Factory Air Conditioning Unit Hire
Keeping your factory at a workable temperature is not a seasonal inconvenience; it is, legally and practically, something you have to deal with. Heat builds fast in industrial environments, and the consequences of doing nothing are felt in output, in safety incidents, and in a workforce that has quietly decided to slow down and wait for things to cool off.
McCarthy Hire supplies industrial evaporative coolers on flexible hire terms to factories and production sites across the UK. Our units work differently from traditional air conditioning. They pull in fresh outside air, pass it through water-saturated filtration pads, and deliver it into your space cooler and cleaner than it arrived, at a fraction of the running cost of a refrigerant system. Every unit comes fitted with UV lamp technology as standard, which actively inhibits bacterial growth, including Legionella, within the water circuit. The air your team breathes is not just cooler. It is genuinely cleaner.
Reliable Factory Air Conditioning Hire When You Need It Most
Heat problems in factories have a habit of arriving at the worst possible moment. A heatwave lands during your busiest production week. A ventilation unit fails on a Friday afternoon. A planned shutdown runs longer than expected, leaving a space without any cooling at all. McCarthy Hire exists to close the gap between the problem and a working solution quickly, without bureaucracy, and with equipment ready to go.
Temporary and Emergency Cooling for Factories
Our hire units are mobile, self-contained, and designed to be operational within hours of arriving on-site. There are no major building works involved, no refrigerant certification required, and no lengthy procurement process to navigate. You connect to a standard mains supply and a water source, and the unit does the rest.
That simplicity is, honestly, one of the most underrated things about evaporative cooling. When you are trying to get a production line back up and running, the last thing you need is a complex installation. Our units are built for exactly that kind of situation.
Short-Term and Long-Term Hire Options
We offer hire terms that fit around your operation rather than the other way around. Whether it's a week during a heatwave, six months while a permanent ventilation project is completed, or a rolling arrangement for a site that has never had adequate cooling, we can accommodate it all.
- Weekly hire for emergency and short-notice requirements
- Monthly hire for seasonal cooling needs
- Long-term hire contracts for ongoing or rolling requirements
- Flexible extension options where timelines shift
No punishing minimum terms. No pressure to over-commit. If your situation changes, we work with you.
Factory Cooling Challenges We Solve
Every factory has its own layout, its own heat sources, and its own complicating factors. But the problems that poor temperature control creates tend to follow a familiar pattern. This is where we are most called in.
Nationwide Delivery and Fast Installation
McCarthy Hire delivers to industrial sites across the UK. Our logistics team plans around your shift patterns and site access because a delivery that arrives at the wrong time or gets stuck at a gate is not much use to anyone. Setup is straightforward, and our team is always available to advise on placement and configuration if you want guidance.
Overheating Machinery and Production Lines
CNC machines, welding stations, moulding equipment, and industrial ovens each add to the thermal load of a factory floor, and they rarely work in isolation. That accumulated heat does not just make conditions uncomfortable for your workforce; it shortens the service life of sensitive equipment, increases the likelihood of production errors, and in some cases triggers automatic shutdowns that bring a line to a standstill without warning.
Positioning evaporative coolers strategically alongside the equipment generating the most heat is one of the most cost-effective interventions available. You are not trying to cool the entire building; you are targeting the problem.
High Temperatures Affecting Staff Productivity
The connection between heat and reduced productivity is well-documented and not subtle. Workers make more errors, move more slowly, and fatigue earlier when temperatures climb. The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 place a legal duty on employers to maintain reasonable temperatures inside buildings, and while UK law stops short of setting a statutory maximum, the HSE is explicit that employers must assess the risk and act on it. Acas has confirmed the same: employers have a duty of care to keep working temperatures reasonable, including in hot weather.
None of that is new information. What gets overlooked is the commercial dimension. The hours lost to heat-related slowdown, the errors that need correcting, the sick days that spike in summer, these are real costs. Cooling is not a welfare gesture. It is a sensible operational investment.
Poor Ventilation in Large Factory Spaces
Traditional refrigerant-based air conditioning is designed for sealed, insulated environments. Put it in a large factory with high ceilings, roller shutter doors, and working machinery, and you are fighting a losing battle. The system is expensive to run, the building can never be sealed the way it needs to be, and the results rarely justify the energy bill.
Evaporative coolers work in the opposite direction. They continuously draw in fresh air from outside, cool it through evaporation, and push it into the space, which means airflow and ventilation are features, not problems. They are built for the kind of environments that defeat conventional air conditioning.
Seasonal Heat and Unexpected Temperature Spikes
UK summers are less predictable than they used to be, and factory environments, already warm at baseline due to process heat and machinery, feel the effect quickly. A heatwave that catches you without cooling in place is a bad week. Planning ahead with a hire arrangement means the equipment is ready when you need it, not still in a procurement queue.
