EcoFlow Wave 2 evaluate: all-in-one A/C and heater that’s a bit of overblown

The EcoFlow Wave 2 is an air conditioner, heater, and fan that may uniquely be powered by a battery and photo voltaic panel. This moveable warmth pump packs a variety of cooling and heating for its dimension and could possibly be a sport changer for some or a disappointment for others. All of it depends upon whether or not you consider EcoFlow’s advertising and marketing. 

A warmth pump’s capability to switch warmth out and in of a room is what makes these more and more standard home equipment so environment friendly, however EcoFlow’s pitch for the diminutive Wave 2 is absurd and deceptive. It exhibits individuals utilizing it inside a spacious lounge, a big RV, on the deck of a ship, and exterior at a campsite. Some backpacker even carried it into the mountains to use with a tent. 

After a 12 months of testing, I can guarantee you that the Wave 2 is not going to cool or warmth these areas in any significant manner as depicted. It definitely received’t increase or decrease the temperature by 18 levels Fahrenheit (8 levels Celsius) in simply 5 minutes, as EcoFlow claims.

I’ve examined the $799 Wave 2 to each warmth and funky a shipping-container-sized surf shack, and to chill each a campervan and a tiny bed room in an previous Portuguese farmhouse. The quickest temperature change I’ve seen is an 8F (4.6C) drop in half-hour, effectively beneath EcoFlow’s declare. However it additionally saved a room at 72F (22C) or beneath on a day that reached 99F (37C) exterior. Its worst efficiency resulted in no temperature change in any respect. 

Notably, in some climates, a 400W photo voltaic panel might conceivably maintain the $1,199 Wave 2 with battery add-on operating constantly with out ever needing to plug it right into a wall socket. The Wave 2 is definitely progressive and a really succesful system in some restricted eventualities — but it surely’s not the little miracle EcoFlow makes it appear.

EcoFlow’s Wave 2 is fitted with a compact compressor, condenser, and warmth exchanger with air exhaust and consumption pairs on either side of the system that type two closed loops. The system works by transferring warmth from one loop to the opposite to both cool or warmth the house you’re in. This capability to switch warmth as a substitute of producing cold and hot air is what makes warmth pumps so environment friendly. JerryRigEverything has a very good Wave 2 teardown that additionally explains how every thing works in additional element.

The Wave 2 may be very small for an HVAC unit which is each a power and a weak spot. It measures simply 20.4 x 11.7 x 13.2 inches (518 x 297 x 336mm) and weighs solely 32 kilos (14.5kg). It’s rated for 1500W / 5100BTU hours of cooling capability and 1800W / 6100BTU hours of heating capability, but solely pulls about 200W to 450W in my testing. However anybody who’s ever bought an air conditioner can inform you that 5100BTUs isn’t a variety of cooling capability. 

Fundamental window-mounted A/Cs generally offered within the US normally begin at round 8000BTUs. They price lower than half the worth of the Wave 2 however eat way more energy over time. You may as well purchase a a lot much less moveable 14000BTU A/C and heater combo unit from Midea for $100 lower than the Wave 2 in case you can afford the additional house it requires. 

However solely the Wave 2 might be fitted with an optionally available battery that provides 17.2 kilos (7.8kg) to the whole weight and as much as eight hours of untethered run time. Uniquely, that battery might be charged by an environment friendly 700W DC-to-DC connection from a lot of EcoFlow’s large energy stations. Or benefit from the battery’s XT150 jack to cost it from nearly any energy station or DC-to-DC charger. It can be charged from a typical AC wall jack (820W max), photo voltaic (11-60V / 13A, 400W max), or a automobile’s cigarette lighter outlet (200W max).

Placement of the Wave 2 is proscribed by a number of elements, together with the quite brief AC energy wire and the 55.1-inch (140-cm) lengthy ducts that require five- and six-inch (12.7-cm and 15.2-cm) diameter openings in a window. You may also want a bucket inside attain of the drainage hose to seize any collected condensation. 

Final 12 months I attempted utilizing the Wave 2 to warmth and funky a single-room surf shack measuring about 800 cubic ft. I wasn’t impressed because it did not successfully regulate the temperature in each instances. I did, nonetheless, profit from the nice and cozy or cool air blowing straight on me, particularly when falling asleep, but it surely didn’t do sufficient to justify the worth. 

Then I learn the superb print. Ecoflow says the Wave 2 works greatest in areas measuring lower than 350 cubic ft (10 cubic meters), which is simply sufficiently big to suit a double mattress and two aspect tables. Heating and cooling efficiency is roughly the identical in such compact locations — it’s a wee bit louder when cooling and makes use of barely extra energy when heating. However the Wave 2 will not be a heater for very chilly winters. As an alternative, it’s designed to function in temperatures between 41F and 122F (5C and 50C). And since EcoFlow says it’s “the trade’s strongest and compact moveable A/C,” I primarily examined its cooling talents throughout a extremely popular summer time. 

So, with my expectations reset, I’ve been utilizing the Wave 2 for the previous few weeks to chill down a small 500-cubic-foot bed room and a 364-cubic-foot Sprinter van in central Portugal, the place cloudless skies have often produced temperatures too excessive for my Scottish ancestry. 

