For 30 years, Portacool has built portable evaporative coolers that are made to last. Running on a standard electrical outlet, the various cooler options in our residential and industrial product lineups (the Cyclones and Jetstreams) use water, ambient air and specialized Kuul Comfort™ evaporative media to provide cooling to homeowners and businesses around the world. So how can users ensure their evaporative coolers stay in tip-top shape throughout the season and beyond?
We recommend a few basic maintenance tips to keep evaporative media clean and at maximum cooling efficiency.
In order for a Portacool evaporative cooler to work most efficiently, the media should be completely saturated with water. Ensure your water adjustment valve on the side is positioned to see that the Kuul media in back of the cooler is completely wet and that the water is moving well down the flutes. Kuul evaporative media is designed to “self-wash,” meaning the water moving down the media pulls dust, particulates and other things that might stick to it down into the water reservoir where it can be periodically dumped. Limiting water flow over the media limits the amount of washing.
At the end of a day’s usage, it’s important to dry the media out before storing your product. You can do this by turning the pump off approximately 15 minutes before shutting down the fan. It is simple as flipping the pump switch. You’ll see the water stop flowing down the media on the back of the product. Leaving the fan on will pull air through the wet media and help to dry it out thoroughly. Not only does keeping the evaporative media dry when not in use extend its life, but it also helps control the growth of mildew, mold, bacteria and other odor-causing elements.
If water conditions in your area warrant, Portacool sells a Hard Water Treatment that keeps minerals present in your water supply off of your Kuul Comfort evaporative media. It can help to increase cooling efficiency, remove and inhibit scale build up, reduce equipment corrosion and extend evaporative media life.
If you have accidentally allowed your evaporative media to become coated in algae or calcium, you might be able to save it. Follow the treatment instructions in our Kuul Comfort Maintenance and Service Guide to clean the media. If treatment does not work, new evaporative media can be purchased from Portacool or from many authorized distributors.
Another important maintenance step is to periodically drain the reservoir of your evaporative cooler. If using daily, we recommend draining once a week. If you only use your evaporative cooler once a week or less, drain the reservoir after each use. Draining your product is simple. Once you shut down and disconnect your evaporative cooler from power, remove the drain cap at the bottom or on the back of your evaporative cooler and let any water run out. To avoid a mess, ensure your product is located in an area appropriate for draining before removing the drain cap. Depending on the product you have, there could be a large quantity of water in the reservoir.
Proper and regular maintenance will not only keep your Portacool running efficiently but it will also increase the longevity of the Kuul Comfort evaporative media. If you think if may be time to replace your evaporative media, check out this blog. For more about maintenance best practices, visit our Support page. If you need a replacement part, go to shop.portacool.com to find many options for a variety of past and present Portacool models.