We hold stock year-round. You can reserve capacity before the summer season or call us when temperatures spike unexpectedly. Either way, we can move fast.
Our Factory Air Conditioning Units
Every unit in the McCarthy Hire range has been selected specifically for industrial and factory use. These are not office coolers repurposed for a bigger space. They are built for demanding, often dusty environments in continuous operation.
All units features:
- High-volume airflow capable of cooling large, open industrial spaces
- Water-saturated filtration pads that capture dust and airborne particulates from incoming air
- Integrated UV lamp technology to inhibit Legionella and other waterborne bacterial growth within the water circuit
- Robust construction suited to the conditions of an active factory floor
- Straightforward controls and low-maintenance operation
Which Air Conditioning Solution Is Right for Your Factory?
Evaporative cooling is the right call for the majority of factory environments. There are some situations where it is less suitable, and we will tell you honestly if your site is one of them. The table below covers the key variables.
|
Factor |
Ideal for Evaporative Cooling |
Consider Alternatives If... |
McCarthy Hire Can Advise |
|
Space type |
Large, open, or partially open factory floor |
Fully sealed, climate-critical environments (server rooms, clean rooms) |
We will ask about your building type and natural airflow during enquiry |
|
Ventilation |
Good natural airflow, roller shutter access, loading bays |
A completely sealed environment with no air exchange |
We can advise on optimal unit placement for your layout |
|
Humidity |
Moderate ambient humidity — typical of most UK factory environments |
Already high humidity (above 70%), which limits evaporative performance |
We can help assess whether evaporative cooling will hit the temperature drop you need |
|
Budget |
Operations looking to reduce energy costs versus traditional AC |
Budget is not a constraint and a refrigerant system is preferred |
Our hire rates are competitive and all-inclusive of maintenance support |
Not sure which way to go? Call us. We would rather spend ten minutes helping you work out what you actually need than send the wrong equipment.
Fast Installation and Flexible Hire Options
Our installation process is deliberately simple. No engineers to book in advance, no refrigerant handling, no F-Gas paperwork.
- Units are mobile and self-contained; no specialist installation team required
- Standard single-phase power connection (13A or 16A depending on the unit)
- Water connection via standard mains supply or external tank
- Operational within hours of delivery in most cases
- Remote setup guidance available from our team throughout
For larger sites or more complex layouts, we can carry out a pre-installation assessment to advise on positioning, airflow management, and how many units will realistically do the job. There is no charge for this; it just means the equipment works properly when it arrives.
Cost of Factory Air Conditioning Hire
Our pricing is transparent. What you are quoted is what you pay, no hidden maintenance fees, no surprise call-out charges within the hire period.
Hire rates depend on: Unit size and specification, Hire duration, Number of units required, Delivery distance from our depot.
It is also worth factoring in running costs. Evaporative coolers typically consume 80–90% less energy than refrigerant-based systems, meaning the gap between the hire cost and the real-world cost of a conventional AC unit is often larger than people expect. Over a sustained hire period, that difference adds up.
Why Choose McCarthy Hire for Factory Air Conditioning?
McCarthy Hire is the equipment hire arm of McCarthy Group, a business that has spent years working in industrial health, safety, and compliance. That background is not incidental; it shapes how we think about the equipment we hire out and the advice we give.
UV Lamp Technology: Protecting Your Workforce from Waterborne Risk
Water and warmth together create conditions that bacteria find very agreeable. Legionella pneumophila, the organism behind Legionnaires’ disease, thrives in exactly the kind of environment that a water-based cooling system can produce if it is not properly managed. In an active factory where workers are present all day, that is not an abstract concern. It is a real and manageable risk that needs to be taken seriously.
Every unit in our range has UV lamp technology built into the water circuit. UV-C light at 254 nanometres disrupts the DNA of microorganisms, rendering them unable to reproduce; no chemicals involved, nothing added to the water supply, no residue. It is not offered as an upgrade or an optional extra. It is standard. We think it should be.
The result is a unit that not only lowers the temperature of your factory. It delivers air that is meaningfully cleaner than what it started as.
Multi-Stage Air Filtration: Cleaner Air, Not Just Cooler Air
The evaporative cooling process filters as it cools. As warm air passes through the water-saturated pads, dust, pollen, and airborne particulates are captured before the air ever enters your workspace. In a factory environment where the atmosphere carries process dust, fine debris, or chemical particulates, that matters.
Cleaner air means fewer respiratory irritants for your workforce. It also means the system is continuously replacing recirculated indoor air with freshly drawn, filtered outdoor air — so air quality does not just hold steady; it improves the longer the units run. That is a genuinely useful feature in a production environment, not just a line in a brochure.
