How To Use An Evaporative Cooling System Effectively In Factory / Warehouse

Factory and warehouse owners need to have a majority of their property cooled. You are likely aware of spot coolers, but they may not cover the area you require. For a greater means of commercial cooling, there are evaporative coolers, also known as swamp coolers, that building owners should consider buying or renting.

How Does An Evaporative Cooler Work?

Evaporative coolers work by evaporating moisture and absorbing heat. These coolers draw outside air into a pair of proprietary, hydrated pads, where air evaporates and gets cooled. This air later gets circulated throughout the building. It is like how an air conditioner draws in hot air into icy-cold coils and disperses it through a room, but evaporative coolers draw in air from outdoors and cool this air in a different and simpler way.

Evaporative coolers generally work well in hot weather, but they work best when there are high temperatures but low humidity. That isn’t to say that evaporative coolers don’t work in humid buildings, but hot and especially dry conditions can be best answered with cool, moist air that an evaporative cooler can provide.

There are many kinds of evaporative coolers available to rent or buy, ranging from smaller models for the home to industrial coolers that work in junction with a building’s ventilation systems for wall-to-wall complete cooling.

Examples of businesses and locations that use evaporative coolers include:

• Workshops
• Warehouses
• Commercial kitchens
• Industrial plants
• Laundromats
• Construction sites
• Sporting events
• Farms and greenhouses
• Outdoor pools
• And more.

From goods to machinery to human beings, almost everything inside a workplace benefits from air that is no longer warm or hot. When all these things are exposed to hot air, they do not work their best.

What Happens When An Evaporative Cooler Runs?

Evaporative coolers are very simple when it comes to performance. They come with low-power motors designed to pump water from the bottom of the cooler’s body to two or more sponge-like filter pads. Another motor operates a fan from inside the cooler that pulls outside air inwards. This air travels through the cooler and back out into the room.

The cooling effect is created when air passes through cool water, thus evaporating it. Water evaporation is a simple and natural process that becomes more effective when a powerful fan moves the evaporation throughout the space. It’s only a mere fan and pump that could help a hot and sticky building become cool.

With an evaporative cooler, the air inside your building can be reduced by 30 degrees Fahrenheit. If your building currently suffers from 100-degree heat all the time, an evaporative cooler can help reduce the heat to room temperature.

But not only does an evaporative cooler make the air inside a building colder, but it also makes the air moister. If your building is already moist from being sweaty, an evaporative cooler won’t make the air drier, but it will definitely feel more pleasant by being cooler.

How Does An Evaporative Cooler Compare To An Air Conditioner?

Unlike evaporative coolers, air conditioners do make the air drier in addition to cooler. This is because there is no evaporation of water or moisture involved when the air conditioner provides a space with cooler air.

There are many drawbacks to air conditioners when compared to evaporative coolers that many building owners overlook. The first downside is that they can use over four times the power as an evaporative cooler to run, thus making them more expensive. Thus, evaporative coolers can be used to replace air conditioners in the facility as a cost-cutting measure.

Air conditioners also require more rigorous installation and maintenance, making the evaporative cooler easier to manage. Air conditioners require careful attention and must be taken care of often to ensure that they run well without any trouble. Evaporative coolers can be looked after less frequently.

Finally, air conditioners do not draw in any new air from outside. It circulates and cools the same air over and over again. If you do not have any means to draw in the new air, the air quality in your building will decline. But because evaporative coolers continuously draw in new air from outdoors, this would not be a concern.

This also means you can have a few open windows with an evaporative cooler. With an air conditioner, that cool air would exit the home, and thus it would work harder to meet your expectations. Windows can still be open if you have an evaporative cooler running as it constantly brings in new air to cool.

What Else Should I Learn Before Buying An Evaporative Cooler?

Like spot coolers and air conditioners, evaporative coolers are designed to cool a space of a certain size. A cooler too weak will not sufficiently cool a large room. A cooler too strong may be too expensive for the room or building that you wish to cool.

Instead of BTU, like with air conditioners, evaporative coolers rely on CFM (cubic feet per minute) to determine how much air the cooler can blow into space.

Simply determine the cubic feet of the room you want to cool by multiplying the square feet by the ceiling height. From there, divide that number by two and you would get your CFM. Evaporative coolers can range from 750 to 7,500 CFM, so choose a cooler with a CFM that would be closest to your room’s CFM for optimal results.

Evaporative coolers also have water tanks that provide your outdoor air with moisture. You will have to refill this tank with water when it becomes empty. Evaporative coolers have tanks as small as one gallon for small rooms to as large as 16 gallons for spaces like warehouses. Be sure to keep this capacity in mind when choosing an evaporative cooler.

Conclusion

Evaporative coolers are simple and effective utilities, helping hot and dry rooms become cool and moist for a multitude of different purposes. Consider leasing or buying a cooler to provide your space with cool air as soon as possible.