Cooling my pool room?

jed1894

jed1894

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I thought I'd ask you guys and gals for an opinion on something about to purchase.

First, I have a 22 X 22 pool room I just built I also use a shop. The floor is concrete and the room is vented metal roof with no insulation except the siding on the outside. The walls are wood. The winter will not be a problem to heat, but I'm not going to try and cool it for the summer. The outside temp right this time of year is about 100 degree, which makes the pool room about 89 to 90 inside. The humidity is between 60% to 80%. I'm interested in dropping it about 5 degrees and will probably only use it a night.

Second, I have a 4 ton A/C unit I can attach to the room but that will very costly and I will have to cut a large hole in the side of the building and also run 220 wires, etc. So, that idea is not very appealing.

So, I'm left with a portable type AC unit. The small one's I've seen will cool the room (I borrowed one from a friend). However, I've been looking at a Port-A-Cool radiator fan that looks like it will do the trick. If anyone want's to really help, they can look at the Port-A-Cool at www.port-a-cool.com. According the the website the unit will only raise the humidity 2% to 5% which should be okay for the pool cues and table.

Has anyone tried this port-a-cool fan and what was the result in cooling and humidity?

Thanks, JED
 
you wont be happy with evaporative cooling. Humans sense "uncomfortable" heat has humidity. Lowering humidity has a much greater effect on how comfortable a room feels. I would go with one of those portable a/c units (evap/condenser/compressor) and some fans.
 
jed1894 said:
I thought I'd ask you guys and gals for an opinion on something about to purchase.

First, I have a 22 X 22 pool room I just built I also use a shop. The floor is concrete and the room is vented metal roof with no insulation except the siding on the outside. The walls are wood. The winter will not be a problem to heat, but I'm not going to try and cool it for the summer. The outside temp right this time of year is about 100 degree, which makes the pool room about 89 to 90 inside. The humidity is between 60% to 80%. I'm interested in dropping it about 5 degrees and will probably only use it a night.

Second, I have a 4 ton A/C unit I can attach to the room but that will very costly and I will have to cut a large hole in the side of the building and also run 220 wires, etc. So, that idea is not very appealing.

So, I'm left with a portable type AC unit. The small one's I've seen will cool the room (I borrowed one from a friend). However, I've been looking at a Port-A-Cool radiator fan that looks like it will do the trick. If anyone want's to really help, they can look at the Port-A-Cool at www.port-a-cool.com. According the the website the unit will only raise the humidity 2% to 5% which should be okay for the pool cues and table.

Has anyone tried this port-a-cool fan and what was the result in cooling and humidity?

Thanks, JED
Click to expand...

That is what we use to call a Swamp Cooler. If you have 60 to 80 % RH, you need dehumidification, not add more moisture. I think you would do better with a Slime line from Mantawok (sp). You hang the evaporator with fan on the wall. Cut a 3 inch hole for the line set and put a small condensing unit outside. JMHO
Peace, Purdman :)
They make a nice heat pump also.
 
With the current water restrictions in my state the Port a cool would waste a bunch of water and be illegal, we have used them in open door garages doing mechanic work and they blow some cool air. The only one we had that really helped was over 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide though, and the water has to run constantly and you will have to drain the dirty hot water to make it more efficiant.--Leonard
 
Thanks for the replies so far. I was thinking some of the same things and these things are too expensive to try and not like it. I believe I'll rent/borrow one for a night or two just to see what it'll do. I guess a side benifit is I can use for other purposes as well. I just don't see how it can lower the temp up to 20 degrees (as stated by the website).

thanks, JED
 
poolcuemaster said:
With the current water restrictions in my state the Port a cool would waste a bunch of water and be illegal, we have used them in open door garages doing mechanic work and they blow some cool air. The only one we had that really helped was over 6 feet tall and 4 feet wide though, and the water has to run constantly and you will have to drain the dirty hot water to make it more efficiant.--Leonard
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I'll be needed what you described. I'm mainly interested in cooling my pool room down about 5 degrees at night and the doors will be shut. As it stands now, the pool room at night is about 80 to 85 (hotest time of the year) so getting down another 5 degrees will be fine. Unless the humidity it blows makes it feel hotter (as another poster said). It probably won't run but about 3 or 4 hours a night. I saw one the other day at Ace Hareware with ice jugs and water in the tank. The guy said the frozen jugs (old milk jugs) will make the air even cooler....although the website says it will not.

