Toggle

Evaporative Coolers for Gyms

People expect to sweat when they work out. But when the heat gets extreme, a heavy workout day can be counterproductive, damaging muscles more than building them. It can also lead to serious, acute heat-related illnesses like heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, or heart attack. Nobody running an athletic program or a gym wants to have otherwise healthy individuals pass out or even drop dead at their facility. To help people get the best workouts, even on the warmest days, it’s important to provide cooling for athletes and participants.

Portacool can do that. These portable evaporative coolers can provide cool air on demand to fields, arenas, gyms, and other places where people are training, competing, or working out. They’re efficient and effective, and they are made in the USA.

High Heat Workouts Can Be Dangerous

Evaporative Cooler for GymWhen people exercise in high heat conditions, they may be putting their lives at risk. The problem is that the body loses its ability to shed heat at high temperatures.

Once the temperature exceeds 75°F, most of our body’s natural heat-loss mechanisms begin to diminish in effectiveness. At 95°F, the only mechanism that is still capable of removing heat from the body is sweat, which normally accounts for less than one-quarter of our total heat loss. Even profuse sweating means that the body is only able to lose a small fraction of the heat it normally would. When you add in the extra heat you’re generating with exercise, the body’s internal temperature rises.

When people work out in high heat, they can easily develop problems like heat cramps, a painful warning that their workout is going too far. Pushing their workout further can then lead to heat exhaustion and even heatstroke or heart attack.

Jetstream 230

The Portacool Jetstream™ 230 delivers cooling comfort to the single-person workspace. It is an efficiently designed cooler that offers maximum versatility for usage in open or condensed workspaces. Featuring oscillating louvers, low-water shutoff and Portacool evaporative media, this cooler is an impressive cooling solution for spaces where traditional methods of cooling are inefficient - individual work stations, small patios, pet kennels or hobby areas. We do NOT recommend this product being used inside homes or closed spaces where no ventilation is available.

NAPA Tools & Equipment Global Industrial MSC TEMP-AIR Equipment Sales ZORO Fastenal Portable Coolers Sales & Rentals Amazon Motion Industries O'Reilly Tooldom Uline Portacool

High Heat Workouts Can Be Counterproductive

Workouts in high heat are not just dangerous; they can be counterproductive. That’s because your high heat workouts might be damaging your muscles as much as or more than it’s building them.

It’s hard to do sustained exercise in high heat. People are more likely to work out for a short period, then need significant rest before resuming. This keeps them from building muscle or burning fat very effectively.

When your body is working out under high heat conditions, it can produce levels of calcium that are toxic to your muscle cells. This causes muscle cells to die. This is known as rhabdomyolysis (or rhabdo). As muscle cells break down, their proteins enter the bloodstream, where they must be filtered out by the kidneys. This can damage the kidneys and even cause them to fail, which can be fatal.

Although fatal rhabdomyolysis is rare, it’s common to experience some degree of muscle breakdown related to workouts. It’s one of the reasons you experience sore muscles a day or two after workouts – damaged muscle tissue is breaking down and must be repaired by your body’s natural healing processes. People who experience high levels of rhabdomyolysis can sometimes need intense therapy to return to normal levels of activity and self-sufficiency.

If you notice that your muscles are more sore after working out in high heat conditions than on normal days, it’s probably because you’re experiencing more significant rhabdomyolysis.

Evaporative Coolers Beat Air Conditioning for Many Gyms and Sports Programs

Portacool Products

If your gym already has air conditioning installed, it’s usually reasonable to rely on that. However, if you have a gym or arena without air conditioning, an evaporative air cooler might be a better choice.

Air conditioning is highly inefficient. It uses as much as ten times as much energy to cool the same volume of air as an evaporative cooler does. This is wasteful when much of the air volume in your gym might be above the heads of people exercising. It’s especially wasteful when you’re trying to provide cool air to people working out or competing outside. An outdoor air conditioner produces only a small amount of cool air, which simply disperses outside.

On the other hand, an evaporative cooler, commonly referred to as a swamp cooler, can be highly efficient in a large gym space or even outdoors. That’s because the cooler uses the heat in the air to evaporate water and create cool air. It dramatically drops the temperature of large volumes of air and doesn’t need to recycle the air for multiple passes to achieve cooling.

The result is much cooler air when and where people need it to lower their body temperature during or after a workout. Want to see how much an evaporative cooler can benefit a gym or exercise program? Check out some of these stories from genuine Portacool users.

Why Choose Portacool

Once you’ve decided that an evaporative cooler makes the most sense for your gym, it’s time to find the right evaporative cooler.

At Portacool, we’ve been making evaporative coolers in our Center, Texas manufacturing facility since 1990. In that time, we’ve been recognized as a leader in the industry. As our business has grown, we have expanded, and now we have distributors in all 50 states in the country and around the world.

Beyond the quality of our products, we’ve earned a reputation for outstanding customer service by offering best-in-class:

In addition, we want to make sure every Portacool we sell keeps cooling for years, even decades. That’s why we design a custom service plan for you, one based on the demands specific to your business.

