered the demand with a product that looks like an indoor unit, costs a fraction of one, and does the work of a cheap fan. The marketing says German engineering and American headquarters. The box comes from Guangdong.
Same factories that produce the real units people actually want. Different label, different story, same heatwave.
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