Backed by McCarthy Group: Industrial Compliance Specialists
McCarthy Hire sits alongside McCarthy Environmental, our LEV testing and COSHH compliance specialists. Industrial health and safety are not a peripheral concern for us; it is the core of what the group does.
When you hire from McCarthy Hire, you are working with a supplier that understands compliance obligations from the inside. We take safety seriously, give you a straight answer, and will not sell you equipment your site does not need.
Responsive, Practical Service
Cooling problems do not arrive at convenient times. Our team handles enquiries quickly, turns around quotes without unnecessary back-and-forth, and dispatches equipment as quickly as your situation requires. You speak directly to the people managing the process. No call centres. No queues.
FAQs About Factory Air Conditioning Hire
What is an evaporative cooler, and how is it different from air conditioning?
An evaporative cooler (sometimes called a swamp cooler) works by pulling warm air through water-saturated pads. As the water evaporates, it absorbs heat from the air, the same basic physics that makes stepping out of a swimming pool feel cold on a warm day. The cooled air is then pushed into the space. Unlike a conventional air conditioning unit, there is no refrigerant gas, no sealed loop, and crucially, the air is not recirculated; every cycle draws in fresh air from outside. That makes evaporative cooling more energy-efficient and significantly better suited to large or partially open industrial spaces where keeping stale air moving around the building is the last thing you want.
Is evaporative cooling effective in a UK factory?
Yes, and in many factory environments, more effective than traditional air conditioning. The UK’s climate is not excessively humid for most of the year, which is important because evaporative cooling works best when the incoming air has room to take on moisture. Large spaces with roller shutter doors, high ceilings, and working machinery are poorly suited to sealed refrigerant systems, which need the building closed to function properly. Evaporative coolers thrive in those same conditions. They do not need the building sealed — they benefit from it being open.
What is the UV lamp in the evaporative cooler for?
The UV lamp sits within the unit's water circuit and inhibits the growth of Legionella and other waterborne bacteria. Water at temperatures typical of a cooling system creates conditions where bacteria can multiply quickly if left unmanaged. UV-C light disrupts the DNA of microorganisms, preventing them from reproducing, without chemicals, without additions to the water, and without ongoing intervention. It is built into every unit we hire because we consider it a basic safety requirement for any water-based system operating in an occupied workplace, not a premium feature.
Do I need to carry out a Legionella risk assessment for a hired evaporative cooler?
The UV lamp significantly reduces the risk of Legionella growth within the unit, but it does not remove your broader obligations. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act and COSHH Regulations, employers have a duty to manage water system risks across their site. We recommend reviewing your Legionella risk assessment policy with your health and safety team when introducing any water-based system. McCarthy Hire can supply supporting technical documentation on the UV lamp specification to assist with that process.
How quickly can I get a unit on-site?
Delivery timescales depend on location and current stock availability. For many sites within our primary delivery area, we can deliver within 24–48 hours of a confirmed order. Call us directly for the most accurate lead time for your location; we will give you a straight answer rather than a best-case estimate.
Do the units need a specialist to install them?
No. Our units are self-contained and mobile. You need a standard mains power connection and a water supply, mains or tank, and the unit is operational. No F-Gas certification, no refrigerant handling, no specialist engineers to schedule. Our team can provide remote guidance during setup and advise on positioning if needed.
What size unit do I need for my factory?
It depends on the floor area, ceiling height, and the nature of the heat load in your space. A large open warehouse and a compact production unit with several ovens running are very different problems, even if they share the same floor area. Our team will ask the right questions before making a recommendation. For larger sites, a configuration of multiple units is usually more effective than a single large unit, and we can advise on positioning to get the most out of them.
Can I hire on a long-term basis if my factory doesn’t have permanent cooling?
Yes. A long-term hire is a sensible alternative to an outright purchase, particularly for businesses that are growing, relocating, or midway through planning a permanent installation. It includes ongoing maintenance support and unit replacement in the event of a fault, which means you get operational certainty without the capital outlay, and without the responsibility of owning equipment you might not need in the same form in two years.
Is there a legal maximum temperature for factories in the UK?
There is no statutory maximum. UK law, specifically the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, requires employers to maintain a ‘reasonable’ temperature, and the HSE’s Approved Code of Practice sets minimum thresholds (13°C for physically demanding work, 16°C for lighter tasks) but is deliberately less prescriptive at the upper end. What the law does require is a thermal comfort risk assessment and proportionate action where heat poses a risk, and the absence of a specific maximum number does not limit that duty. The HSE expects employers to take action on excessive heat. Acas has been equally clear that the duty of care applies in hot weather as much as any other time. Not having a number on the wall does not mean the obligation goes away.
Talk to our Specialists
Our team is here to help you select the right unit for your application and to ensure full compliance from day one.