Organising the Wave 2 within the Sprinter requires extra endurance than in a house — however that’s true with every thing in vanlife. After parking, I’ve to lug the unit out of the van’s storage to position it in entrance of the passenger seat. Then, I connect the battery, drain hose, and receptacle and thoroughly run the paper-thin ducting up and out by means of the window utilizing a thick foam insert I created. I’ve bought the entire thing all the way down to below 10 minutes.

I examined the Wave 2’s cooling contained in the van at evening and in direct daylight. For the daylight take a look at, I closed the doorways and coated the within of the home windows with insulated and reflective covers. With the cooling set to most on the unit’s lowest potential temperature (16C / 61F), the within of the van remained roughly the identical as the skin, which ranged from 86F to a sweltering 99F (30C to 37C). That’s not dangerous contemplating the inside might have simply surpassed 120F (49F) with out the Wave 2 operating, but it surely’s nonetheless a fail in my e book since larger capability rooftop A/Cs (costing greater than $2,000) from firms like Dometic and Coleman would have tamed that warmth. 

After all, I suspected the Wave 2’s meager 5100BTU capability would fail this take a look at, however EcoFlow’s pitch to vanlifers is that the Wave 2 will “cool or heat, anyplace, anytime” which simply isn’t true, particularly for RVs — a lot of that are a lot bigger than a class-B Sprinter van — that should park within the solar to recharge their leisure batteries off rooftop photo voltaic.

Cooling the Sprinter after the solar went down yielded significantly better outcomes. On the warmest evening of my testing when it was 72F to 77F (22C to 25C) exterior, I used to be in a position to decrease the interior temperature to about 66F (19C) and keep it into the morning. The van bought so chilly that I wanted a down-filled quilt at one level. That’s a serious win, with one caveat.

The Wave 2’s optionally available 1159Wh battery solely lasts about two and a half hours on max mode in my testing, or over eight in eco mode, its most energy-efficient setting. That wasn’t sufficient juice to maintain the A/C operating all evening in a mixture of max and eco cooling modes, so I needed to plug the Wave 2 into the a lot bigger photo voltaic generator I carry to energy issues like my van’s lighting, induction cooktop, and occasional maker. After I awoke, that greater battery had drained to 10 p.c, leaving me with valuable little energy to begin my day.

My ultimate take a look at was to chill a small room in a restored Portuguese farmhouse. Right here the Wave 2 obtained an help from the room’s one tiny window lower right into a construction with two-foot thick stone partitions. On yet one more 99F (37C) day I managed to maintain the room between 68F and 72F (20C to 22C) with the Wave 2 working in a mixture of low to medium settings, even because the temperature inside the home peaked at 83F (28C). Spectacular.

Over the past 12 months of on and (principally) off operation I’ve observed two issues with my evaluate unit. First, the buttons on the bodily management panel now solely work intermittently, maybe as a result of they bought squashed from all of the transferring round. It’s probably not a problem, although, as a result of I choose to regulate the unit with the superb EcoFlow app which works effectively over Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. 

Of larger concern is the very loud and aggravating noise the Wave 2 typically produces. I believe it’s associated to the water pump because it typically occurs when the water receptacle is full or the drain hose is looped in a manner that reduces gravity’s assist. The squeal is equivalent to the sound reported by a number of different customers. EcoFlow tells me that there’s a recognized subject associated to the water pump clogging because of particles or trapped air. Affected house owners can request a alternative below guarantee. 

• When initially cooling a room on max setting the Wave 2 is a loud 53dB from a meter away, which drops to an inexpensive 45dB in Eco mode — that’s in keeping with the quietest of primary window A/Cs.
• The Wave 2 can routinely evaporate condensation that develops through the warmth alternate course of, however solely in environments with lower than 70 p.c humidity. 
• The optionally available battery consists of 100W USB-C and 18W USB-A charging ports to your devices.
• IPX4 water resistance makes it okay for the Wave 2 (and IP65 battery) to get caught within the rain.
• The highest hose duct warms up significantly when exhausting warmth exterior the window (and thereby cooling the room). Good thought to wrap it in insulation for extra everlasting installations as a substitute of bleeding that warmth (or chilly) again into the room.

The Wave 2 warmth pump is a reasonably area of interest however attention-grabbing product that works greatest to chill and warmth small areas positioned in temperate climates. It may even cool a small room in a really heat local weather if the insulation is nice sufficient. It’s additionally a sensible choice for vanlifers searching for some occasional DIY temperature management, particularly at evening and when touring past the grid. However in case you often have to warmth or cool a residing house bigger than 350 cubic ft (10 cubic meters) in additional excessive climates, you need to contemplate extra conventional cooling and heating choices.

Nonetheless, as a budding vanlifer and off-grid adventurer, I’m excited by the way forward for battery-powered warmth pumps. The Wave 2 already improved upon the unique EcoFlow Wave, and EcoFlow tells me {that a} third era is coming in 2025.

All images by Thomas Ricker / The Verge