Find the Perfect Portacool for Your Gym or Sports Program

At Portacool, we design a wide range of products to help people get the right level of cooling for their gym or athletic program. Some of the most popular designs for these programs include:

Cyclone 120

The Portacool Cyclone™ 120 is perfect for smaller settings, yet still delivers an impressive amount of air output. The Cyclone 120 provides mobile, energy-efficient, refreshing comfort to your outdoor or open spaces. Perfect for cooling spaces where traditional methods of cooling are inefficient - small patios, garages, hobby areas or single-stalls. We do NOT recommend this product being used inside homes or closed spaces where no ventilation is available.

ACE The Home Depot Northern Tool + Equipment Lowes Academy Portacool Sylvane

Cyclone 130

The Portacool Cyclone™ 130 is ideal for smaller spaces that require a little more air output than the smaller model. The Cyclone 130 is equipped with Portacool evaporative media, the highest-quality evaporative media on the market made exclusively for Portacool coolers to provide maximum cooling comfort. Perfect for cooling spaces where traditional methods of cooling are inefficient - patios, garages, hobby areas or single-stalls. We do NOT recommend this product being used inside homes or closed spaces where no ventilation is available.

ACE The Home Depot Northern Tool + Equipment Lowes Academy Portacool Sylvane

Cyclone 140

Cool down your patio, garage or favorite outdoor space with the unique Portacool Cyclone™ 140. Standing nearly five feet tall, this energy-efficient evaporative cooler elevates its airflow to provide maximum cooling comfort wherever you need it most. Additionally, the Cyclone 140 is equipped with Portacool evaporative media, the highest-quality evaporative media on the market made exclusively for Portacool coolers to provide maximum cooling comfort. Perfect for cooling spaces where traditional methods of cooling are inefficient - large patios, garages, barns or hobby areas. We do NOT recommend this product being used inside homes or closed spaces where no ventilation is available.

Northern Tool + Equipment The Home Depot Tractor Supply Company ACE Lowes Academy Portacool

Jetstream 220

The efficiently designed Portacool Jetstream™ 220 boasts powerful cooling in a compact size. This portable evaporative cooler is perfect for tight spaces or for spot-cooling a challenging personal workspace. Big on portability, but small in size, you can roll the Jetstream 220 where needed and the oscillating louvers will help deliver cooling comfort for cooling spaces where traditional methods of cooling are inefficient - individual work stations, small patios, pet kennels or hobby areas. We do NOT recommend this product being used inside homes or closed spaces where no ventilation is available.

TEMP-AIR Equipment Sales O'Reilly Motion Industries Amazon Portable Coolers Sales & Rentals Fastenal ZORO Global Industrial MSC Tooldom NAPA Tools & Equipment Uline Grainger Portacool

Jetstream 230

The Portacool Jetstream™ 230 delivers cooling comfort to the single-person workspace. It is an efficiently designed cooler that offers maximum versatility for usage in open or condensed workspaces. Featuring oscillating louvers, low-water shutoff and Portacool evaporative media, this cooler is an impressive cooling solution for spaces where traditional methods of cooling are inefficient - individual work stations, small patios, pet kennels or hobby areas. We do NOT recommend this product being used inside homes or closed spaces where no ventilation is available.

NAPA Tools & Equipment Global Industrial MSC TEMP-AIR Equipment Sales ZORO Fastenal Portable Coolers Sales & Rentals Amazon Motion Industries O'Reilly Tooldom Uline Portacool

Jetstream 250

Step up the cooling game with the Portacool Jetstream™ 250. Cool larger groups of employees, or use multiple to increase overall airflow. User-friendly features include easy-roll casters, cord wrap and streamlined maintenance. Perfect for cooling spaces where traditional methods of cooling are inefficient – shops, warehouses, outdoor events, athletic facilities and more. We do NOT recommend this product being used inside homes or closed spaces where no ventilation is available.

NAPA Tools & Equipment Global Industrial MSC ZORO Fastenal TEMP-AIR Equipment Sales Portable Coolers Sales & Rentals Amazon Motion Industries O'Reilly Grainger Tooldom Uline

Jetstream 260

Keep work areas cool and comfortable with the Portacool Jetstream™ 260. This evaporative cooler features greater airflow and a unique cooler design that provides a perfectly calculated media surface area via its evaporative media set to achieve maximum cooling comfort. Perfect for cooling spaces where traditional methods of cooling are inefficient - shops, warehouses, outdoor events, athletic facilities and more. We do NOT recommend this product being used inside homes or closed spaces where no ventilation is available.

Grainger O'Reilly Motion Industries Amazon Portable Coolers Sales & Rentals Fastenal NAPA Tools & Equipment ZORO MSC Global Industrial Uline Portacool

Portacool 510

The Portacool® 510 Portable Evaporative Cooler is a compact unit that offers powerful cooling capacity. It cools up to 300 sq. ft., making it ideal for a patio that accommodates 2–4 people. Equipped with Portacool evaporative media, oscillating louvers, water fill door, low-water shutoff and sturdy casters, the Portacool™ 510 is designed to provide maximum cooling comfort. This unit features a manual fill door with no hose connection. No assembly required.

Northern Tool + Equipment Academy Lowes NAPA Tools & Equipment ACE The Home Depot Sylvane

Have the Coolest Gym in Town

Are you concerned that people might develop heat-related illnesses when working out in your gym or athletic program? You can take steps now to head off that risk. Please visit a local retailer or contact us directly for more information.