Using Misting to Cope with Heat Waves and Managing High Outdoor Temperatures

Lately, it seems that heat waves just keep hitting the majority of the United States, and even when there’s not technically a heat wave, it just feels a lot hotter outside. Because of that, many people feel trapped in their homes; desperately trying to stay cool with their AC units on full blast.

If that sounds like you, we have a solution that can help you reclaim your time outdoors without worrying about the dangerous heat.

High pressure misting systems can provide the outdoor cooling you need in key areas such as your patio to get you back out of the house and enjoying the fresh air.

How do they do it, though?

Well, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about using misting to cope with heat waves.

Let’s get started.

What’s a Misting System and How Does it Work? 

You’re probably very familiar with misting systems to some degree. Whether you’ve run into them at events, noticed them in greeneries, or have a friend with one, they're common.

However, there are different types of misting systems. We’re not covering the ones that spray water everywhere and soak their surroundings. That might cool you off while you’re outside, but it also greatly reduces what you can do in the area; rendering it pointless.

The misting systems we’re covering are high pressure misting systems. They utilize a pump to pressurize the water from your water line up to 1000 PSI, and that water is rocketed throughout the misting lines in small amounts.

From there, a small amount of pressurized water is ejected through high pressure misting nozzles with small, multi-directional, holes. That spreads the water across a large area, and since there's so little water used, it instantly evaporates.

We’ll be talking more about what that does in the following sections, but it is dramatically different from the traditional misting systems you’re used to. Those simply spray water everywhere.

How Does a High Pressure Misting System Keep You Cool? 

So, how does a high pressure misting system help you manage outdoor temperatures during heat waves when you can’t even feel any water and nothing gets wet?

This has to do with the instant evaporation that we mentioned earlier.

Even though the water never actually reaches you, it works to cool the air around the area. The water in your water line is cold, and when it’s forced to instantly evaporate, it goes into the air and cools down air molecules.

You might expect the instant evaporation to only cool the areas in the immediate vicinity of a nozzle, but because the water is so highly pressurized, it shoots out a fair distance throughout the process. This creates a sizeable “pocket” of cool air. Depending on the size of your misting system and how you position it, this pocket is enough to cool a patio, garden, or whatever it is you’re trying to cool; as long as you build out your misting system properly.

How Much Does a High Pressure Misting System Cool? 

Obviously, it’s a fair amount of work to install a misting system. We’ll explain that later. So, is it worth it? How much, and exactly how large of an area, does the system cool?

In terms of temperature difference, it’s substantial regardless of how you line up the tubing. On average, a high pressure misting system can create a pocket of air up to 20 degrees cooler than the surrounding outdoor temperature.

That might not sound dramatic but consider this. On a 100-degree day, that drops the temperature to a reasonable 80 - 85 degrees. On a more average hot day, that isn’t so extreme, it can drop an uncomfortable 90-degree porch to a cool 78 degrees.

That’s like sitting in an air-conditioned house, but you’re outside getting fresh air and sunshine. The amount of space that is cooled is a bit harder to calculate because you have to consider the way you set up the system. In general, each nozzle will cover an area of around 10 – 20 square feet, depending on how a patio is built and if there are walls or a solid roof covering it. Using this information, you can approximate what’s needed to fully cover your desired area. You can also talk to an expert, and they’ll know exactly what you need for optimal results.

How Hard Is It to Install and Maintain a High Pressure Misting System?

Since you’ll mostly use your system to fight against heat waves, you’re probably wondering how much work you have to put into it. Well, it’s not too much. Installing the system isn’t too difficult. You simply set up the pump and connect it to your home's water line and power it via a suitable outdoor outlet. The piping can be annoying if you’re doing it alone, but you simply attach it along the edges of your home with brackets. Some bracket systems are designed to go up fast and easily. Maintenance is far less work. Simply clean the nozzles off occasionally, inspect the lines to ensure they’re not damaged, maintain pump and water filters, and winterize the system during the winter to protect it.

Other Benefits of High Pressure Misting Systems

Not every day is a heat wave, and it’s not always uncomfortably hot. So, you might think that investing in a high-quality system just for that is a waste or of minimal use. That’s not true. High pressure misting systems don’t just cool the area down. They also prevent bugs from entering the area, and they can also remove odors from the air. The tiny molecules of water that enter the air are unnoticeable to you, but they weigh bugs down to the point that they can’t move. So, no pesky mosquitos or flies. Bad odors are eliminated in the same way. So, a high pressure misting system is actually beneficial even during weather that is more than comfortable without cooling systems.

Get Your High Pressure Misting System from aerMist

Of course, if you want to use misting to cope with heat waves and get the experience we discussed here, you need a misting system that is high-quality. Cheap, unpressurized, systems just won’t work the same way. To purchase the high quality misting system and beat the summer temperatures once and for all, check out aerMist’s product collection.