The evaporative cooling system has come under the spotlight in recent years as an alternative for cooling your home, office, or even a commercial space. Evaporative cooling system has advanced so much over the recent decades that it now can even be considered more efficient and more effective that it air-con counterpart. Enjoy our introduction to evaporative coolers.

The science

Evaporative cooling works of simple scientific principles of evaporation and condensation. If you have ever felt a cool breeze come washing in from the ocean on a hot day, then you have experienced evaporative cooling first-hand. As the air blows across the surface of the water, the cool water is evaporated by the warm air. As the phase transfer of energy takes place, the air around the evaporating water is cooled down, giving us a lovely cool onshore breeze on a hot day at the beach. Want to find out more about the GMC Air conditioning range of evaporative coolers? You can shop now safely and securely in our online store. We offer a 2 year warranty as well as free delivery anywhere in South Africa.

Evaporative coolers have taken this science and applied it to the way that your home or office is cooled. An evap cooler features a plastic housing with a water reservoir built into the unit, the components inside the unit are the water, pump, the cooling pads, the filter and the fan. These components for the basics for an evap cooling system, advanced systems now feature LCD displays and thermostats to regulate temperature and control climate.

An evap cooler operates by pumping water from the reservoir up and over pads, soaking them with water. The internal fan then pulls in hot, dry air from outside through the cooling pads where the evaporative cooling effect takes place. The fans then blow the cooled air out into the room.

Evaporative coolers work a little differently to traditional air-cons in the fact that they need to have a window or door left open in order to exhaust the spent air and allow the cool air being pumped into the room to circulate correctly. If no doors or windows are open, then the surfaces in the room will start to become wet as the air that is coming into the room is moist due to the evaporative cooling effect.

Evaporative coolers need to be sized correctly to the room or they will end up soaking surfaces and damaging electrical equipment if they are too big, or they will not work properly at all and provide no cooling relief.

The savings

The evaporative cooling system works well for hot, dry climates. They are incredibly efficient and use very little electricity while producing little to no emissions. An evap cooler can use up to 80% less electricity than an air-con system and this can translate into cooling cost savings of up to 80% of your seasonal cooling bill, in fact, running these coolers for a couple of seasons will pay for themselves if you consider what you would be spending on an air-con equivalent.

Not only are evap coolers the cheaper, more efficient option but they also are very eco-friendly. The power consumption and emissions are next to none and there are no CFC’s released into the atmosphere, making it the perfect cooling solution for any home or business that is looking to reduce their carbon footprint.

The applications

Evap coolers range in size and can be used for any cooling application from cooling a bedroom in the home, to providing cool clean air to a mineshaft that extends hundreds of meters’ underground.

Residential evap coolers are available in portable and fixed units that can be used in any room of the home to provide consistent, even cooling that provides energy savings that can be better appropriated to other areas of the household budget.

When it comes to the commercial and industrial evaporative cooling system, the recent advances in evap cooling and HVAC technology have now made it possible to use the coolers in any environment with the introduction of cooling towers that pull the moisture out of the cooled air before it is released, making it an ideal solution for any kind of commercial cooling applications from corporate office blocks, to commercial kitchens and even mining operations, the evap cooler has an eco-friendly solution which offers efficacy, efficiency, and reliability.

AB630 Evaporative Cooler

The maintenance

This varies depending on the size of your cooler and the applications that it is involved in. For a standard residential evaporative cooling system, the maintenance is a breeze, all you need to do is give it a good pre-season check before starting it up and you will be ready to go. For the larger, industrial applications found in retail centres and mining operations, these are serviced by teams of experienced technicians as they often have to deal with complex sensors and wiring that may be damaged by someone that is not qualified to work on them.

For residential maintenance, simply open the housing and remove the pads. Clean them with a light detergent and fresh water, making sure to rinse them well. Remove the filter and make sure it is clean, this will prevent any stale odors for the idle system entering your home. Make sure that the pump inspecting and providing the pads with enough water to keep them wet. The fan should be operating and the temperature displays giving accurate readings.

The conclusion

Now you should have a decent understanding of the principles behind an evaporative cooling system and why it is fast becoming the choice of homes and businesses all over the globe. The cost savings and eco-friendly operations provide comfortable, cool living in the home and relaxed, cool environments in the workplace. If you have any questions at all please feel free to contact us today and one of the friendly GMC Aircon team will be more than happy to help with any questions you may have or you can check out our FAQs page here.