Mister for cooling metal work building?

[584international]

hi im new here and just browsing around and ran across your thread i have had a little experience with the fogger nozzles, on a smaller scale though we mounted some on a chicken house fan once to cool a 43x60 mechanic shop it cools but also makes a mess after a little while, so then we went to a master cool fan, it has a squerrel cage fan in it that pulls air through evaporative cooler pads, which i believe is what they are refering to as a swamp cooler they work good when it is dry out but when it is humid they do very little, im not sure how tall your building is but if its not over 10 to 12 ft you could air condition it with two big window units, friedrich i think thats how u spell that makes some 35000 or 36000 btu window units we have 1 in our 43x60 shop and it cools about half of it, we only turn it on if it gets really really hot but that may be another option for you

 

[Jimbrown]

My experience is that swamp coolers and misters do not work in central Texas. El paso area yes. I have lots of experience with them here in Az. Our humity is normally less than 20%. misters were a big rage for a while but if your water has any dirt or akali in it they will stop up and become a constant maintenance problem. Tain't worth the cost or bother. You would be better off to just lay a soaker hose on the roof.

 

[Bird]

Many years ago (30 maybe?) I saw ads for a misting system to spray on the condensor (outside unit) of home refrigerated air-conditioners. It seemed like a good idea, but apparently didn't go over very well. I've never seen one of them in use.

 

[ultrarunner]

The reason you don't see a lot of misters being used to wet AC condensers is because the constant flow of water weakens the aluminum condenser fins.

I plumbed the Hospital AC condenser where I work with misters to use when the temp is 100 or higher... which works out to several times each summer in the Bay Area.

 

[BlueRidge]

I'm led by manufacturers to understand that a temp reduction of 20 degrees is possible with humidities between 40% and 80%.

But you aren't going to want to work in the 98% humidity that will result! I think misters are great...

Outside a building in a dry climate.

But nozzles every 2.5 feet? I've never seen them that close! More like every 6 to 10 feet.

 

[PineRidge]

If you want to get some first hand knowledge about misters try some local nurseries in your area. A lot of them in this area are using them to keep greenhouses cool, as plants need the moisture anyway.

 

[CurlyDave]

I have had very good success with using misters to cool a house in CA.

I used them in a different way than shown in the link. I built a pvc supply/framework that mounted a mister about every 10', 3' above the roof. The misters caused the roof to become wet, and evaporation from the roof cooled the house.

This way no humidity entered the building.

It worked like a dream.

I had it set up with different garden hose connections going to 2 different parts of the roof, so I could balance water flow for where the sun was. I could get the flow rates just right so there was good cooling, but no water ran off the roof.

 

[texasjohn]

Interesting approach, Curlydave! I've wondered myself if this would work or not. Was your roof metal or tile or asphalt shingles or ? Good to hear it works well where you are... I may try as well...

 

[CurlyDave]

... Was your roof metal or tile or asphalt shingles or ?

This particular roof was tar & gravel.

I don't think the type of roof matters a lot.

The more steeply pitched the roof is, the closer to the ridge line the misters should go.

 

[PineRidge]

This particular roof was tar & gravel.

I don't think the type of roof matters a lot.

The more steeply pitched the roof is, the closer to the ridge line the misters should go.

If one uses well water there might be a considerable mess left behind on a metal roof, especially if there is heavy iron in the water. It might look like the same crud that builds up on a evaporator pad in a humidifier.