Best Ways for Cooling Your Outdoor Patio

Denise O'Leary • May 16, 2022

Arizona gets very hot in the summer. Hot temperatures don’t have to prevent you from enjoying your beautiful patio. There are many cooling options that will help you enjoy your patio on the hottest days of the year.

Fans

Fans are a great choice because they bring a nice breeze to your patio. The breeze is what makes fans feel like they’re cooling when what they’re actually doing is displacing warm air and accelerating heat transfer. Fans make a space feel cooler without necessarily dropping the temperature.

The biggest problem is that fans have no lasting cooling power. Once they go off your patio will be hot.

Misters

Misters can be a nice way to keep your patio cool through the magic of evaporation. Evaporation is powered by heat energy, which gets absorbed during the process, dropping the temperature in a misted area. High pressure and small nozzles can result in a high volume of very tiny droplets being forced into the air, which results in a dramatic amount of fast evaporation and temperature control.

Misters have a longer-lasting effect than fans and can potentially be installed in outdoor living spaces where it might be hard to install ceiling fans. One downside is misters may leave patios damp. They also work best when it’s dry and not humid.

Are Patio Misters Expensive?

Patio misters may require more maintenance than fans, especially to prevent nozzle calcium buildup if you, like many homeowners in Phoenix, have hard water. Misters can develop leaks, which can be costly—especially if you are not particularly handy.

Misters also consume a lot of water—especially when they leak. The amount of water used by patio misters may add up over time, and you could notice it in your water bill if you run the system often.

Evaporative Coolers

Evaporative coolers are a good way to cool down your patio. Evaporative coolers work by turning hot, dry air into cooler, wet air. Evaporative coolers work in essentially the same way as misters or your body’s natural ability to sweat. Tiny droplets evaporate and reduce the temperature of the air in a space.

Evaporative coolers can be great for an immediate blast of cold air, but they require water and electricity to function. Evaporative coolers also increase the air’s humidity, which means they don’t provide as much relief if humidity is high.

Are Evaporative Coolers Expensive?

Like misters, an evaporative cooler can be a significant investment and use quite a bit of water. The motor that runs the fan and water pump may also consumer quite a bit of electricity if you’re running it often during the summer.

Retractable Awnings and Patio Coverings

Patio coverings are great because they cool down your patio by blocking the sun’s powerful rays. Direct sunlight is absorbed by whatever it hits, which causes a massive uptick in surface temperature. When the surface absorbing and reflecting the sun’s rays is your awning, it prevents that energy from reaching your patio.

Another great benefit is that certain patio coverings can keep your patio dry during a rainstorm. When it rains in Arizona, it pours. A patio covering will keep your patio furniture dry and ready to use in any kind of weather.

Patio awnings and coverings are also customizable, so you can choose whichever fabric option best matches your patio furniture.

Awnings and patio coverings are an excellent investment because there is only a one-time up-front expense that will not contribute to your monthly electric bill or your water bill. In fact, awnings often prevent sun from reaching your windows or walls, reducing your home’s interior temperature and the strain that exterior heat absorption puts on your HVAC system.

Stay Cool with a Patio Awning or Shade Structure in Phoenix

Arizona Awnings offers a large assortment of awnings and patio coverings in many different styles, colors and sizes.

Whether you need an awning for your home or your business, you can rest assured that our experts can help you understand your options and provide impeccable installation results.