They are like special effects machines, whooshing out refreshing clouds of microscopic droplets that act like an outdoor air conditioner, cranking down the external thermostat.
Misters have been cooling long lines of sweaty theme park goers and panting restaurant patrons for a number of years. But these surprisingly low-tech outdoor coolers are increasingly being adopted by homeowners who are stringing misting lines around patio covers, by pools, beneath umbrellas and even up into trees.
While the magic of mist may look expensive and complicated, cheap kits can be bought for as little as $19.99 at home improvement stores. The best part? No advanced do-it-yourself skills or tools are needed to install them. They hook right up to a garden hose.
"They're a great, affordable way of increasing your enjoyment of the outdoors," says Jim Weeks of "Mister Fog," a Santa Rosa-based retailer specializing in misters. It sells everything from telescoping, tripod misting stands, about $70, that can move about the yard to higher-quality, all-inclusive kits with pumps and filters, about $350.
"The technology is the same, but people are just becoming aware that they're available," says Dave Paul, owner of the online retailer Misting Pros in Orangevale, near Sacramento. "And they're coming down in price, based on competition."
People tend to think the cool-down comes from being sprayed. But Paul says it's the process of evaporation that brings down the ambient temperature.
It's really a form of "flash evaporation" that turns water into vapor, he explained. When tiny droplets of water are exposed to hot air, they quickly absorb the heat and then evaporate.
In hot, dry conditions, a mister may decrease the nearby temperature by 30 degrees. Under slightly more humid conditions, like in Sacramento, you might experience a drop of 20 to 22 degrees. The dryer the climate, the more effective the cooling.
With a good mister that is working properly, you won't get wet at all. As with many products, however, buyer beware. You get what you pay for.
Landscaper Dan Sooter, who specializes in the installation of pondless water features, hooked one up over a deck in his Glen Ellen back yard. There was no way to get shade on the deck without obstructing the view, and it's the sunsets that draw him to the deck in the first place.
"I'm not really happy with mine. Instead of having this really nice mist that goes all around, they start to drip," Sooter said. He bought an inexpensive kit.
The cheaper systems work off of the regular pressure of your home garden hose.
"The higher the pressure, the smaller the droplets, the faster they evaporate," Weeks said. "That's the idea. You want higher pressure."
That's why he includes a booster pump in his kits, which retail for $350. He also includes sediment and calcium filters to prevent the kind of build-up that diminishes their effectiveness and leads to drips rather than fine mist.
Weeks says his systems include 20 feet of tubing and can be assembled and set up in about a half-hour, with durable, brass-lock fittings that rotate 360 degrees to direct the mist anywhere you want.
He sells screw-in replacement filters for $21, something you might want to do every year for best efficiency. You might also want to clean the nozzles by immersing them for about 30 minutes in nozzle cleaner. But otherwise, maintenance is minimal.
Tube misters are strung in the same way you would string Christmas lights, said Paul of Misting Pros, whose systems are even more heavy duty and can cost up to $2,000 or more for 30 feet of misting line, pumps and filters.
Of course, if you want something fast and inexpensive, misting kits sold at home improvement stores will give you some of the misting effects at much less cost. Just don't expect the same durability or quality.
Friedman's Home Improvement Stores carry two kinds, an inexpensive little freestanding coil called the Cobra Mist Stand, so named because it looks like a standing cobra snake, said Tony Corsberg, vice president for merchandise and marketing.
It's about 3 feet tall, connects to your garden hose and is small and lightweight so you can move it around. You can set it up beside you for keeping cool, whether you're working out in the yard or lounging in your hammock. And at only $8.88, it's hard to go wrong.
Friedman's also carries an evaporative mist cooling system kit for $19.99 that includes 50 feet of drip tube and a punch so you can decide where you want to place your holes. It also includes fittings to connect to your garden hose and clips to connect to a wall, although you could also use cable ties to put it into an umbrella, Corsberg said.
Of course, there is the question of water. A portable unit may use only a couple of gallons of water an hour, but a more elaborate setup will go through a half of a gallon per minute, Paul said.
"If you're operating it for an hour or two in the afternoon, it's not going to kill you," he said. "But if you use it for a whole day, you're going through a lot of water."
If your indoor air conditioner is off while you sit in the mist, he points out, the environmental trade off may be a wash.
Sonoma landscape contractor Dan Glasner likes to put misters in pergolas and pavilions, positioning them upwind of where people will be sitting. He has some strung up in a little grove of 120-foot-tall redwoods in his backyard.
"We have a whole bunch of tree ferns inside that redwood grove, so they love it just to have that mist," he said. "It's going to be the coolest place in town. It's like we have our own little rain forest in there."
You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com or 521-5204.
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