Hot Summer Days – Evaporative Cooling Solutions
Rushing off to your local favourite store to purchase a ‘DIY misting kit”? The one that you connect to your garden tap or the upgraded model which has a small garden irrigation pump?
Good luck with your installation ……. and of course hope you are happy with your misting system.
But before you rush off bear the following in mind:
- the mist or water droplets a misting system generates should ideally be less than 11 microns
- if larger than 11 microns then the water vapour will not disperse and disappear into the air
- the large water droplets will “wet” the air, the floor, your plated braai, your ‘Boss’, mates, family dog, etc.
- you will soon receive a request (from friends) or a demand (from your Boss) or a sharp howl from the family dog (not being a Water Spaniel) to shut it down!
So how does one get the water droplets to be of the right size?
- a 70-bar dedicated misting pump – garden taps produce 2 bar and irrigation pumps 6 bar at best
- a 3/8″ or 9,53mm misting tubing – either high-pressure nylon or seamless stainless steel
- state of the art nozzles (or atomisers) that are professionally designed and manufactured
- a digital integrated timer that sets pause and pulse misting sessions
Why all these ‘gadgets”?
The water vapour one ‘sees’ when a misting system is operating does not reduce the temperature but is the catalyst to get ‘things going’. The cooling effect comes about when the very small water droplets turn into a gaseous state.
That process, from vapour to gaseous, requires energy and that energy is always available in the form of heat in the surrounding air. When the heat is removed from the air the ambient temperature will drop – on average between 8ºC and 12ºC if you had a quality-ladened system installed!
A ‘cheap’ low-pressure misting system cannot produce water droplets small enough to disappear into a gaseous state.
A misting system is like a motor vehicle – they all do the same thing – but the difference between the one and the other is in the quality and pleasure of the drive (or chilling effect)!
A thoroughbred misting (or evaporative cooling) system is certainly not cheap but can lower ambient temperatures by between 8ºC and 20ºC, never drips during non-misting sessions, never ‘wets’ the air and is only for the discerning few who appreciate quality above all else!
Go to http://www.polarafrica.co.za for advice.