Condair MC Evaporative Humidifier and Cooler

Q: How often should an evaporative humidifier be serviced?

The exact schedule for servicing should be determined at commissioning and adapted depending on operating conditions (water quality, air quality, run time, etc). As a minimum, the humidifier should be serviced twice per year, and ought to be included in a building's water risk assessment strategy for cold water systems.

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Condair MC

Evaporative humidifier and cooler

The Condair MC consists of an evaporative module and hydraulic unit, which is located inside the air handling unit (AHU), and a control panel mounted outside the AHU. It can provide low energy humidification and cooling with a single unit offering up to 360kg/h of humidity and approximately 245kW/h of adiabatic cooling.

The evaporative humidifier incorporates long-lasting glass fibre media and stainless-steel construction. Water is supplied to the evaporative module in up to three stages, depending on humidity demand, allowing for accurate humidity control.

Condair MC evaporative humidifier and cooler

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Hydraulic unit

The Condair MC incorporates up to three electronically controlled pumps with stainless steel valves. Moulded plug connections avoid the need for any wiring in the AHU, and as the system operates at low voltage, it is very safe for installation or maintenance technicians.

Low energy, long-life pumps

Magnetically driven impellors, with frictionless motion, give an extremely long service lifetime and are almost silent in operation. As the humidifier has multiple low energy pumps, it uses less energy that single pump systems. Operating energy consumption is proportional to output, with each pump requiring just 9-32W.

Hygiene control

Regular flush and drain cycles ensures the water in the system is fresh and hygienic. Water is automatically drained during periods of non-operation to avoid the possibility of stagnation.

An optional submerged ultra-violet sterilisation system in the drain tray offers enhanced hygiene control.

Modular construction for any air handling unit

The evaporative modules are available in a range of sizes to suit any air handling unit or duct. Sizes start from just 600mm wide by 750mm high, and go up to 3,000mm x 3,000mm. Larger applications can be met with multiple units, side-by-side or stacked vertically.

The evaporative media cassettes have 304 stainless steel casing and are easy assembly on site.

Control panel

A multi-coloured LED provides operational status information and fault diagnostics. Flow control can be adjusted electronically, without needing to make mechanical alterations to valves.

Multi-stage control

Water is supplied to the evaporative module in up to three stages, depending on humidity demand, for accurate humidity control.

Submerged UV hygiene

Optional submerged ultraviolet light kills or deactivates viruses and microbes in the drain tray for enhanced hygiene control.

Mains or RO water

The humidifier can run on mains or RO water and will drain automatically when not operating to avoid the possiblity of stagnation.

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Frequently asked questions

How does an evaporative humidifier work in an AHU?

Evaporative humidifiers consist of an evaporative module located inside the AHU and a control panel mounted externally. The evaporative module contains cassettes of wetted media that the air flows through. As the air passed through the wet media, it is humidified and cooled. A level of control is offered by wetting only sections of the evaporative module, dependent on the amount of humidity needed.

How much energy does an evaporative humidifier use?

Evaporative humidifiers consume very little energy directly with the main load being needed by the water pumps. A typical energy use could be less than 0.5kW per hour. However, for cold water humidifiers to operate successfully, the air coming on to the evaporative module needs to be at a condition that can absorb moisture. This is typically acheived with a heater prior to the humidifier. So the overall energy consumption needs to incorporate both the humidifier and any necessary pre-heating. If waste heat can be recovered for pre-heating, evaporative humidification is a very low energy humidity control strategy.

How often should an evaporative humidifier be serviced?

What are the advantages of using evaporative humidifiers in AHUs?

Evaporative humidifiers can offer high capacity, low maintenance humidification. As they can operate on mains water, the overall water consumption is lower than systems that need RO water. Most of the limescale left behind after the evaporation process is washed to drain, so the required maintenance can be less than steam humidifiers, where all scale is retained in the boiling chamber. Evaporative humidifiers also offer significant cooling to an airstream, which can be beneficial in direct or indirect AHU evaporative cooling strategies.

Discover Condair in action

Projects and references

Facebook / Meta, Sweden

This data centre in Lulea Sweden is one of the world's most efficient and sustainable data centres. Condair evaporative humidifiers add up to 22,800 litres per hour to the air in the penthouse ventilation systems to maintain the humidity to ASHRAE standards across the data halls.

Microsoft, Ireland

Microsoft Dublin uses an "open air cooling" system rather than mechanical chillers to maintain the low internal temperatures required around its servers. Fresh air is continuously introduced into the building and mixed with recirculated indoor air.

35 Condair evaporative humidifiers provide up to 8C of energy-efficient evaporative cooling to its huge data rooms. This combined use of fresh air and evaporative cooling has enabled the data centre to eliminate the need for mechanical cooling for 95% of the year.

Jaguar Land Rover, UK

Jaguar Land Rover employ Condair evaporative humidifiers for use in its exhaust emissions testing facility at the company's Product Compliance Centre in Solihull, UK. The evaporative humidifiers provide humidity control to two rolling-road engine test cells to ensure compliance with international environmental parameters.

Weatherite, UK

When Weatherite needed to develop an innovative cooling solution that didn't rely on man-made refrigerants, it turned to Condair's adiabatic cooling expertise. The partnership resulted in Weatherite's innovative AdTec-D direct cooling system, which is now a highly proven free air-cooling unit, used by leading telecoms and data centre clients.

Quotes from our customers

EdpacNoel LynchManaging Director

By reducing the temperature of the outside air entering the penthouse ventilation area with the Condair MEs, the air being drawn into the external airstream of the air handling units is significantly cooler than the outside air. This enables the indirect cooling system to maintain the desired data hall temperature of 24°C, even in the hottest months of the year.

KonvektaAmir IbrahimagicGroup Business Development Manager

Konvekta has standardised its exhaust air cooling systems on the Condair ME humidifier as its evaporative cooling solution. The reliability of the unit is second-to-none. It incorporates the highest quality components that give utmost longevity and performance to our clients. Alongside the product’s USPs, Condair is also a very solutions-oriented partner.

WeatheriteAndy LewisGeneral Manager for Data Centres

Weatherite only uses the highest quality components in its HVAC solutions, and this includes Condair’s evaporative humidifier. It certainly delivered on our specific requirements for operation, control and hygiene management, and we’ve been very pleased with the support offered by Condair in connection with this successful project.