Frequently Asked Questions

Evaporative coolers are designed to work best in areas not easily cooled by traditional air conditioning, so outside is an excellent environment!

Yes, the fan and pump motors are separate systems. You can run one without the other with no damage to the product. That said, you will not receive the same degree of cooling by only running the fan. For evaporative cooling to occur, water must be running over the HydroTek™ media.

While evaporative coolers achieve significant temperature drops in more arid climates and drier spaces, they can provide relief from the heat in any climate due to the advancements in evaporative cooling technology. These aren’t the swamp coolers of years ago! Even in hot and humid areas, such as Houston, you can still expect to see 10°F-13°F cooling.

One of our customers in Florida said it best, “I’ll take a 13°F degree [temp] drop within an hour any day. It raised up to 89°F in the middle of the day, but until you’ve had to work in a 100°F shop, you don’t realize how great 89°F feels!”

All Portacool products come with both a fill tank and hose connector. This gives you the option to keep a hose connected or manually fill the tank. Along with these features, Portacool products also come equipped with automatic low water shut-off. When the evaporative cooler is out of water, a red light will illuminate on the control panel and the pump will shut off.

To keep your Portacool evaporative cooler running smoothly for many years, we recommend daily and weekly maintenance. Each day you run the cooler, the pump should be turned off approximately 15 minutes before the fan is shut off to allow the HydroTek™ media to dry completely. Weekly, we recommend shutting down the cooler, disconnecting from the power source, and draining the water tank. Once the tank is empty, the evaporative media can be removed to clean the tank and inside the cooler.

Depending on the quality of maintenance and water, HydroTek™ media typically lasts 5 years or more.

Multiple factors can affect exactly how much humidity and moisture evaporative cooling contributes to an environment. An increase in humidity of approximately 2%-5% is produced depending on the temperature and humidity of the environment. This increase is not noticeable in a ventilated area where the air produced by the cooler is exhausted. When properly ventilated, an evaporative cooler will not cause condensation or rust.

Portacool evaporative coolers CAN drop the air temperature up to 30°F when the air is very dry and where relative humidity can be 30% or less. Even in humid climates our products can still easily produce a significant temperature change.

All Portacool evaporative coolers come with Portacool Protect™. See your products’ Owner’s Manual for exact warranty information. Visit our Warranty page for more details.

All Portacool evaporative coolers come with Portacool Protect™. See your products’ Owner’s Manual for exact warranty information. Visit our Warranty page for more details.

Maybe. All Classic Portacool evaporative coolers and Portacool Cyclone evaporative coolers require a standard three-prong 115-volt electrical outlets. Portacool Jetstream evaporative coolers EXCEPT the Portacool Jetstream 270 (PACJS270) also use a standard three-prong 115-volt electrical outlets.

All Portacool APEX™ evaporative coolers require a standard 120v electrical outlet.

The exceptions to standard outlets are: Portacool Jetstream 270 (PACJS270) requires a 5-20R power outlet; the Portacool Hurricane 360 (PACHR360) requires a 5-20R power outlet; the Portacool Hurricane 370 (PACHR370) requires a 240v outlet; the Portacool Hazardous Location (PACHZ260 and 270) require a certified electrician to hardwire the power cords into an appropriate electrical outlet.