Here are 17 tips on how to choose an evaporative air cooler. You wouldn’t be browsing in here if you were not complaining of the hot climate you are enduring at the moment. The low humidity and warm air has probably taken its toll on you to push you to find the most suitable evaporative air cooler for your home or office. Buying stuff can be particularly hard for you if you really want something worth your money, well, that is just how smart shoppers are. There are so many brands and units flooding the market and anyone in their right mind would also be swamped too. At the end of the day, you will be asking yourself, “Which cooler should I choose?”
So to aid you in selecting the right brand and right unit of evaporative air cooler here are 17 helpful tips you need to know:
1. Note the area you need to be cooled and the unit’s CFM rating
Before buying an evaporative cooler, you should take into account the size of the area you need to be cooled or the number of rooms you need to be cooled since coolers have varying capacities in cooling spaces. A bigger space may require a bigger unit for cooling and in the same manner; a smaller unit may be ample for a smaller space. The goal is to supply the consumers with the ideal evaporative air cooler that will work efficiently to maintain cooling without wasting energy.
To find the best evaporative cooler that will be appropriate for your needs then calculating the CFM rate should be done. The CFM aka as the cubic feet per minute is the amount of air that circulates in a space or environment per minute. To determine the CFM rating to find the evaporative air cooler that will efficiently cool your space, simply multiply the square footage of the space or room by the ceiling’s height in feet and divide it by two. The result of the equation is the CFM.
For example:
350 square feet x 10 feet= 3500 Cubic feet/ 2= 1750 CFM
If you have a room that is 350 sq. feet the ceiling is 10 feet therefore the CFM is 1750. With that, you need to find an evaporative air cooler that has a CFM rating of 1750 or higher to be able to cool the area.
2. Note the Unit Dimensions
This is probably one of the most obvious things to do prior to getting an evaporative air cooler. In cases wherein you have decided to buy a portable evaporative cooler you have to note if it has enough room to be moved around.
3. Note the purchase price
There are a lot of evaporative air coolers currently available and they vary in prices and quality. There are those that are high priced but do have a number of extra special features, low energy consumption, water saving and much quieter than the cheaper brands. It is basically your discretion and you just have to weigh in on each of the unit’s advantages and disadvantages in relation to their respective prices.
4. Look at energy efficiency and environmentally friendly
With many evaporative air coolers comes varying energy efficiency. It is best to ask your dealer on what brand of evaporative air cooler is the most energy efficient, thus will have less negative impact on the environment.
5. Read unit reviews
Before you do buy this evaporative air cooler you should try to know more of it through reviews of the product. These comments coming from people who have already bought it will help you to choose which is the better unit. You can read through and see the pros and cons of the item and essentially determine if it is of superior quality. Ultimately, it will definitely save you the bother of returning products if it turned out to be not up to your standards.
6. Check if it has a garden hose connector
Some units have a hose connector. This connector allows employing a standard garden hose to be attached to the unit for continuous supply of water is delivered to the unit while in use. It saves you the time and energy of manually pouring water into the reservoir.
7. Note the water tank capacity and runtime
The varying sizes of units also have different capacities of water tanks. It is wise to determine also the runtime of cooling given a maximum supply of water in the water tank.
8. Note the cooler type
Evaporative air coolers come in many types and these are:
- Portable coolers usually are ideal in cooling small rooms of up to 300 square feet
- Window or through-the-wall coolers can cool an entire room or the whole house or garage
- Down discharge coolers are placed on the roof, releasing the cooled air descending into the edifice and are intended to cool the whole home.
- Slide discharge coolers are usually placed in the side of the building but can also be placed in the roof, using an elbow to run the wind current through an opening in the top. It can cool the whole house.
- Mobile coolers are more adept to be used in larger spaces such as garages or warehouses and even outdoors like in patios.
Note the evaporative pad type
Evaporative pads are the main cores of the cooling system. They can either be fiber or rigid media pads. Fiber pad are economical than rigid media however require more cleaning and maintenance and even replacement. The rigid media, in contrast, is more costly but require less cleaning and maintenance but can last a considerable length of time if properly taken care of.
Here is a link on the application and features of both evaporative pad types:
Evaporative Pad Types
Check the fan types
Evaporative air coolers can either be equipped with a centrifugal fan or an axial fan. The centrifugal fan is drum-shaped and is generally quieter but consumes more energy for cooling and costs more than the axial fan. The axial fan, on the other hand, is cheaper, uses less energy but is much noisier.
Check the material of construction
The most important thing to consider is the ability of the material to resist corrosion. The materials that fit this criterion are plastic (polyethylene or polypropylene made units), marine grade aluminum and stainless steel.
Check if it has a remote control
A majority of the evaporative air coolers currently available are equipped with a remote. At least with remotes you will be able to set your evaporative air coolers even across the room.
Check if it has air throw up for outdoor use
For outdoor use you will need to procure an evaporative air cooler that has a wide air throw-up.
Check for adjustable louvers
Most of the evaporative coolers now are equipped with adjustable louvers that are able to redirect stream of air from the unit into any one direction, usually just up and down. But if you choose to go a step higher there is also the oscillating type that allows air to be redirected in varying directions.
Determine the warranty span
Determine the span of warranty of all the evaporative air cooler parts. The usual warranty for any brand is up to a year.
Check if there is shipping
Dealers usually ship their products completely assembled and some others even ship it free of charge though it also will depend on what state you are in.
Check the cooler brand
Brands do matter when you try to pick out the suitable evaporative air cooler. Evaporative air coolers that tend to have superior quality are of those belonging to large manufacturers since they are able to invest more in research and quality development. On the contrary, small manufacturers don’t have enough expertise in conducting tests to improve product quality. But to validate on that claim you should try checking customer reviews online and even testimonials from your friends who own an evaporative air cooler.
With all that mentioned, hopefully, you now will be able to discern and pick out the best evaporative air cooler you can find. Good luck!
If you wish to know more about evaporative cooling refer to this link:
Evaporative Cooling
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