THREE evaporative coolers will be installed at the National Transport Museum next week, after a spike in visitors at the Inverell institution.
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The $26,000 purchase and installation of the units was made possible by grants from the Sapphire Wind Community Fund and Inverell Shire Council.
Each contributed $10,000 to the project, with the museum paying the balance, museum secretary and treasurer John Hermann said.
Inverell company Jake Campbell Electrics will install the units.
"The museum is essentially a big, iron-clad building and there's no air conditioning at the moment, so it can get very hot, particularly in summer," Mr Hermann said.
Museum volunteers had previously been successful in applying for a community grant of about $4000 for a refreshed website.
"Our new website has proved such a success, we're seeing more patronage and the museum," Mr Hermann said.
"So the museum was becoming uncomfortable for visitors in the heat, a problem which we hope these evaporative units will help fix."
Evaporative coolers were chosen because they worked well in dry heat and were energy efficient, Mr Hermann said.
The 300 square metres building housing the transport museum was originally destined to be a snack food factory.
But when the company went into liquidation, a group of like minded motor enthusiasts seized the opportunity and in 1998, turned the site into what is now the National Motor Transport Museum.
Mr Hermann has been a fixture of the museum for about 18 months, along with a team of more than 200 members who help keep the vehicles shiny and the museum's doors open.
Visitors can inspect more than 250 vintage and classic cars along with bicycles, motorbikes, model cars and railways.
The team can now keep cool heads as they figure out best ways of showcasing the attraction to visitors, who number more than 15,000 annually.