JED
 
Purdman said:
That is what we use to call a Swamp Cooler. If you have 60 to 80 % RH, you need dehumidification, not add more moisture. I think you would do better with a Slime line from Mantawok (sp). You hang the evaporator with fan on the wall. Cut a 3 inch hole for the line set and put a small condensing unit outside. JMHO
Peace, Purdman :)
They make a nice heat pump also.
Click to expand...

First, very cool to ask before you leap. Second, awesome size for pool room, wish I had room to add one.

I am assuming you live in the misery of the southern states with that humidity. :tongue: that will not be good for your room or your table as well as cues. Look to dehumidify...listen to the Purdman. Swamp Cooler. There is also a thing called Damp Rid at Home Depot. Your temp will register 85 but will feel like 75. Keep air circulation going. Also, might want to call a couple of local contractors and ask their opinions. :cool:
 
Raising the humidty will make it feel hotter and it will be uncomfortable.

Damp Rid will help no matter what you do but I am not sure about how economical it is.

Perhaps a PTAC unit would be best. It would provide heating and cooling.
To help the cooling part I would make sure to have good air ciculation and
perhaps a fan to "help" puch the cool air out into the room.

I would probably just try and find a couple cheap or even used window units. Keep circulation moving and it would be plenty to cool your size space.
 
I keep seeing swamp coolers mentioned, I have one in my house and am running it right now but the poster mentioned high humidity.

I live in the New Mexico desert and swamp coolers work great when its dry like it is most of the time here but if we get a little rain and the humidity goes up the swamp cooler does not work well it just adds even more humidity to the situation.
 
BrandyWine said:
First, very cool to ask before you leap. Second, awesome size for pool room, wish I had room to add one.

I am assuming you live in the misery of the southern states with that humidity. :tongue: that will not be good for your room or your table as well as cues. Look to dehumidify...listen to the Purdman. Swamp Cooler. There is also a thing called Damp Rid at Home Depot. Your temp will register 85 but will feel like 75. Keep air circulation going. Also, might want to call a couple of local contractors and ask their opinions. :cool:
Click to expand...

Yep, I'm in sunny, hot south Georgia. It's about 100 now, but the humidity is around 50%....not too bad. I think I've located one to try next week. I'll post the results.

JED
 
i'm no AC expert, but i do live in MA where it can get hot and sticky in the summer. my table is in my basement. i dont worry too much about cooling in the summer, but i have to run the dehumidifer contantly. not sure how it is in most pool rooms down south but i think if you cant get the humidity level down in your room not only are you going to be uncomfortable but you may not be too happy with how your table plays (or possibly moves causing popping slate) and i think you cues may well be at risk too. i'm interested in how you make out. good luck man!

brian
 
I think I would try an AC window unit and a big dehumidifier, you can pick up the dehumidifier on ebay fairly cheap.
 
bigshooter said:
I think I would try an AC window unit and a big dehumidifier, you can pick up the dehumidifier on ebay fairly cheap.
Click to expand...

Yep, looking more like that's my best bet. Called a friend who has a big Port-A-Cool in his machine shop. He's got the largest one they make. According to him, they will drop the temp but every thing in his shop is wet feeling. Leaves moisture on everything.

May go back to my original plan: hook up an old 4 ton unit I'm taking off the main house (busted heating exchange). That should cool good but very expensive when not insulated.

thanks, JED
 
I just fans. My space that needs cooling is 20' x 40'. We have windows installed, but the afternoon sun really heats the place up in the summer. I have a couple of fans at floor level, but we are getting ready to install a vent fan out the roof. My table is on the second floor, so all the heat is rising...so the only real inexpensive solution is to vent out the top.

In the winter we heat by a wood stove. :smile:

Lisa
 
I'd stick with a couple ceiling fans, and get a couple entrances into the room so you can get some decent circulation going. And also realise that you probably won't be able to get it as cool as you want in the summer / hot afternoons.
 
they work great for spot cooling greenhouses,but will also leak a little water from time to time,have to clean reg. replace filters about ever
2 yrs.
 
Update

Got an update:

I tried a Port-A-Cool today and the results were what everyone here said. It raised the humidity about 4 degrees and only lower the temp about 2 degrees. It made the room very moist and hot. I only tried it for about an hour and it wasn't very impressive. So, I'm back to the A/C idea.

One more question......I'm thinking about trying a 12,000 btu A/C wall unit because I can use my existing 110 current without running a 220 line. 12,000 BTU should cover the square footage, but my room is not insulated. This would be, by far, the cheapest route if it will work. Any opinions?

JED
 
cheapest in the long run

why not insulate the room and install a small in the wall air conditioner? chuck
 
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