How to choose the right warehouse evaporative cooler for your facility size

Warehouses are some of the toughest spaces to keep cool. High ceilings, constant forklift traffic, and large bay doors make it nearly impossible for air conditioning to keep up without driving up electricity and maintenance costs. Meanwhile, industrial fans can be a more cost-effective solution, but they don’t actually cool the air.   

The ideal warehouse cooling system will save you money on cooling costs, protect your workers, and increase productivity. If these are your top priorities, then evaporative cooling may be the best solution for your cooling needs. In this guide, we’ll show you how to choose the right evaporative cooling system for warehouses and industrial facilities.  

How to figure out your warehouse cooling needs 

To pick the right industrial vaporative cooler(s) for your warehouse, you need to consider four main factors: your warehouse size and layout, as well as your ideal air change rate and your airflow needs.  

How big is your facility? 

For optimal warehouse cooling, start by figuring out the size of the space(s) you need to cool. The average size for a warehouse in the U.S. is 17,000 square feet, with small warehouses ranging from 10,000 sq ft to 25,000 sq ft. Larger warehouses can exceed 500,000 sq ft.  

How many zones do you need to cool? 

Consider the layout of your warehouse. To avoid hot pockets, place evap coolers where airflow won’t be blocked. Areas that are walled off by large shelving or equipment, or have instruments that give off a lot of heat, may need a separate evaporative cooler to adequately maintain airflow and cooler temperatures.  

We recommend looking at your warehouse blueprint and layout, dividing up spaces into unique cooling zones. Then, calculate the square footage of each zone and choose an appropriately sized industrial evaporative air cooler for that space.   

What’s your ideal air change rate? 

Air change rate (ACH), or room refresh rate, is the number of times that the air in a space gets refreshed with outside air. For warehouse cooling systems, the typical air change rate is between 6 – 30 times per hour. Your space may have additional airflow needs, depending on occupancy, indoor air quality, and whether you have any machinery or chemicals that emit harmful fumes.    

What are your airflow needs? 

To achieve your ideal air change rate, you need to choose a warehouse evaporative cooler with the right airflow to ensure that enough fresh air circulates throughout your space. For warehouses, the ANSI/ASHRAE Standard for minimum airflow rate is 0.06 cubic feet per minute (CFM) for every square foot. That means that a 17,000 sq ft warehouse would need a minimum of 1,020 CFM.  

To calculate the ideal airflow for your warehouse or zones within your warehouse, use the following formula or a free CFM calculator:  

CFM = (Volume of your space X ACH)/60 

How many evap coolers do I need for my warehouse? 

Depending on the size and layout of your warehouse, and your airflow needs, you may need multiple portable evaporative coolers to achieve the optimal level of cooling. You can use the Portacool Buying Guide to find the best evaporative cooler for each of your warehouse cooling zones.  

For example, a large 100,000 sq ft warehouse with two main loading areas and lots of storage space may only need a couple of large swamp coolers like the Portacool™ APEX 6500 to maintain a safe and efficient working environment in high traffic zones. Meanwhile, a smaller 20,000 sq ft chemical processing warehouse with multiple working zones might need several small to mid-sized evap coolers like the APEX 700 or APEX 2000.  

Additional factors to consider 

An evaporative cooler can lower surrounding air temperatures by up to 30ºF. To make the most of your warehouse cooling system, you should also consider the following factors:  

• Climate: Evaporative cooling works best in dry and semi-humid environments where water evaporation provides a maximum temperature drop. 
• Power access: Portable evaporative coolers need a little bit of electricity to run (up to $1 a day). When considering the number and size of coolers your warehouse needs, check to see that your cooling zones have adequate access to a standard 120V electric outlet. The APEX Series can also run on extension cords up to 50ft long.   
• Water access: Evap coolers also need water to work. Portacool’s small and mid-size coolers have built in water reservoirs that can be filled as needed. Our larger coolers can also be connected directly to a water supply.  

Designing your smart warehouse cooling system 

Portacool makes it easy to manage multiple warehouse evap coolers remotely from your smartphone or computer. Each of our APEX coolers are equipped with CoolSync™ Technology, which connects seamlessly to the Portacool app.  

Sync and schedule your warehouse coolers 

With the Portacool app, you can assign coolers to different groups and personalize the settings and schedules for each group. Adjust fan speeds, power units on or off, and schedule run-times to ensure a comfortable working environment.  

Streamlined multi-unit management 

Monitor all of your industrial coolers from your phone or computer. The Portacool app helps you track water levels in each cooler and can send out notifications for cooler status and any connectivity issues. You can also set up automatic firmware updates to maximize performance and take advantage of new features.   

Scale your cooling system as you grow 

Add more evaporative coolers as your cooling needs change. With the Portacool app, you can add new coolers to existing groups and ensure cooler settings are consistent across your zones.  

Cool your warehouse with confidence 

Whether you’re running a 50,000-square-foot facility or managing a multi-building complex, you can count on Portacool to keep your teams safe and productive in any conditions. We make it easy to customize cooling across your warehouses, while saving on costs.   

Get started today. Connect with an authorized Portacool dealer to explore custom industrial cooling solutions for warehouses and large facilities.