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Best High Power Evaporative Coolers for 2024

Keeping a large indoor space cool in summer can cost less than you think with an evaporative cooler rather than traditional air conditioning.

As long as your average humidity is lower than 50% you can enjoy a cool atmosphere when it's sweltering outside with one of the best high power evaporative coolers for 2024!

But not all coolers are made equal. While there are some great low cost portable units available to buy, they are best suited for smaller rooms. For larger space cooling you need a powerful machine that can handle the larger area and push a lot of cold air around it all.

So let's take a look at some of this year's latest serious heavy duty cooling machines. These guys will cost you a mere fraction of the cost of AC to run but they're powerful enough to keep the temperature in your larger home or office at a comfortable level.

More Chill for Your Money

The beauty of the more powerful evaporative cooling units is you can still get full portability without compromising on running cost when compared to larger AC units. They may cost more than the smaller machines to buy, but they make up for the higher ticket price by providing you with a high level of climate control in a much larger space while keeping running costs low.

Note: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

First up is my personal favorite:

Luma Comfort EC220W High Power1650 CFM Evaporative Cooler

One of the best of these machines has to be this one, as it produces more than enough cold air for up to 650 sq ft. Now that's a decent size room or open plan condo or apartment.

It can run for several hours on a single tank of water (depending on the temperature and humidity).

It manages that thanks to the high capacity 10.6 gallon reservoir that connects to a standard garden hose for super easy filling.

The nicely chilled air it's pumping out is also filtered to remove airborne particles, which is great for in an office or room where there are several people. It does all that and still manages to use up to 80% less energy than a comparable sized and rated AC unit.

The best part is you can currently get this unit for a lot less than a comparable AC when you buy it online at Amazon. Click the handy link below the image to see how much you can save right now.

Two More to Compare

There are several other heavy duty machines like the Luma that can provide serious climate comfort for large spaces that are surprisingly affordable considering their capability.

Here are two more of the better brands that you might want to check out as comparisons to my top choice above:

Honeywell CO60PM Commercial Indoor/Outdoor Portable Evaporative Air Cooler

This is an interesting unit as it can be used both in and outdoors. Inside it boasts the capability to cool a room of up to 850 sq ft which is pretty big for a single portable machine!

It has a huge 125 pint (15.5 gallon) tank that can be permanently hooked up to a garden hose for continuous operation.

Its 15.5 inch internal fan pushes a lot of air through its honeycomb media to keep you and your family nice and comfortably cool even in the hottest weather!

For outdoor usage, this is intended for porches, terraces and patios where you need a good blast of chilled air to help make sitting out in the heat of the day (or evening) bearable and even enjoyable!

If you want to keep a garage or workshop cool without the expense of running an AC, this machine is perfect.

Portacool PAC2KCYC01 Cyclone 3000 Portable Evaporative Cooling Unit

This beast of a cooler is more expensive to buy than the other two.

But for the extra dollars you'll spend, you get a really powerful machine that can cool a large room up to 700 sq ft and drop the temperature by up to 30 degrees Fahrenheit!

It can be used outdoors too, which is great for keeping you cool on your porch or terrace on a hot summer evening.

Its housing is made of durable leak-proof and rust-free polyethylene and it comes ready assembled and ready to use out of the box.

This can be a deal breaker for many people who don't want any hassle.

A big 16 gallon tank will keep the unit running at full blast for 4-6 hours on a hot day. There is a also a 3/4 inch hose connector so you can hook it up and refill with ease.

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Using an Evaporative Cooler Outside

When either of these two units are used outdoors, it should be remembered that you will only get the cooling benefit if you are directly in line with the chilled breeze. The closer you are to the unit, the greater will be the noticeable difference in temperature.

You may be wondering how far away from the machine you can get and still feel the coolness. Well, for example, the Portacool Cyclone can still hit you with its icy blast at 20 feet away!

