Anyone have experience using a Cool Bot & Air Conditioner for a cool room?

[RSC]

In the past I've seen it discussed and wanted to get recent opinions of how effective they are?


http://www.storeitcold.com/

 

[mainecattlemother]

We had the coolbot up to two years ago and we were able to find a cheep walkin cooler off a Pizza Hut that went out of business. We had a very large air conditioner. Off the coolbot instructions if I remember right it was the largest air conditioner you could use. It worked wonderful for two calves but with three we had a hard time keeping it cool but even on hot humid days of 90+ temps we still kept it about 68 or 69. The key is to make sure there are not a lot of holes. We used an old milk house off a barn and the foundation had a lot of cracks that we found we needed to seal up. You also will still need a small fresh air vent. The one complaint I have is the fact that our cooler is much easier to keep clean. We had to clean a lot due to amonia but I know there is mulch available that can be washed. We have never tried so I don't know how good it is but that might be something to look into.

 

[Freddy]

There was some comments that the rubber mulch didn't work very good, might check in steer planets old comments ....

 

[RSC]

We had the coolbot up to two years ago and we were able to find a cheep walkin cooler off a Pizza Hut that went out of business. We had a very large air conditioner. Off the coolbot instructions if I remember right it was the largest air conditioner you could use. It worked wonderful for two calves but with three we had a hard time keeping it cool but even on hot humid days of 90+ temps we still kept it about 68 or 69. The key is to make sure there are not a lot of holes. We used an old milk house off a barn and the foundation had a lot of cracks that we found we needed to seal up. You also will still need a small fresh air vent. The one complaint I have is the fact that our cooler is much easier to keep clean. We had to clean a lot due to amonia but I know there is mulch available that can be washed. We have never tried so I don't know how good it is but that might be something to look into.

.  Any idea how big your milk house was? Was it pretty spendy to run the cool bot/cooler? Did you run other fans in there as well? Did you bring the temp up overnight or shut it off?

Thanks for responding.

Thanks

 

[ferkj]

We have had good results with the cool bot/ac unit setup.  I got the biggest unit i could 25,000 btu at lowes for under 500 bucks. our room is 12x24 with 2 calves in it. i tie the calves at one end and have the ac unit cool bot in opposite wall. ours stays around 45 where its set at. There are many variables to keep in mind though. Type and amount of insulation is the biggest one. We have 4 inches of styrofoam in walls and ceiling. Also if the room is inside of the barn or an addition to the outside because then you have sun exposure which will increase the cooling need/decrease efficiency.

We turn our unit off in evening when the calves get kicked out for night. Leave the door open with a fan running if need be and it airs out nicely. We use plain hardwood mulch n pick it daily. May change it once a summer and when we do I put a layer lime dust down before mulch really helps with ammonia smells.

Get ahold of Matt Rohrbach, he sells calf climate coolers/heaters but is really helpful with questions you have. You don't have to buy anything from him to get the info.

 

[CAB]

If you could please let us know what part of the world you are from it may help us figure out if it would work in our little part of the world. Texas is obviously going to harder to cool than let's say Nebraska would be. Thanks.

 

[Tallcool1]

We have had good results with the cool bot/ac unit setup.  I got the biggest unit i could 25,000 btu at lowes for under 500 bucks. our room is 12x24 with 2 calves in it. i tie the calves at one end and have the ac unit cool bot in opposite wall. ours stays around 45 where its set at. There are many variables to keep in mind though. Type and amount of insulation is the biggest one. We have 4 inches of styrofoam in walls and ceiling. Also if the room is inside of the barn or an addition to the outside because then you have sun exposure which will increase the cooling need/decrease efficiency.

We turn our unit off in evening when the calves get kicked out for night. Leave the door open with a fan running if need be and it airs out nicely. We use plain hardwood mulch n pick it daily. May change it once a summer and when we do I put a layer lime dust down before mulch really helps with ammonia smells.

Get ahold of Matt Rohrbach, he sells calf climate coolers/heaters but is really helpful with questions you have. You don't have to buy anything from him to get the info.

This will be our 3rd year using the Coolbot system.

Our cooler is almost identical to ferkj, EXCEPT we run 2 AC units that are 25,000 BTU each, and keep 3 or 4 calves in our cooler.

I agree completely.  Call Matt Rohrbach at Calf Climate.  He designed our cooler and the AC system.  We bought our 2 Coolbot units from him.

 

[RSC]

Thanks for all the info.  Does anyone have the contact information for Matt Rohrbach?

Tony

 

[Tallcool1]

Thanks for all the info.  Does anyone have the contact information for Matt Rohrbach?

Tony

217-417-7784

 

[mooch]

Tony,

calfclimate.com

 

[WBar Farms]

I wouldn't go cheap.  Its a hassle and they get trashed.  Make the investment in a real cooler it will pay off.

 

[ferkj]

I wouldn't go cheap.  Its a hassle and they get trashed.  Make the investment in a real cooler it will pay off.

When you say "real cooler", what exactly are you reffering to?  If you mean a commercial walk in type yeah you could go that way.  The experience I've had with cool bot has been positive. Keep in mind that the cool bot was invented by and marketed initially to vegetable producers who were tired of paying high operating costs and knew there was a more economical efficient way to cool their cukes. 

If you want to call that cheap that's fine with me. I call it smart.

And I am in no way associated with cool bot of calf climate.

 

[Tallcool1]

I wouldn't go cheap.  Its a hassle and they get trashed.  Make the investment in a real cooler it will pay off.

When you say "real cooler", what exactly are you reffering to?  If you mean a commercial walk in type yeah you could go that way.  The experience I've had with cool bot has been positive. Keep in mind that the cool bot was invented by and marketed initially to vegetable producers who were tired of paying high operating costs and knew there was a more economical efficient way to cool their cukes. 

If you want to call that cheap that's fine with me. I call it smart.

And I am in no way associated with cool bot of calf climate.

I agree with you here. 

One of the most important lessons I am trying to teach my kids relates directly to this.  I want to teach them to make the most of the resources we have readily available to us.

Do I believe a turn key cooler system would be easier or better?....SURE!  We decided to put our money into the calves, not the cooler.

 

[GoWyo]

We enclosed a 10'x10' stall in the lean to shed and sprayed about 3-4 inches of foam on the interior.  We run a 18,000 btu AC unit with a coolbot and can keep it around 55-60 degrees on a 90 degree day.  When we have 2 1400 lb. steers in the cooler, it barely keeps up and I would opt for the 24,000 btu unit if I was to do over or had more years of showing left.  Whole system with $1000 to foam the room was $1800 including the coolbot.  It also makes a great place to hang meat - can get it down to 40 degrees pretty easy.  I have used it in the winter for newborn calves by heating it. 

This set up has been good enough and left cash to buy better animals.  If you have the resources, go for the calf cooler, but the AC/coolbot system makes for a serviceable unit and the room itself can lend itself to other uses in the off season.