Cool guests when it's warm

When you need little more than a gentle breeze, such as on a comfortable night in an open-sided tent, several portable floor and pedestal fans may be all that you need.

On the other hand, when you really need to beat the heat, you have two cooling options – air conditioning units and evaporative cooling systems.

Tent air-conditioners for maximum cooling

  • Removing moisture from the air with an air conditioner is essential in areas of the country in which humidity is high
  • Capability: Air conditioners with refrigerant can lower temperatures by 30 to 40 degrees
  • Rule of thumb for cooling tents: 1 ton of cooling (12,000 Btu) for every 150 to 250 square feet of tent space

There's more to consider besides square footage. The date, time, type of party--e.g., dancing or not, and where the tent will be positioned all factor into determining your cooling needs.

For example, if a tent is positioned on an asphalt parking lot sandwiched between two buildings on an afternoon in August, you would need more cooling units than if the tent is placed on a grassy, open field for an evening event in May.

Also, a sit-down party requires less cooling than a stand-up or open-house event. Keeping the tent flaps open, so people can come and go, means much more cool air will escape during the party.

Evaporative systems for when you need less cooling

  • With these types of systems, a blower blows out a cool mist that hits hot skin and immediately evaporates
  • Evaporative systems usually throw out more air than do air-conditioning units and at a greater distance of 60 to 80 feet. Therefore, they're less expensive to run -- fewer units are needed to cool a tent-created room
  • Capability: at best, evaporative systems can lower temperatures by 10 to 15 degrees.

For very large tents, more sophisticated air-exchange systems will be needed. Leave this completely up to the pros.