This is a chart showing the size air conditioning unit we recommend to cool a well-insulated room.
The "industry standard" for a walk-in cooler is at least 4" of styrofoam in walls, ceiling and floor. These figures are for 8 foot tall ceilings and a room that is cooled to 38 degrees that is opened 4 times per hour. Restaurants needing to be at 36 degrees should upsize at least one size (or more if the cooler is opened once every 10 minutes) and for florists/convenience stores with display coolers (glass doors).
| Dimensions of Cooler | Size of A/C Unit |
|---|---|
| 6' x 8' | 10,000 BTU |
| 8' x 8' | 12,000 BTU |
| 8' x 10' | 15,000 BTU |
| 8' x 12' | 18,000 BTU |
| 10' x 12' | 21,000 BTU |
| 10' x 14' | 25,000 BTU |
A/C capacity vs. room size
With thousands of coolbots in use, it seems one customer or another has tried the CoolBot on every brand of A/C unit that's out there and so far it has worked on *ALL* brands of air conditioners that have a digital display. That being said, it works better on some brands than others.
The CoolBot works equally well on "window" air conditioners as "through-the-wall" air conditioners. The brand notes below apply to both window and through-the-wall units.
More and more people have been buying "Mini-split" air conditioners. They work perfectly with the coolbot, but they are more expensive. The brand notes below do not apply to mini-splits. Because they are more expensive, ALL mini-splits utilize digital technology, so the CoolBot works with all known brands. Because some air conditioners don't run when it is very cold out, you should ask the mini-split manufacturer what is the lowest OUTSIDE air temperature the unit will function in and compare that with your climate. Obivously even if the CoolBot works perfectly with your air conditioner, if it's a brand that stops working when outside temperatures fall below 40 and you live in Maine and need the cooler to be running over the winter, you will be unhappy!
In thousands of customers since 2006, as of September 2010, only 5 (FIVE!) people have now reported compressor failure on ANY brand of Air Conditioner running a coolbot (over 4000 units sold). This does not include lightning strikes or air conditioners that were bad "out of the box". One of the failures turned out to just be a motor start capacitor, not even the compressor. That's an amazing statistic. We have had reports of electronics problems, but it's mostly temperature sensor problems ($3.75 repair - not worth a warranty call) and we're talking 2% for that problem in all those years...
LG Brand Our FIRST CHOICE! Sold at most Home Depot stores and online across the country (they are cheapest at Home Depot). All models above 6,000 btu's work flawlessly with the CoolBot. THOUSANDS of our customers have LG units, and only a few people have had problems (bad when they first got them) and Home Depot immediately replaced them. They run even during the fall and winter when outside temperatures fall below 30. (This is not true of all brands!).
Samsung - Sold on the internet and at most of the Lowes stores across the country. Also a good choice. We have a few hundred customers using these and they are happy as well.
Frigidaire Does not work when it's cold OUTSIDE. An "okay" choice people in southern states who are okay with temperatures at 40 or above. **These air conditioners turn off it gets cold outside!** While that's a nice help and feature if you're just cooling your house, it's a real problem if you need to keep your meat below 38 degrees! These are finely built machines and have good cooling power, but unless you are living in a southern state AND only need to cool down to about 40 degrees, this really isn't a good choice for the coolbot. When the inside temperature gets cold, it thinks the outside temperature is cold and shuts down until you plug and unplug it again! (Note that we live in NY State and I have been using a Frigidaire and CoolBot for over 5 years very happily, but I only run it from May through September 15)
Sharp - sold in a number of stores. All seem to work okay. All brands above 6500 btu's that we've seen have plastic temperature sensors.
HAIER - These are now sold at WalMart since in 2009. Haven't been tested as long as other brands, but since spring of 2009 we've had hundreds of people using them (including over the winter in Canada). Not a single problem reported so far and they work through the winter AND they are cheap. I think they only have a 3 year warranty instead of the 5 years that LG and Samsung both offer. ** Starting June 2010, in their instructions they now say they air conditioner will TURN OFF if outside temperatures fall below 61 degrees!! Obviously that's not our experience (people in Canada are running them through the winter) but... maybe they changed something in design? We don't know! Outside nighttime temperatures in Canada are regularly below 61 and no one is reporting a problem... so... I'm not sure what to make of this new info...
GE Brand - The ones now sold at Home Depot (starting in August 2010) all work perfectly with the CoolBot (though we don't yet know how they'll work in the winter-time in northern climates). We sometimes had trouble getting older GE air conditioners to work, especially the ones purchased at WalMart. I don't know why. I would say definitely don't buy an older used GE on Craigslist and expect it to definitely work with the CoolBot. If it has a digital display, it SHOULD work, but... we can't guarantee it! ** Also note that we don't know if it works in the winter **
FRIEDRICH - The company says that the air conditioners will STOP WORKING if the outside temperature falls below 60 degrees!!! So... this brand will be fine ONLY if you live in Florida, or India or Hawaii and only in the summer! It shouldn't be purchased for people that need to run in the fall or winter because it apparently will turn itself off like Frigidaire does. Very annoying.
Sears KENMORE - Kenmore recently switched to having their air conditioners made by Frigidaire, which means they will work fine in southern climates, but NOT when outside temperatures fall below 40! Some Kenmore's are apparently made by Toshiba. They do work with the Coolbots, but we don't know yet how they work in the winter either.
Brands of Air Conditioner that we know DO NOT WORK with the CoolBot are:
DANBY People that have Danby's and fiddle with them and the coolbot are successful about 30% of the time... Mostly they are unsuccessful. I THINK the problem is that Danby has programmed in a LONG time-response delay between their temperature sensor and compressor action? That's the only thing that (sort of) fits. We don't recommend them for that reason, although they may otherwise be a terrific company!
Emerson (all the models tested so far have metal temperature sensors) so that's why they don't work.
Whirlpool (all models tested so far have metal temp sensors -some LOOK like plastic, but they are metal!)
Goldstar (most models have metal temperature sensors. The few that don't don't seem very sturdy.)
WESTPOINT A bad choice. We can only get them to cool down to about 47 degrees.
Any and all brands of "portable" A/C units - They all actually "work" but because they constantly suck (hot) fresh air into the room they are extremely inefficient and you won't be able to get the room very cold. People making cheese caves are the only people that seem happy enough with them, but even if you are doing a cheese cave, for efficiency sake we still don't recommend these!
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