Cool Boss CB-28 Evaporative Air Cooler — 28" Fixed-Louver, 80 Gallon

A note on this page before anything else: a heading further down still refers to a CB-24 with swing louvers and a 24 inch fan. That is a labelling error left over from how our catalogue was built. The unit on this page is the CB-28: a 28" (711 mm) fan in a fixed-louver housing. Every specification below is the CB-28's own. If you are choosing between the two models, ask us and we will confirm which is which before you order rather than after.

The one that runs all day without a hose

The CB-28's real advantage is arithmetic. It holds 80 gallons and draws roughly 2.6 to 3.2 gallons an hour. Even running flat out in the worst of the afternoon, that reservoir is nowhere near empty at the end of a shift — which means this is a cooler you can put in the middle of a space with no plumbing at all and simply use.

That matters more than it sounds. Most evaporative coolers are sold on the assumption of a permanent water connection, and most real workplaces do not have a tap where the heat is. A machine that runs a full working day on a fill can be positioned by where people actually stand, not by where the plumbing happens to be. Give it a garden hose and it auto-refills and manages its own level; take it somewhere with no water and it still works until home time.

Both the fan speed and the water flow are adjustable, so on a moderate day you can throttle the water and stretch that further still.

Four media panels doing the actual cooling

Air is pulled through four Honeycool media pads, each 30" high, 13" wide and 6" deep. As hot air crosses the wetted media, evaporation pulls heat out of it, and it is that surface area — not the fan — that produces the temperature drop. The fan's job is volume: up to 10,645 CFM through a 28" fixed-louver housing, rated to cover 2,125 square feet.

Fixed louvers, rather than swinging ones, put the air where you aim it and keep it there. For a fixed workstation, a bay, a bar or a production line, that is usually what you want; swing louvers suit a room you are trying to keep evenly comfortable rather than a place you are trying to cool people standing in.

Evaporative cooling has one honest limitation worth stating: it works by adding moisture to air, so it performs best in dry heat and does progressively less as humidity rises, and it needs somewhere for the moist air to go. Open door, open shutter, cross-ventilation. In a sealed room it will disappoint. In a hot, dry, ventilated space it is dramatically cheaper to run than mechanical cooling.

Power, cord and siting

Standard 110V, 60Hz, 1Ph supply through a GFCI plug — a normal socket, no installation, no electrician, no dedicated circuit. The power cord is 15 ft long, which in practice decides where the machine can stand: measure from the socket you intend to use before you decide where it lives, because running an evaporative cooler on a domestic extension lead is not a good idea on any appliance that holds water.

The unit measures 52" x 37" x 76.5" and weighs 275 lbs empty. Add 80 gallons of water and it stays where you put it, so place it deliberately: pointing into the space, with a clear path for air to escape at the far end, and with the intake face not jammed against a wall. Swivel casters make repositioning it easy while it is empty.

Sound sits between 60 and 100 decibels depending on fan speed. At the top of that range it is a genuinely loud machine — worth knowing if it is going next to a service desk rather than a production line.

What else is built in

A negative ionizer runs alongside the cooling, charging airborne particles so dust and allergens settle out instead of circulating — noticeable in a workshop that makes its own dust all day. An 80 watt LED floodlight producing 4,000 lumens is built into the unit, which turns it into working light as well as air movement for an evening event or a yard. Bluetooth stereo audio is included, and control is by soft-touch LED panel or the supplied remote, which has its own holder.

The housing is high-density polyethylene: impact-resistant, with antibacterial properties, and untroubled by being a cabinet full of water in a way a painted steel one would not be.

Perfect for

• Mid-size workshops and two-to-four bay garages that need real cooling over a working area rather than a whole building.
• Event, hospitality and marquee use — day-long runtime on a fill, plus light and audio from the same machine.
• Loading bays, yards and outdoor work areas where there is no water supply and no chance of ducted cooling.
• Anywhere a fixed-louver machine aimed at people beats a system trying to condition the whole volume.

Specifications

Certification

This unit is described as carrying UL certification and ships with a GFCI plug, which is the combination that matters on a mains appliance built around a water tank. That is the safety claim the product makes, and it is the only one we will make for it.

Our record for the CB-28 does not state any further approval. If a venue, an insurer or a site safety policy requires a specific certificate for equipment you bring in, ask us first and we will get written confirmation of what this model actually holds.

Shipping and delivery

Freight, within the lower 48 states, on a pallet at 294 lbs shipping weight. Have a forklift, a dock, or people and equipment enough to take it off a truck safely — and check your doorways against the shipping dimensions above before it arrives, not while the driver waits. Cool Boss pick-up locations are shown further down this page if collection is easier. Residential delivery carries a residential fee.

Inspect it before signing and write any damage on the bill of lading with the driver there. Photograph the pallet before you break it down.

Warranty

We are not going to print a warranty term for the CB-28, because our record for this specific unit does not state one. Its stablemates in the range carry a published term, and it would be easy to assume this one matches — but assuming is how a customer ends up quoting a warranty back to us that never existed. Ask us and we will confirm the term in writing before you buy. Warranty claims for this brand are handled through our own warranty claims page, so you deal with us rather than a portal.

Whatever the term, protect it the same way: do not take a failed unit apart before the claim is open, and drain the reservoir and let the media dry when the cooler is going to stand unused for a long stretch. Stagnant water in evaporative media causes smell and scale, and neither is a warranty matter.

Contact us for more evaporative air cooler information.