What Kind of Spot Cooler is best for Renting?

If you’re looking into renting your own spot cooler, you undoubtedly already understand what you can gain from it– a more comfortable atmosphere– even with no built-in AC unit or HVAC system.

And I’m willing to bet that you’ve already done the research and deduced why renting is your best option at the moment. Meaning that you’ve asked yourself the two vital questions, how long do you need to use the spot cooler, and will your cooling needs change? Okay, great. But that leaves you with just one unanswered question– the title of this post, what kind of spot cooler is best for renting? Which is a good question. After all, you want to ensure maximum efficiency, right?

To help you do that, we’ll give you the essential information you need in this post. So, don’t worry, you’re in good hands.

First, things first.

Match your space with your spot cooler.

I can’t stress how important this step is. In order for your spot cooler to run smoothly and perform optimally, it needs to have a good pairing with the environment it’s being placed in. In other words, you don’t want a small spot cooler for a large space or, the opposite, a large spot cooler for a small space.

If your chosen spot cooler is too small for the space, it may never shut off, which could cause the evaporator coil to freeze up– a frustrating scenario.

Find your fit…

It may seem overwhelming, but trust me. It’s all simple enough.

Now, you need to know that spot coolers are sized by tonnage or British thermal units (Btu)– with a ton describing how much heat a unit can remove in one hour. And the heat is measured in British thermal units with around one ton as the equivalent of 12 thousand Btu.

And the average spot cooler will remove around one to five tons of heat per hour, mainly depending on the size of the unit. As a simple rule of thumb, you can expect the largest, five-ton spot cooler to have around five times the range of impact on your environment as the smallest, one-ton spot cooler.

• One ton units can cool around 400 square feet of space.
• Two-ton units will be able to cool twice that, which is around 800 square feet of space.
• Three-ton units cool an impressive amount of space, around 1,200 square feet.
• Four-ton units will cool 1,600 square feet.
• And lastly, five-ton units will effectively cool 2,000 square feet.

As you can see there, the five-ton unit simply provides five times the impact of the one-ton. So, there really aren’t any confusing measurements here.

Moving forward, you should keep in mind that while the tonnage is an important factor, many other variables come into play. For example, you need to consider the ceiling height of your space, the number of windows, insulation, the outside temperature, humidity– even the number of people and computer systems. All of those factors can greatly impact how truly effective your spot cooler is.

Note: You may want to consider going by cubic feet instead of the typical square footage to ensure the best results, especially in a warehouse with several temperature-sensitive things stored at different heights.

But size isn’t everything. You need to consider the type of spot cooler in addition to how big or small it may be.

What’s your type?

There are several types of spot coolers that all have their uses. I’ll give you a quick overview of most of them here, but keep in mind that your needs may need the expertise of someone who understands your needs and can make a tailored recommendation.

Air-cooled spot coolers

This is undoubtedly the most common type of spot cooler. The unit’s internal components cycle a refrigerant using electricity as its power source. Then the warm air is pulled in by a fan and passed over the cold evaporator coil, cooling it. Finally, the now cooled, dehumidified air is pushed through the ducts to the various spaces.

Heat pump spot coolers

Now, heat pump spot coolers are fairly similar to air-cooled spot coolers. However, they possess one key difference. In addition to providing cool air, they can also work as a heater. But it’s worth noting that you need to have these hardwired by an experienced technician.

Water-cooled spot coolers

As you can see above, the air-cooled units use a condenser to remove hot air. But a water-cooled spot cooler replaces that condenser with a water source, meaning no condenser air discharge. These water-cooled spot coolers do their best work when there isn’t a good way to remove waste heat.

Also, keep in mind that some locations may only carry one or two types of types. That may or may not impact your pick, but be sure to note it.

A final word of advice

No matter where you decide to rent your spot cooler from or what size and type of cooler you have in mind at the moment, I’d strongly recommend speaking with the technician about your needs. Doing so, you can use their expertise and ideally leave having rented the perfect spot cooler for your space– ensuring that your needs are met and that your guests or systems are kept cool.

For example, the technician may suggest using a water-cooled system over the commonly used air-cooled system.

And if you’re not sure where to go for your ideal spot cooler or you want more advice and informed knowledge, come see us at Preferred Climate Solutions. We have over 17 years of experience dealing with the often brutal climate of Texas. And when it counts, no one has a faster response than us.