Summers provide a significant difficulty for most locations of the Indian subcontinent. However, air conditioners are prevalent in most Indian households, but they are also pricey. Furthermore, they are not environmentally friendly since they require a lot of power, which raises your energy costs. Choosing the best air cooler is essential for cooling and cooling pads of a cooler play a very important role in deciding effectiveness of an air cooler. These pads are solely responsible for cooling the heated air. So, the question comes is, which cooling pads are ideal for your air cooler? This article covers the features and benefits of honeycomb or wood wool pads (grass), both these types of pads available in the market. When we turn on the cooler, the cooling pads become get wet and are subjected to hot air. These pads transmit the coolness of the water absorbed into them into the passing air, which is then promptly circulated out into the room through the fan. So, let’s go through further details to understand, which pads to go for.
WHAT ARE COOLING PADS?
Cooling Pads are an essential part of an evaporative air cooler. The air cooler works by chilling the outside air as it passes through these water-saturated cooling pads, causing the water to evaporate with the passing dry air. Air coolers play an essential role in delivering continual natural and energy-efficient air cooling. However, they are more effective in low-humidity conditions. After a set period, the cooling pads must be serviced and replaced.
USE OF COOLING PADS
The back and side walls of the cooler are lined with a sheet-like material called cooling pads. Its only purpose is to hold water and provide surface area for evaporation. The water pump draws water up and drops it on the top of cooling pads. This water makes the pads wet and water is retained by cooling pads. When the powerful fan of your air cooler is turned on, air flows through these pads leading to water evaporation and resulting in cool and humid air. The air that enters the house cools down the overall area. The cooling pads also act like a water curtain and filter the air by trapping dust particles on its wet surface thus providing fresh air inside.
WHAT IS A WOOD WOOL COOLING PAD?
As the name suggests, aspen or wood wool cooling pads are formed of wood splinters. These cooling pads are typically comprised of wood shavings that resemble grass, dry hay, and silage. The tiny splinters in the aspen pads absorb the pumped water, converting hot and dry air into cold and damp air, thereby cooling the space.
FEATURES
- Wood wool or Aspen cooling pads give a decent and sufficient cooling performance, which is one of the best features of wood wool cooling pads.
- The main advantage of having an Aspen or wood wool cooling pad is the cost-effectiveness of these pads, which makes your cooler economical.
- The Aspen pads in your cooler give a fresh fragrance like that of raindrops on a hot summer day.
WHAT IS A HONEYCOMB COOLING PAD?
Similar to their name, Honeycomb cooling pads resemble honeycombs of bees and are synthetic pads manufactured using thick cellulose paper. These honeycomb cooling pads include moisture and water retention chambers that swiftly convert hot air to cold, humid air by keeping cool water for a more extended period.
FEATURES
- Honeycomb cooling pads provide a larger surface area for evaporation and therefore enable quicker and more effective cooling across a large surface area. So, these pads are often used in high-end coolers.
- They are visually more appealing than aspen pads. They are highly sustainable due to their extended lifetime due to the application of chemicals to fight degradation.
- They need minimal maintenance and do not need frequent replacement—another advantage or feature of honeycomb cooling pads.
CAN HONEYCOMB PADS BE USED INSTEAD OF WOOD WOOL PADS?
The answer is NO! Every cooler is unique in its way. A cooler with wood wool should not use honeycomb pads even if you manage to utilize honeycomb inside the cooler instead of wood wool. It’s possible that the cooling isn’t as effective as it may be.
HOW TO CLEAN HONEYCOMB COOLING PADS?
Dust and salt collect on the honeycomb padding over time, reducing the cooling performance of the air cooler. Therefore, you should clean them every year.
- Using a light brush, gently brush both sides of the padding once.
- Prepare a 50-50 combination of water and vinegar (circa). And then, pour this solution on both sides of the pads.
- Leave it in this position for 10 minutes.
- Rinse it with plain water. All the dust that has gathered will be eliminated.
CHOOSING THE RIGHT COOLING PADS BETWEEN HONEYCOMB VS. WOOD WOOL PADS?
There are distinctions between the two kinds of air-cooling pads used in air coolers. Before you make your final decision, there are a few key factors to consider, and we will assist you in making the best cut:
A typical wood wool pad will need to be replaced after one to two seasons, but for heavy usages – such as in a store or hospitality sector –replacement every four months may be required. Honeycomb cooling pads, on the other hand, have a life of 3-5 years and work for a significantly longer periods. You need to wipe away minerals and dirt from honeycomb cooling pads after each season to maintain their cooling performance. Gentle cleaning with a hose now and again does the trick.
Air coolers with honeycomb cooling pads are initially more expensive than coolers with wood wool pads. However, the overall cost balances out when you put the extended life of honeycomb cooling pads and the regular replacement needed by wood wool pads.
Keep in mind that, although Honeycomb cooling pads are practical and efficient, they are only suitable for humid climates. If you live in an area with primarily dry and hot weather, be sure the wood wool cooling pads are best advised.
OTHER FACTORS TO DECIDE EFFECTIVENESS OF COOLING PADS:
Air coolers with three-sided pads have greater cooling pad area and therefore provide, better water evaporation resulting in a superior cooling experience in comparison.
The thickness of the cooling pads is another important component that significantly impacts the cooler’s cooling performance. Thicker pads have a larger surface area, resulting in higher evaporation and overall cooling.
CONCLUSION
The decision of best cooling pads will depend on the following factors:
- Location: Central India has dry heat and wood wool pads will perform better. Whereas in coastal areas, honeycomb pads will give better cooling.
- Ease of finding maintenance service: If they live in an area, where cooler service is easily available, go for wood wool pads. You will end up saving even if you have to go for a change of pads every year because these pads are significantly more economical than honeycomb pads.
- Budget: Air coolers with honeycomb pads will be costlier on your pocket at the time of purchase compared to wood wool pad coolers.
- Overall Life of Cooler: Since wood wool pads need annual replacement, you end up cleaning up the cooler every year, thus ensuring the right upkeep of your air cooler. This ensures a longer life for your air cooler
- Overall pad area and thickness of pads: Many coolers with honeycomb pads come with only a single backside pad, however, wood wool pad coolers always have three side pads. So, a larger pad area is bound to give a better cooling experience. Also, wood wool pads of 1 to 1.25 inches thickness will match the cooling performance of honeycomb pads with 2 to 2.5 inches thickness.
- Freshness of appliance: Each time you change the cooling pads, the appliance gives a fresh feel and you start getting fresh air. Since wood wool pads need more frequent replacement, you end up getting a better feel with these pads frequently.
CONTACT US:
Ram Coolers offers the best coolers in India. We have our corporate office and showrooms in Nagpur, and we have a distribution network across India. You can buy our Coolers online from our website: https://www.ramcoolers.com/. We can deliver the ordered cooler to the customer’s doorstep through our partner cargo company.
Please contact or write to us about your air cooler requirement.
Our contact number is mobile: 9392035377 (Office timing 11:00 am to 8:00 pm).
Write to us @: info@ramcoolers.com