A Cool Workshop or Garage

You never need suffer in a sweltering hot workshop or garage ever again for not being able to afford to run an air conditioner thanks to these economical yet powerful coolers. They can cope with the larger area while costing as little as 20x less than a comparable air conditioning or HVAC to run.

Same goes for an office or work space where budgets are tight and you can't realistically afford to run a full AC system, especially if you already have one and it is time to replace your aging air conditioner. You don't need to be sweating in the heat any more because these machines can keep you comfortable in summer for much less.

Other Interesting Uses

Don't just stop there, if you can dream up another off the wall use for one of these machines you can bet they will provide the right amount of temperature drop to make their purchase worthwhile. How about some of these ideas you might not have thought of:

Evaporative Cooler in a Greenhouse: Yup, in the murderous heat of summer, a greenhouse can get really hot and leave some of your prize plants or special vegetables drooping. Give them a new lease of life with a blast of chilly air to cool them down enough so they'll grow even better than you thought possible!

Plants love the extra humidity and while they might be getting some from giving up their own moisture into the atmosphere, it can get so hot they don't get the benefit. But change the rules and crack open a few vents in the glass, then set a swamp cooler to work and you'll have happy plants and a healthy ecosystem for them to thrive in!

Gazebo Cooled with a Swamp Cooler: During summer you'll be having plenty of get togethers with friends or family and having a gazebo for them to mill about in a shady place is a great idea. But it can still get really hot under that artificial shade, so why not drop the mercury in here with a swamp cooler?

Your guests will be blown away by how comfortable it is under your gazebo! I bet you never thought of that one, right?

If you are interested in any of the above devices, you can click the image or the link below to visit the relevant Amazon page where you can get full details and take advantage of their low prices and free delivery. Don't suffer in the heat of another blisteringly hot summer because you can't afford AC when you can be cool and stay within budget with an evaporative cooler you can make colder and that can cope with large spaces.

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Posted on Wed, Feb 14 2018 in Air Conditioning | 16 Comments



Previous Post: My First Low Tech Evaporative Cooler

16 thoughts on "Best High Power Evaporative Coolers for 2024"

Alan says:
August 18, 2019

I've been running a big Portacool unit out on my porch all summer and it's been amazing for keeping everyone cool out there when without it it used to get so hot and uncomfortable people wouldn't spend more than a few minutes out there before running back indoors! Now everyone can relax outside and enjoy our great summers without overheating. What a great idea! I just hook it up to a hosepipe and it runs all day and evening without needing any attention.

Cook says:
May 9, 2018

Hello Valerie, an evaporative cooler can work in tandem with AC as long as it is making the air in your room dry enough. Central AC should be drying the air as it cools, expelling moist, hot air out of the building. As long as the AC can manage the extra moisture produced by an evaporative unit, you should get some extra cooling from it.

Valerie says:
May 9, 2018

Hello, I have a question.
I live in Homestead, FL 40 miles south of Miami. My family runs their Air Condition Unit 24/7. However I am hot most of the time. I was thinking of finding a small AC unit my room is small. Upon getting online I realized since they already are running the AC unit it might be ok to buy a ventless evaporative air cooler. They run the AC setting between 77-75 degrees. I get hot quickly so most of the time I’m uncomfortable. Do you think this ventless evaporative air cooler would be a good idea for my bedroom?
Thanks in advance for your reply.
Valerie

Cook says:
June 2, 2016

Hey Ginger,

Evaporative coolers produce cold, moist air so you need to put them by an open window to draw in dry air from outside. If you don’t have any way for the air to circulate and refresh, eventually the humidity inside the room will rise to saturation (100%) and the unit will stop producing cold air (it can’t when saturated air can’t absorb any more moisture).

That’s why evaporative (swamp) coolers need an open window and/or door. Portable AC also need an opening to vent the hot air they produce out of the room (preferably out of the building altogether), that’s why these units have a trailing flexible hose (for fixing to a window kit or wall vent).

