How Much Water Does a Misting System Use?
Water consumption is one thing to think about for homeowners and businesses exploring misting system technologies.
Although the amount of water used is miniscule, when you know the precise water usage you can make an informed decision that balances cooling comfort with environmental responsibility and operational costs.
Water-Wise
A typical high-pressure misting system nozzle uses approximately 40 ml of water per minute or 2.4 litres per hour. For an average residential patio of 5 metres by 3 metres (15 m²), this works out to about14.5 litres per hour of continuous usage.
At the current cost of water in south-east Queensland, this is just $0.03 per hour. But not everyone lives in south-east Queensland. In areas not on town supply, this consumption could be a concern.
This amount of water gives you over 7 kW of cooling for your outdoor area. Alongside the electricity to operate the high pressure pump (0.06 kW), a high pressure misting system delivers very efficient outdoor cooling indeed.
Adjusting Water Use
Misting system water consumption remains constant regardless of ambient temperature and relative humidity. However, AirMist misting pumps have the ability to cycle on/ off to provide some adaptation to climate.
In very low humidity environments the wet bulb temperature can drop to single figures; by cycling on/ off the cooling effect can be modulated to avoid the feeling of “too hot” or“too cold.”
On/ Off Cycling
Our smaller misting system kits (K025 and K050) have these presets:
- 0/0 - continuous operation, ideal for high humidity environments
- 3/10 - operate for 3 seconds and pause for 10 seconds, ideal for low humidity environments
- 10/10 - operate for 10 seconds and pause for 10 seconds, ideal for low-mid humidity
- 20/10 - operate for 20 seconds and pause for 10 seconds, ideal for mid-high humidity.
The commercial range of misting pumps (K100, K150, K200, K300) can be custom programmed for any on/ off cycle you want via the Blutooth app.
Engineered Nozzles
High pressure misting systems are engineered to maximise cooling while minimising water waste. The nozzles are key. They are engineered to physically shear the water into billions of tiny 5 µm diameter droplets as it exits the tiny 150 µm ceramic orifice.
Droplet Size
Droplet size matters. The large total surface area (48m² every minute per nozzle) means they evaporate almost instantaneously, delivering maximum cooling with minimal water usage. These tiny droplets are almost unaffected by gravity so they stay suspended in the air until they vaporise.
Traditional low pressure cooling systems can only generate droplets of 50 µm diameter. Since surface area varies as the cube of diameter these large droplets have a total surface area 1,000 times smaller - they evaporate slowly and often just fall to the ground as liquid water.
Not a good outcome, because the cooling effect is reduced and your guests and patrons get wet from these ineffective low pressure systems.
Green Technology
The awesome energy efficiency of high pressure misting compounds the water-saving benefits. Traditional air conditioning systems consume a lot of electricity, on hot days enough to bring a the power grid to a standstill.
In contrast, high pressure misting systems operate on a fraction of the energy. Our smallest misting system uses just 60 W (0.06 kW) under continuous operating conditions, about the same as a domestic light bulb.