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Thread: Evaporative cooler in workshop?

  1. #1

    Evaporative cooler in workshop?

    Getting prepared for summer weather I thought that an evaporative cooler might be a good but temporary addition to the shop. It seems good pass through ventilation is essential to keeping the humidity to a minimum. So I was thinking of placing the cooler at one end of the shop where there is a large overhead door and directing the cool air inside. There is a large opening in the other end of the shop where air can pass through along with fan powered gable vents on the same side. Humidity is typically low here in NW Arizona high desert but gets higher during our monsoon season. Any suggestions before purchasing a cooler and putting it to use? Any tips on selecting a good cooler?

  2. #2
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    Check with BAF. I think I got a promo from them this week with swamp coolers and their overhead fans.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Eugene Dixon View Post
    Check with BAF. I think I got a promo from them this week with swamp coolers and their overhead fans.

    Thanks for the heads up but I think they're way too expensive even with the 20% off discount. Same with the Portacool units offered at Home Depot. I can't see the prices for some of these units that are nothing more than a fan, small water pump, cardboard coils and an enclosure.

  4. #4
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    My brother, who lives in Utah (dry place) used to have a house with a big evaporative cooler. It did cool things down a bit, but just by the nature of how it works, it put a ton of water into the air. It drew in 100% outside air & it was still very humid in the house. I don't think I'd want one in my wood shop.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Mathews View Post
    Getting prepared for summer weather I thought that an evaporative cooler might be a good but temporary addition to the shop. It seems good pass through ventilation is essential to keeping the humidity to a minimum. So I was thinking of placing the cooler at one end of the shop where there is a large overhead door and directing the cool air inside. There is a large opening in the other end of the shop where air can pass through along with fan powered gable vents on the same side. Humidity is typically low here in NW Arizona high desert but gets higher during our monsoon season. Any suggestions before purchasing a cooler and putting it to use? Any tips on selecting a good cooler?
    I call them "swamp coolers", because my grandparents had one in N. TX back in their day. It was cooler, but when added to the high local summer humidity, it was a bit clammy. A bit. When finances allowed, they converted to refrigerated window coolers (::OLD house).

    My folks had a 'whole house' evaporative cooler during their stint in Albuquerque; pulled air from roof, straight down to center of house. You cracked a window to get air flow (and cooling) in any room you wanted. In the very low humidity and high altitude there, it was very effective. I'd guess deltaT was ~25-30 degF? Lagniappe - last trip thru ABQ, I didn't see many. Not sure why? Maybe tipping point of economy/efficiency of closed loop HVAC systems vs high water usage of evaporative systems has been reached? They DO use a LOT of water!

    I might be concerned about added humidity with tools and cast iron, but the semi-open air shop you seem to describe, a cooler may be more of a spot cooler - - anyone not IN the airstream will see limited effect, and so will the tools see limited %RH increase.
    Last edited by Malcolm McLeod; 04-30-2021 at 9:44 AM.

  6. #6
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    The increased humidity would keep me away. Homes I have been in that had them had moisture on a lot of the surfaces. In a shop that would spell bad news for so many of the tools I use. I would really want to talk to people in my area that had used one as you are considering before moving ahead very far.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

  7. #7
    A bit of speculation here ... The humidity here on average throughout the year is about 38%. In the summer it's about half of that and reaching as low as 6%. I don't know how much humidity an evaporative cooler adds to the air but I suspect it won't exceed the relative humidity we experience at our San Diego home. As mentioned before the cooler will not be blowing into a closed shop but just passing through it. Also the cooler will not be running while I'm not in the shop. We use to run humidifiers constantly in the home during the summer even without the AC running to make it more comfortable. Now that we've become accustom to the drier climate we don't use them anymore. Evaporative coolers are used extensively here. I'm almost certain that as soon as the temperature starts to increase I won't be able to find a cooler to purchase, especially in these times of shortages. So, I have to decide soon to go ahead with this. The Hessaire 5300 CFM cooler at Home Depot seems reasonable priced. It's rated for a square footage smaller than my shop but I hope it's good enough to offer some relief from the heat.

  8. #8
    I looked at the Hessaire and Portacool evaporative coolers at Home Depot this morning and don't understand the vast difference in price between the two. The Portacool is almost 4x as much yet only providing 2700 CFM more. I don't get it.

  9. #9
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    This seems like it could work if it is managed carefully. You will not want the humidity in the shop to be high enough to condense on the tools. And you will not want to cause big swings in wood. Actually it could let you stabilize the humidity. You will want a humidity indicator to help you and you will have a learning curve.

    (oops the tools are cold in the morning then the sun hit the shop and I lowered the dew point of the air in the shop below the temperature of the tools)

    or

    (darn, the wood is moving all over the place)

  10. #10
    I don’t know a whole lot about evaporative coolers or swamp coolers as I hear them called. I live in the south where the humidity gets ridiculously high. So I have been told they don’t work that well here. However, a shop I once spent some time in had several of the large Portacool units with garage doors open on both ends and even with the humidity at almost 100% and the temperature at or near 100 degrees those things were blowing ice cold air. I was highly impressed. I did notice a little bit of condensation on some things but it wasn’t that bad. I would bet even down here with a daily cleaning and wax of the cast iron surfaces a Portacool would be excellent to at least get by for June through the end of August.

    Problem is the Portacool’s are expensive. It would cost an arm and a leg to use them in my shop because my shop is shaped weird and it would require 4 or 5 of them to hit everywhere. They would only be effective if I was in the direct path of the blower. Those things are over $2.5k each.

  11. #11
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    I had a swamp cooler in my last shop for probably 25 years and it was great. No rust on any tools, probably because low humidity here in central Calif, like Az. Not only did it cool down the shop, but blew out any dust in the air, so always had clean air.....
    Randy Cox
    Lt Colonel, USAF (ret.)

  12. #12
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    I've also had one in my shop for a couple decades. In Tucson, the humidity will never get high enough to cause rust or really even wood movement from the evap. To put this in to numbers, the hygrometer states that it'll raise the RH to about 33% most of the time it's useful, and it'll get into the 70th percentiles during the monsoon (so basically less humid than pretty much any other place I've lived in the summer).

    The Portacool is nice, they're really made for more industrial use. The bodies are beefy, and so are the internals. That said, I have a Hessaire, and it's been pretty good. If a bit squeaky sounding at times. Between that and an exhaust fan (at the same CFM rating), it cools my 1800sq/ft shop pretty well.. until the monsoon hits. Then I toss a block of ice in the bottom.
    ~mike

    happy in my mud hut

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