Swamp Cooler Vs. Air Conditioning
Running a restaurant in BC’s interior can mean sweltering hot summer days in your commercial kitchen. There are two ways to tackle the heat (1) traditional air conditioning (2) water-cooled swamp coolers.
Traditional air conditioning works great when it is sized and installed correctly with proper air distribution. The challenge is keeping up with the electrical bills in a tight margin business, and finding enough available power from your electrical panel. Operating costs are high with this technology; and if you don’t have room on your panel, then you could pay thousands of dollars to bring that into your space.
Swamp Coolers use very little power to run a small pump and fan system, and use your city water for cooling. There is no better way to cool large spaces in dry hot climates than swamp coolers. These units can pump huge volumes of cooled air at very low operating costs, and typically outlast the make-up air unit. Black Ink Company professionals (1) can fit a modular system swamp cooler to make up air units that are made for retrofitting, or (2) they can supply and install an independent swamp cooler unit with its own supply fan.
Please note that swamp cooler technology relies on dry climates, so humid climates mitigate their usefulness…in other words, do not use swamp cooler technology in coastal or very wet regions because this will not be effective. If you do choose to use a swamp (i.e. evaporative cooler) in your dry hot region, be sure you have a maintenance program in place to stop and drain the units before freeze up.
If you are in the BC interior planning your restaurant, make sure that you plan for a swamp cooler in the beginning; even if you are not adding one right away due to budget limits. This way Black Ink Company designers can select the proper modular type make up air unit that has a swamp cooler add-on feature. Also, have our construction manager add a “future” water line to the make-up air when you are building your restaurant, so that you have the option to add a swamp cooler whenever you want…because YOU WILL once the heat of the summer hits! This way if your budget says no today, then later you will be prepared; plus it is more economical to get the water line installed during initial construction. This way when you choose to add the swamp cooler later, then you can without interrupting your kitchen operations.
Now you know not to cut corners with your make-up air design, and have the foresight to avoid hassles later on when you will need cooling. Be aware what you are being quoted for your make-up air package, because leaving out cooling will cost you more later on.