Wilton Atomized Cooling Fan First Look

By Tim Johnson
July 11, 2017

Many of us know the Wilton brand as being synonymous with great shop vises. Well, it’s not just a vise company any longer. Along with clamps and hammers, the company is branching out with the Wilton atomized cooling fan – Cold Front 3037. I guess this summer heat has gotten to them too!

Wilton Vises

Wilton is claiming to beat the competition with up to 2x higher air cooling efficiency. Specifically, Wilton states that the Cold Front 3037 can keep workers cooler with less water. Up to 81% less humidity, and up to 33% less power usage.

Before we get any further into specifics, we must mention this. Made in the USA. We’ll let that soak in a little.

Wilton Atomized Cooling Fan Features

It’s obvious that Wilton didn’t just follow in line with all the other shop fans and blowers moving air. Even compared to other misting or atomizing fans, there are some distinct differences with the Wilton atomized cooling fan. We got a first-hand look at the Wilton Cold Front 3037 at the ISN Tool Dealer Expo 2017.

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Foot Brake and Rubber Wheels

The whole Wilton Cold Front 3037 has a relatively small footprint, at just two-feet by four-feet (2’x4′). What’s impressive is what gets stuffed into the small area. First, we have a 30-inch fan diameter on a 1/2HP direct-drive motor, which is powered with the typical 120V. There are no belts and pulleys to worry about, so we have less maintenance. A 19-gallon water tank eliminates the need for a permanent water source, which is supposed to be enough for 10+ hours. The Wilton atomized cooling fan isn’t light, at 370 lbs, however, the 12-inch solid rubber wheels (casters), with foot-brake, make mobility much easier around the shop.

Cold Front 3037 Performance

Pumping water to misters in fans has been done for decades, so it’s not a revolutionary idea. However, cooling off yourself or the shop while getting soaking wet is not a great idea. First, if all you’re doing is increasing the humidity in the shop, you’ll have a price to pay for that. You may end up with rusty tools and residual moisture everywhere.

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What’s The Secret Potion?

Flow Blurring Technology

The Wilton atomized cooling fan is covering over 3,000 sqft of space with an airflow of 8,462 CFM. To cover this amount of area, it takes a fan speed of 1,100 RPM. This is notable information, but the magic happens with the water. In particular, it’s at the atomizing of the water. Wilton uses a patented Flow Blurring technology. This patented process instantly evaporates the micro-droplets of water, removing the heat, hence this process is cooling the air. And, with the very efficient atomization, this cooling is happening without noticeable increase in the humidity.

Atomizing the the water is much the same as a fuel injector atomizes the fuel in your car. Rather than a stream or drops of gas going into your cylinders, the fuel injectors use extreme pressure to push the fuel through a very small engineered orifice. Wilton’s Flow Blurring technology uses low-pressure air and water to produce microdroplets (atomizing). Furthermore, the Cold Front 3037 includes an automatic low water shut-off, so there is no damage done with the water runs dry.

More Features

With other portable cooling and misting fans out there, many of them require additional media or pads that require replacement. Wilton’s Cold Front 3037 does not require any additional media needs, and it’s perfectly fine for indoors and outdoors. Instructions are pretty simple, so there is no break-in period and no lengthy shut-down procedure. This Wilton atomized cooling fan is ready to go, right out of the box.

Operating the Wilton 3037 is as easy as 1, 2, 3, 4…literally:

Fill with water
Plug into 120V power
Turn on Fan (left)
Turn on Cool (water)(right)

Our Cool Thoughts

Anytime you can make the shop a more enjoyable place to work, you most likely increase labor efficiency, which makes you money. In addition, cooling down a mechanic, welder or woodworker in a 120°F shop is definitely a morale booster. Our 2,000+ sqft metal shop becomes a huge sweat-box this time of year, and we routinely see roof temperatures of 160+°F. The Wilton atomized cooling fan seems to have the right components to work cooler. Our question is does the increased efficiency claim stand up. At 81% less humidity and 33% less power, this fan should sell itself, if it lives up to it. We hope to get one in the shop for review, so we can get some quantifiable before/after humidity and temperature changes.

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