Vornado
Vornado EVDC500 Energy Smart
The EVDC300's larger sibling: same DC motor and single-watt idle, two tanks instead of one, and enough output to matter in a real living room. At 3.5 gallons a day it is the most capable portable Vornado makes, and its 850 sq ft figure again sits within a few percent of the load calculation. Fourteen hours at full output, so still a daily job in a dry house - but two tanks make that a lighter job than one. The question it poses against the Evap40 console is whether you would rather carry water twice a day and keep the floor space, or once a day and give up a corner.
The room-size claim, reconciled
862 sq ft supported · box says 850 sq ft
The 850 sq ft on the box is what the winter load calculation supports for this output — one of 18 units here whose claim lands within 5% of its own published rate.
Holding 850 sq ft takes about 3.45 gal/day, which drains this 2-gallon tank in roughly 14 hr.
What a year costs
two wicks; two-pack at $14.99 on a one-to-two-month interval in season. Electricity assumes the rated 13 W for 12 hours a day across a 150-day heating season at 16¢ per kilowatt-hour.
Specifications
A claim the maker makes
Vornado says the wicks carry an antimicrobial treatment. We quote it rather than repeat it: this site has not tested it and neither has anyone independent.
Maintenance profile
- Top fill
- No — tank comes off and goes to the sink
- Replaceable media
- Wick, replaced through the season
Facts, not a score. Which of these matter depends entirely on whether the unit ends up somewhere you will actually clean it.
Features
- DC motor, single-digit watts
- 3.5 gal/day output
- Two tanks totalling 2 gallons
- Digital display and automatic humidity control
- Two wicks
- 5-year guarantee
Pros
- Most output of any portable Vornado while still drawing barely more power than a nightlight
- Honest coverage claim in a size bracket where every competitor inflates
- Dual tanks make the daily refill manageable
- Five-year guarantee, which counts for more on a motor that runs every hour of the season
Cons
- Two wicks, so the consumable bill matches the EV200's rather than the cheaper EVDC300's
- Fourteen hours at full output, so the dual tanks buy convenience rather than a second day
- At $120 it is competing with console evaporatives that hold three times the water
- No app and no scheduling, which at $120 is a real gap next to the ultrasonics
What owners say
Summarised from owner discussions and long-form owner reviews. Nobody here has used this unit.
The largest of Vornado's DC-motor evaporatives, and the one owners put in a big bedroom. In a 400 sq ft room owners report it doing the job, which is exactly what its published output supports — Vornado's numbers continue to hold up better than anyone else's here.
The operational detail worth knowing is a diagnostic rather than a complaint. Owners report a pattern where the unit consumes a tank a day for the first couple of weeks and then abruptly stops using water, even on the highest setting. That is not the room reaching target; it is the wicks scaling up and no longer drawing water. If consumption collapses, check the wicks before congratulating yourself.
What owners like
- Owners running one in a 400 sq ft primary bedroom report it working well, which matches what 3.5 gallons a day supports
- The DC motor keeps the running cost close to nothing even at full output
- Two tanks split the daily refill into carryable halves
- No white dust, and the same five-year guarantee as the rest of Vornado's line
Common complaints
- Owners describe refilling it roughly every day, which is what the tank-to-output ratio predicts and surprises people expecting longer
- A sudden drop in water consumption is the classic sign the wicks have clogged — one owner reports going from daily refills to barely one tank in a week while apparently running at full speed, which is scale rather than success
- Two wicks means double the consumable bill of the single-wick models
- At $120 it competes with console units holding twice the water
Questions owners ask
Why has it suddenly stopped using water?
Will I be filling it every day?
Is it big enough for a 400 sq ft bedroom?
Vornado EVDC500 Energy Smart, head to head
Looked at alongside it
More from Vornado →
Vornado
Vornado EVDC300 Energy Smart
A DC motor is the only interesting thing here and it is interesting enough to justify the model. On its Energy Smart setting the EVDC300 draws as little as a single watt, against the twenty to forty a comparable AC evaporative pulls, and it runs the whole winter for the price of a few coffees. Output is 2.3 gallons a day - within one percent of what its 560 sq ft claim actually needs - from a one-gallon tank, which is the catch: ten hours between fills if you run it hard. It is the fill interval, not the capability, that decides whether this or the two-tank EV200 is the right one.
567 sq ft supported · box says 560 sq ft
Vornado
Vornado EV200
Two tanks instead of one, two wicks instead of one, and 2.4 gallons a day against a 580 sq ft claim - the closest match between a maker's number and the load calculation anywhere in this catalog, off by about two percent. Refilling means carrying two 0.75-gallon tanks rather than one heavy one, which sounds like a downgrade and is not: most people find two light trips easier than one awkward one, and you can run it on a single tank overnight. Fifteen hours at full output is the honest tank life, and Vornado does not pretend otherwise.
591 sq ft supported · box says 580 sq ft
Vornado
Vornado EV100
Vornado is the only brand in this catalog whose published room size matches the physics. One gallon a day supports about 246 square feet by the standard winter calculation; Vornado prints 260 on the box. That is not a rounding coincidence - the same relationship holds across their whole line, which means somebody there is doing the load calculation instead of the marketing. The EV100 itself is a plain, small, well-built evaporative: one gallon, one wick, automatic humidity control, and a five-year guarantee that is unusually long for the money. It will not humidify an open-plan floor, and Vornado does not claim it will.
246 sq ft supported · box says 260 sq ft