If your room has no window or way to vent hot air out (for AC) or circulate in fresh, dry air (for swamp coolers) you’re caught in a bit of a problem. A central AC install will have ducting to carry away the hot air, but you said that’s not an option either. Another option is a window AC unit that fits directly onto the window. They’re pretty good but they cut out some light from the window so not everyone likes them.

Now you know the “whys” you need to decide on the solution that works for you.

You might choose to go with a swamp cooler and open the window–it’s the simplest and cheapest solution.

Ginger says:
June 1, 2016

I have a small room that gets all the afternoon sun here in MD. I do not want to install an AC, but why with the coolers do I need to place it near an open door or window, I cannot do that in this room. Thoughts?

Cook says:
August 24, 2016

Hey Wanda,

First make sure your cooler accepts a garden hose standard attachment – many of the bigger ones do. Not sure I would hook it up to a hose in my bedroom, but as long as the cooler doesn’t leak I guess it would be OK if you really need it running all night.

But check the running times for you cooler. A lot of larger, high power models will run for 8 hours on a full tank on the low setting. So you might not even need to hook up a hose for your bedroom to get a full night of cool!

Wanda says:
August 23, 2016

Seeing you fill it with a garden hose? How do you do this in your bedroom? Menopause Momma wants a colder bedroom at night!!
-Wanda

Cook says:
May 27, 2016

Hey Leona,

You need to put the AC unit close to the open door and facing into the room to get any real cooling benefit in there. That means you still get the noise but less cooling efficiency in the room. The further away you move it, the less cooling you get in your room but you get a nice cool hallway… not what you want, right?

Personally, I have my swamp cooler in my room on the lowest setting and the hum it makes sends me to sleep kinda like white noise.

Leona Marsh says:
May 26, 2016

I want to cool my bedroom without noise. If place the stand-alone air conditioner in the adjoining hallway, will it cook the bedroom or just the area right around it?

Paul Simmang says:
May 26, 2016

In AZ, running the AC through the home is enough stress on our energy bill. We use an evap cooler in the garage and it’s incredible how cool it really does keep it. Thanks for the comparisons between models.

Cook says:
May 24, 2016

Hey Frank, that’s great to hear and I know the Honeywell is popular and really does work great just about wherever you put it.

Frank says:
May 24, 2016

I have a large enclosed summer room at back of my house but it gets so hot in summer my family almost never use it. I don’t want to spend money on installing AC then I read this and evaporative cooling sounded like the perfect solution for me. I ordered a Honeywell CO60 from Amazon and it arrived two days ago. I got it working right away and its awesome! These last two days my family spent most of their time out there and it felt cool and comfortable. Great recommendation!

Cook says:
April 22, 2016

Hey Ami, that sure sounds like you got yourself a great investment for those hot summer barbecue days. A neighbor of mine as a Honeywell just for providing a cool breeze outdoors for himself and his guests as his place doesn’t get much natural breeze and the patio area is also a sun trap.

Ami says:
April 22, 2016

I bought a Honeywell CO60PM last summer to use on my patio seen as I have a lot of barbecues at my place. I live in Fort Worth and it can get real hot in the day but this cooler was a life saver! It was the single biggest attraction with my guests as they congregated around the front of the unit to get some of the cold air it just keeps blasting out. We already had some hot days this year and the Honeywell is out on guest cooling duty doing its thing and keeping everyone happy. I’d recommend this to anyone who wants some cool relief from the heat while outdoors if there’s no natural breeze, specially in a sun trap like my patio!

Cook says:
July 8, 2015

Hey Josh,

That big cooler is a monster but I hear a lot of good things from folks. It really gets the job done for larger spaces at such a low cost. Glad you like it!

Josh says:
July 8, 2015

I have a Portacool Cyclone 3000 in my 600 sqft workshop and during summer its an essential part of the machinery in there. When it gets to over 100 outside in the workshop it stays down around 75 and that’s amazing for something that runs on a tenth the power of an AC big enough to do the same job. I love it!