Air-Cooled vs Water-Cooled: Operating-Cost Comparison

“Water-cooled is always cheaper” is region-dependent. Enter your tariffs and run hours to see which actually wins on annual operating cost.

Compare annual operating cost

Assumptions (editable industry defaults): air-cooled 1.1 kW/ton; water-cooled system 0.80 kW/ton incl. condenser pump + tower fan; tower water use 0.011 m³/h per RT (evaporation + blowdown). Efficiency floors per US DoE FEMP / AHRI 550/590. Excludes install capex, where air-cooled avoids the tower entirely.