The Best Evaporative Coolers for Your Home

After the spring showers have long evaporated, we find that our enjoyment of our outdoor patios and decks turns more and more sweaty every day. Among the various ways to keep cool outdoors during the hottest days of summer, people turn to shade, fans and misters. An efficient option that many people don’t know about is using an evaporative cooler…

How Evaporative Coolers Keep Your Patio Welcoming

Let’s take a look at how people cool off when it’s hot outside. Sweat forms on your skin, and that sweat evaporates into the air. When water changes from liquid to gas (i.e., it evaporates) it has a cooling effect on the air immediately around the site of the evaporation.

Evaporative coolers (also known as swamp coolers) use this same principle to cool your family as they enjoy their outdoor space. You see, evaporative coolers pull in hot, dry air which is passed through a special moistened pad. The pad is thick enough to have a lot of surface area for the air to touch, yet porous enough to allow the air to pass through it and evaporate the liquid. The pad absorbs the heat as the water evaporates, cooling and humidifying the air by as much as 20 degrees. The cool air that is then recirculated back into your environment feels similar to being near a waterfall on a hot day.

This is a remarkably efficient method of cooling your space – evaporative coolers consume about ten times less power than an air conditioner (and typically costs less to purchase as well). Unlike portable air conditioners, there is no installation or venting. Just make sure you have water in the reservoir and you’re good-to-go.

For indoor use, you’ll need to consider your climate before selecting an evaporative cooler. Because the process relies on evaporation, a hot and dry climate (like the southwest United States) is best… since evaporative coolers add moisture to the air if you’re in a higher humidity climate the cooler can make the room feel muggy. Also, you’ll need to maintain a fresh air supply while the evaporative cooler runs (keep a door or window open, otherwise you’ll just be circulating humidified air which will make you feel cool, but clammy).

The great news is that using your evaporative cooler outdoors is fantastic in any climate. Whether an indoor or outdoor evaporative cooler, maintenance is a breeze – just clean the water reservoirs regularly and replace the cooling pads as needed.

Choosing Which Evaporative Cooler is Right for You

Evaporative coolers come in many sizes and capacities. They often include multiple cooling speeds, have programmable timers, and water refilling and cleaning indicators.

When our experts reviewed evaporative air coolers to identify which we wanted to be represented on our site, Cajun Kooling evaporative coolers were the obvious choice based on their superior manufacturing standards and high efficiency. When selecting an evaporative cooler for your outdoor oasis, we would suggest checking the CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) ratings to get an idea of how much “cool” you’ll get out of them. Our coolers are rated to cover 3,000 cfm (600 sq. ft.), 4,500 cfm (1200 sq. ft.) and 18,000 cfm (1800 sq. ft.).

Styling Your Outdoor Space with Evaporative Coolers

Well now you’ve done it, the kids have dragged you into a spirited game of “Red Light, Green Light.” As you get caught moving for the fourth game in a row (doesn’t a just-turned-red light mean speed up?), you take a minute to think of how lucky you are to have your family, your health, and this gorgeous day here in your back yard.

Your outdoor evaporative cooler is doing it’s thing, and even though you were all running around like idiots you weren’t overheated, as the air around you has been cooled by what we lovingly call “The Swamp Thing.” Finally, the game is over, and the whole group heads back toward your cantilever umbrella where you can rest you weary bones on the lounge chair. You’ll be so glad you did, too, because the game is about to start and thanks to your outdoor TV you can get in family time, enjoy the great outdoors and not miss a minute of the game – all at the same time.

Evaporative Coolers Expand Outdoor Living Spaces

As the sun continues to try to fry us all like potato chips, we have options for keeping our cool throughout the day. An evaporative air cooler is a fantastic choice for easy, efficient cooling that will keep the fun rolling all day long. Here at Patio Heat and Shade, we’ve spent decades training our patio consultants on the various types of cooling and which would be best for a specific situation. When making your choice of how to cool off your family, you don’t have to go it alone – rely on Patio Heat and Shade to give you all the info you need to make an informed decision. Give us a call at (855) 298-4922 and we promise to treat you like family.