portacool -anyone use one?

[HowardH]

i did some research on a small one for my shop. Looks pretty interesting.  They use evaporative cooling.  My wife is from New Mexico so I'm familiar with the concept but I wonder how well a portable unit works.  My garage/shop is about 100 deg this time of year which precludes me doing anything out there unless I get it cooled down a bit.

 

[dltflt]

I use a swamp cooler in my garage when I'm working and works great until the humidity gets above 40%.

 

[stvrowe]

I used one previously.  Don't expect much cooling with Dallas humidity.  There will be some but it will be marginal and you do need to keep your garage door open.  I got rid of mine years ago and ended up insulating my garage and installing a heat pump.  Much happier with my current setup.

 

[roblg3]

I've seen lots of different types of race car teams using them at NHRA and NASCAR tracks...

 

[Jesse Cloud]

I live in NM and cool my house with swamp coolers.  I bought a portable one for the shop, but it didn't really work out.  I have a three car garage dedicated to my wood shop.  (Yes, my wife is an angel [big grin]).  The area right in front of the cooler was ok, but the cool air didn't make it to many parts of the shop.  The cooler also took up a lot of room, even in winter when it was unused.

Advice above about needing low humidity is spot on. 

BTW, you will also need to run a hose to the cooler.  I tried filling it manually, but that was a huge PITA.

If you do get a cooler, try a MasterCool brand.

 

[HowardH]

BTW, Jesse, my brother in law just bought a lot in Placitas!  They plan on building in 3-4 years.  Not far from the Santa Ana Star casino!  I have heard about needing a really dry climate for a swamp cooler to work.  It was 35% humidity yesterday in Dallas.  Is that still too high to work properly?