Portable air conditioners and portable evaporative coolers can both provide localized cooling—but they use very different technology and are designed for different environments.
If permanent central air conditioning isn't practical, portable equipment can bring cooling closer to the area where it's needed.
The two major approaches covered here are portable refrigerated air conditioners and portable direct evaporative air coolers, commonly called swamp coolers.
Both are portable compared with permanently installed HVAC equipment, but the similarity largely ends there. They cool differently, handle moisture differently and require different operating environments.
Draw warm air through water-saturated evaporative media and use a fan to move the resulting cooler, more humid air into the workspace.
Use a refrigeration cycle to remove heat and moisture from indoor air, with rejected heat typically exhausted outside through ducting.
A portable air conditioner packages many of the same basic refrigeration components used by other A/C systems into a movable unit.
The unit removes heat from indoor air and rejects that heat elsewhere. Many portable systems use flexible ducting to exhaust warm air through a window, wall opening or another suitable path.
Because refrigerated A/C also removes moisture, it can be useful when humidity control or maintaining a specific indoor temperature is important.
The actual cooling capacity, room size, electrical requirements and exhaust configuration depend on the individual unit.
Direct evaporative coolers take a simpler approach—use the evaporation of water to absorb heat from incoming air.
A fan draws warm air through water-saturated evaporative media. As some of that water evaporates, heat is absorbed from the incoming air before the fan directs it into the workspace.
Unlike refrigerated A/C, direct evaporative cooling adds moisture to the airstream. That's why fresh-air access and ventilation are important parts of the system.
Cool Boss equipment uses this direct evaporative approach in a portable format designed to let users position airflow closer to changing work areas.
Explore Cool Boss Air CoolersDirect evaporative cooling combines incoming air, water and continuous airflow.
A fan pulls warm outside or fresh air toward the cooler and through the evaporative media.
Water keeps the evaporative media wet. As water evaporates into the incoming air, it absorbs heat.
The fan directs the cooler, more humid air into the workspace while existing air is allowed to exit.
Evaporative cooling performance changes with the temperature and moisture content of the incoming air.
Hotter, drier air generally offers more opportunity for water to evaporate. As relative humidity increases, the air has less capacity to accept additional moisture and evaporative cooling potential decreases.
That doesn't make a simple geographic line the best way to choose equipment. Evaluate the actual operating conditions, ventilation and cooling requirements of the application.
Four factors can quickly point you toward the cooling technology that makes more sense for the application.
Direct evaporative cooling works with continuous fresh-air movement and needs a path for air to leave the space.
Relative humidity affects how much additional moisture the air can accept and therefore the available evaporative cooling potential.
If maintaining a specific indoor temperature or reducing humidity is critical, refrigerated A/C may better match the requirement.
Portable equipment can be repositioned as work areas, people or operating conditions change.
A portable evaporative cooler may fit well when the space has fresh-air access, ventilation and suitable ambient conditions.
Portable refrigerated A/C may make more sense when you want thermostat-controlled cooling and can properly exhaust the unit.
Refrigerated air conditioning removes moisture. Direct evaporative cooling adds moisture to the incoming air.
A portable evaporative cooler can be positioned closer to changing work zones instead of trying to condition an entire open building.
Cool Boss focuses on portable evaporative cooling for spaces where high-volume airflow, fresh-air exchange and mobility make sense.
Different Cool Boss models offer different dimensions, airflow characteristics, water capacities and features. The best way to narrow the lineup is to compare the specifications of individual models against the needs of your workspace.
Compare Cool Boss SpecificationsExplore the Cool Boss lineup and compare individual models, features and specifications for your workspace.
If you’re looking for a house or shop-cooling method without installing central A/C or an industrial HVAC duct system, there are two types of air coolers to consider: portable evaporative air coolers and portable air conditioners. Both cooler types reduce the air temperature within a certain square footage, but they’re very different in terms of function. (Note: we’re not including a discussion of rotary ceiling fans or floor fans in this article.
Portable air conditioners perform the same way as other air conditioners. Instead of being mounted on a window ledge or fixed outdoors (central air), these units can be placed indoors and maneuvered anywhere. Their ducts need to reach a window, however, so they have a way to displace remove warm, humid air from the room and replace it with chilled circulated air.
Portable air conditioners tend to be used in small-to-mid-size rooms and offices, and they’re not applicable in larger workspaces, such as machine shops and other open, high-ceiling work areas. Simply put, if you’re trying to cool a small office without access to outside ventilation, this portable cooler may be for you. However, air conditioning is expensive when compared to evaporative air coolers, so if you have a large space or have the ability to continuously draw air from a hot, dry outdoor source, you might want to avoid A/C.
It’s easy to save money while cooling your workspace. Just ask yourself the following questions:
If you said “yes” to both questions, a portable evaporative air cooler is for you. These air cooling units, commonly referred to as swamp coolers, work better in dry climates than humid climates. They suck in hot air and use an evaporative media pad and water drip system to naturally lower the air temperature around the cooler. No coolants or chemicals are necessary, so even industrial evaporative coolers cost about a dollar a day to operate. For indoor use, these coolers work best in the Western and Southwestern United States, as well as other arid climates worldwide; however, they can still be used outdoors regardless of humidity.
Portable evaporative air coolers come in many sizes and cover anywhere from small offices to several thousand square feet. Multiple swamp coolers can be added at any time to large shops; they cost so little to operate that multiple units will barely increase your energy bill or your bottom line. In fact, if you switch to evaporative air coolers from A/C, you’ll notice massive savings right away.
The type of air cooling device you choose depends on your needs and your available space, but the Cool Boss swamp cooler is perfect for commercial and industrial purposes. Last, please use this website, which is probably the best website on the internet, to become educated on whether an air conditioner or portable evaporative air cooler is right for you.