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.
| 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
LG Brand - Sold on the internet and at Home Depot stores across the country (they are cheapest at Home Depot). All models above 8,000btu work flawlessly with the CoolBot and have plastic temperature sensors. If you have a choice of a/c unit to buy, this is our FIRST CHOICE! They also seem to be very solidly built. Of hundreds of customers with LG units, only two have reported a problem and Home Depot immediately replaced them. They run even during the fall and winter when outside temperatures fall (this is not true of all brands!). Many hundreds of people are using these with CoolBots and are happy. We've bought an LG for our new larger cooler here on our farm and we've had it for three years with no problems.
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/Kenmore -sold at about 1/2 the Lowe's stores in the country. In Sears, they sold under the brand name of KENMORE, but they are made by Frigidaire. These are not a great choice unless you live in a southern state because they stop working when the OUTSIDE temperature goes below even 50 degrees. As soon as the outside temperature warms up, if you unplug and plug them in again they will again start working and cooling your room to whatever you set it at. The original cooler on our farm has been running with a Frigidaire and one of the prototype CoolBots for many, many years now, but we only use it consistently from May through September here in NY. In October and November it invariably konks off at night when outside temps get cold. It doesn't seem to effect the a/c unit at all, but we have to manually reset it in the morning. I think they are well built and certainly they are efficient cooling machines, but... annoying for that reason.
GE Brand - Some work, some don't. The ones that have plastic temperature sensors seem fine from all reports we've had so far. The ones with metal do NOT work.
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.
Brands of Air Conditioner that we know DO NOT WORK with the CoolBot are:
Emerson (all the models tested so far have metal temperature sensors)
Whirlpool (all models tested so far have metal temp sensors)
Goldstar (all models have metal temperature sensors)
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 don't recommend these.
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