There's no single price tag — cooling a 1,000 sq ft store room and a 40,000 sq ft plant are different jobs. But the drivers of the cost are simple, and there's one design choice that changes the number more than any other: copper-free vs. conventional copper AC.
Enviro Air Cooler (M) Sdn Bhd · Cooling Malaysian factories since 1990 · Updated July 2026
The price of cooling a factory floor is driven by four things: floor area, ceiling height, run-hours and how cold you need it (comfort vs. precision). Because a copper-free system needs about half the horsepower of a conventional copper one for the same floor, the installation typically runs around 50% lower — and the monthly electricity bill is lower too. Our Cooling Calculator turns your floor into an HP figure and an electricity comparison in seconds.
The four things that set the price
Before anyone can quote a factory floor honestly, they need to know four numbers. Every one of them moves the horsepower — and horsepower is what you're really paying for, in both equipment and electricity.
- Floor area. The starting point. As a rough guide, a comfort target needs about 1 HP for every 285–290 sq ft at a 10 ft ceiling.
- Ceiling height. A taller room is more air to cool. A 15 ft ceiling carries noticeably more load than a 10 ft one for the same floor.
- Run-hours & heat load. A single-shift storage area costs less to cool than a 24/7 line full of machines, ovens and people.
- Target temperature. Plain comfort (26–27°C) is cheaper than a tight precision target (24°C with controlled humidity), which needs roughly 45% more capacity.
This is why a real number comes from a short site assessment, not a phone quote — but you can get very close yourself with the calculator.
Why copper-free installs for about half the cost
The biggest single lever on the price is the technology. Conventional industrial AC connects the indoor and outdoor units with long runs of copper refrigerant piping. Enviro's copper-free SystemAir units connect through a water / PVC line instead. That one change does three things to your bill:
- Half the horsepower. For a ~2,000 sq ft floor, copper-free does the job on 7 HP where conventional needs 15 HP — so the equipment and the install are smaller.
- No copper field piping. You skip the most expensive part of a conventional install — and there's no copper on the roof for anyone to steal.
- Lower running cost. Less horsepower means a lower monthly electricity bill, every month, for the life of the system (see below).
Put together, installation for the same coverage typically runs around 50% lower than a copper system. "Copper-free," to be clear, refers to the connection between the units — any copper inside the sealed unit is short and factory-fitted.
The running cost — the part that repeats every month
Install price is a one-off; electricity is forever, so it's worth doing the sum. Taking the ~2,000 sq ft example:
| Conventional copper | Copper-free SystemAir | |
|---|---|---|
| Horsepower | 15 HP | 7 HP |
| Power draw | ~12.4 kW | ~6.85 kW |
| Monthly electricity* | Higher | ~RM 800–900 less |
*At about 12 hours/day, 26 days/month on the current TNB tariff, for the 15 HP system replaced. Your figure depends on run-hours and tariff — the calculator works it out for your floor.
A worked example
Say you're cooling a 2,000 sq ft CNC floor, 10 ft ceiling, comfort target:
- 2,000 ÷ ~290 ≈ 7 HP copper-free (a conventional copper system would be ~15 HP).
- Smaller equipment + no copper field piping → installation around half a copper job.
- The 7 HP unit draws ~6.85 kW vs ~12.4 kW → roughly RM 800–900/month lower electricity.
Want the exact HP and the electricity comparison for your floor? The Cooling Calculator takes your area (or length × width × height), target and run-hours and returns both. Then we confirm it on a free site assessment. Not sure how many units you need? Read how many horsepower it takes to cool a factory.
Frequently asked questions
How much does industrial air conditioning cost in Malaysia?
Why is copper-free up to 50% cheaper than traditional AC?
How much electricity does it use and save?
Enviro Engineering Team
Enviro Air Cooler (M) Sdn Bhd has designed, installed and serviced industrial cooling for Malaysian factories since 1990 — from evaporative coolers to copper-free industrial air conditioning and IoT cold rooms. Every figure here comes from systems we've actually installed.
Get a real number for your floor
Use the Cooling Calculator for an instant HP estimate and electricity comparison, then let us confirm the cost on a free site assessment.
