Whenever outside temperatures went up, Paddock Imports, an independent Mercedes, BMW and Audi service center in Denver, Colo., had a problem keeping the automotive technicians in their repair shop cool. As the heat and humidity increased, productivity plummeted. Fortunately, the company found a solution in technology often used for industrial spot cooling of equipment and personnel: portable spot air conditioners from MovinCool, Long Beach, Calif. The compact, self-contained units are made by Denso Corp.

At the service center, the large size of the shop, with 16,000 ft² of floor space and 27' ceilings, made installing central air-conditioning cost prohibitive. Instead, Paddock tried opening the shop’s bay doors and using drum fans. “The fans just moved the hot air around,” Paddock says. “We also considered portable evaporative coolers, but with the large space, it wouldn’t have been practical. Plus, there would have been the added humidity to deal with.”

Introduced to the spot coolers by MovinCool distributor WorldPac, Paddock ordered three Classic Plus 14 models. Installation consisted of rolling the units into place and plugging them into a 115 V outlet. Each spot cooler has two cold-air ducts so a single unit can cool two service bays.

“The difference is tremendous,” Paddock says. “The MovinCool units reduce the temperature in our work areas by 20 degrees or more. They also remove moisture from the air, so there’s no humidity problem. I can’t quantify the precise increase in productivity — although it is significant — but the improvement in morale alone is worth it."