Can we talk about Swamp Coolers here?

[JohnnyB60]

I came across this forum while looking for a place to voice my disappointment for the new Champion Evaporator Coolers, but I don’t see anything on swamps here. I don’t really have a question unless someone has something to add.

I live in the desert where it is hot and dry which is Prime Swamp Cooler territory. Anyway I just replaced two swamp coolers and the pumps that came with them are crap. If wasn’t such a big job of taking them down, I would have returned them. Lucky I still had the old ones and salvaged the old pumps from them. The new pumps leak air and the bubbly water is not able to reach the spill trough.

I’ve had the old ones for 15 years and I’ve been real happy with them. I change the pads twice a season and only needed to replace the fan belt and bearings every 5 years. I did have to replace the original pump once because I accidently squirted it with the hose while cleaning it and it burnt up.

I still have my split AC unit for those few days that we get rain and the humidity is high, but I try not to use it because of the high electric rates here.

[garya505]

I came across this forum while looking for a place to voice my disappointment for the new Champion Evaporator Coolers, but I don’t see anything on swamps here. I don’t really have a question unless someone has something to add.

I live in the desert where it is hot and dry which is Prime Swamp Cooler territory. Anyway I just replaced two swamp coolers and the pumps that came with them are crap. If wasn’t such a big job of taking them down, I would have returned them. Lucky I still had the old ones and salvaged the old pumps from them. The new pumps leak air and the bubbly water is not able to reach the spill trough.

I’ve had the old ones for 15 years and I’ve been real happy with them. I change the pads twice a season and only needed to replace the fan belt and bearings every 5 years. I did have to replace the original pump once because I accidently squirted it with the hose while cleaning it and it burnt up.

I still have my split AC unit for those few days that we get rain and the humidity is high, but I try not to use it because of the high electric rates here.

I hate swamp coolers. I'm in Albuquerque and most of the older homes here have them. It's funny, 10 or so years ago if you asked a builder for refrigerated air they looked at you like you were nuts, but now that's pretty much all they put in unless you are at the bottom end of the price range.

I hate them because I have allergies and they pull in massive amounts of outside air and humidify it, giving the pollen a nice way to move around your house. The pollen loves it!

This is why I'm pulling out my swamp cooler and putting in refrigerated air. Efficiency is so much better these days that the operating cost difference is much smaller, and then there's the water used.

The only swamp cooler I MIGHT consider is the Coolerado, and then I'd have to filter the crap out of the intake air to make it livable.

[JohnnyB60]

I hate them because I have allergies and they pull in massive amounts of outside air and humidify it, giving the pollen a nice way to move around your house. The pollen loves it!

Wow, that’s the 1st time I’ve heard that. My wife has allergies and she has never complained. In fact she does complain about the refrigerated air because it dries up her sinuses and she gets nose bleeds. I guess I could add a humidifier, but then that with the AC unit will drive my electric bill really high.

My house came with refrigerated air and after I put in my swamp, the whole neighborhood installed them. The electric Supplier gives huge discounts if you allow them to shut off the AC whenever they want. They also give rebates if you put a swamp in.

[garya505]

Wow, that’s the 1st time I’ve heard that. My wife has allergies and she has never complained. In fact she does complain about the refrigerated air because it dries up her sinuses and she gets nose bleeds. I guess I could add a humidifier, but then that with the AC unit will drive my electric bill really high.

My house came with refrigerated air and after I put in my swamp, the whole neighborhood installed them. The electric Supplier gives huge discounts if you allow them to shut off the AC whenever they want. They also give rebates if you put a swamp in.

We can get a rebate here too, but only for the Coolerado or Oasis, and the rebates are small. We also have the power company peak-load shut-off discount, but only if it's connected to your AC compressor.

Your AC is older, like 10 SEER?

[spotts]

I hate Swamp Coolers

[garya505]

I hate Swamp Coolers

You da man!

[motoguy128]

It's amazing... they're in a desert with a limited water supply from the CO river, and Lake Mead getting lower every year, but they still allow evaporative coolers?

If they priced water based more on future supply rather than current supply, the swamp coolers would disapear overnight.

[Green Mountain]

Why cool swamps? Around here the ducks fly south every year and the swamps freeze all by themselves. Welcome to the great northeast.

[Shophound]

Swampers work only as well as the local outdoor wet bulb allows. I've heard from those who have lived in urban areas like Phoenix that in the early days when refrigerated air was scarce and swamp coolers ruled the day, swampers worked well. As the city became populated and folks wanted green lawns and swimming pools and ponds and lakes in the desert, the city became more humid for longer periods, rendering swamp coolers less effective than in days gone by.

I lived inland San Diego County years back...I remember warm days with an onshore marine flow the swampers a few folks held onto didn't do well. Let a Santa Ana come in and they did much better. I had refrigerated air, and was fine with it. Even inland there were many days no a/c at all was needed. But when you did, chilled air was tops.

[JohnnyB60]

It's amazing... they're in a desert with a limited water supply from the CO river, and Lake Mead getting lower every year, but they still allow evaporative coolers?

If they priced water based more on future supply rather than current supply, the swamp coolers would disapear overnight.

I don't think so.

Water usage is very small compared to oil or coal to produce electricity.
The water in a swamp cooler is collected in the bottom and recycled through the pads. The only water usage is the evaporated water.

According to the consumerenergycenter.org, a swamp cooler can use between 3 to 15 gallons of water a day under normal conditions. It’s been a while since I actually measured it, but that about right. I use more water to water my lawn and I read somewhere that the evaporated water from a swimming pool was far more than a swamp cooler.

[JohnnyB60]

Swampers work only as well as the local outdoor wet bulb allows. .

This is absolutely true and this is why you still need refrigerated air as a backup.

[jimj]

I don't think so.

Water usage is very small compared to oil or coal to produce electricity.
The water in a swamp cooler is collected in the bottom and recycled through the pads. The only water usage is the evaporated water.

According to the consumerenergycenter.org, a swamp cooler can use between 3 to 15 gallons of water a day under normal conditions. It’s been a while since I actually measured it, but that about right. I use more water to water my lawn and I read somewhere that the evaporated water from a swimming pool was far more than a swamp cooler.

How about 3 to 15 gallons per hour! You should be bleeding off 12oz. of water every 90 seconds to keep your scale down. Do the math.

Don't believe me, turn off your water for an hour and look in the wet section.

[ChillerWisperer]

It's amazing... they're in a desert with a limited water supply from the CO river, and Lake Mead getting lower every year, but they still allow evaporative coolers?

If they priced water based more on future supply rather than current supply, the swamp coolers would disapear overnight.

Vegas lives on water cooled centrifugals...there's like 3000 of them in the metro area, and they all use evaporative cooling as the first stage of cooling, so to speak.

[garya505]

Vegas lives on water cooled centrifugals...there's like 3000 of them in the metro area, and they all use evaporative cooling as the first stage of cooling, so to speak.

What the heck is a water cooled centrifugal?

[Shophound]

Vegas lives on water cooled centrifugals...there's like 3000 of them in the metro area, and they all use evaporative cooling as the first stage of cooling, so to speak.

Gotta wonder what cooling tower efficiencies run like out there in the desert. 110 degrees at a 68 degree wet bulb entering air temp...if the tower can make a seven degree approach at full load it can feed 75 degree water to the condenser.

[JohnnyB60]

How about 3 to 15 gallons per hour! You should be bleeding off 12oz. of water every 90 seconds to keep your scale down. Do the math.

Don't believe me, turn off your water for an hour and look in the wet section.

No, I don't bleed anything off. I don't believe you have yours set up right. because mine runs great. We actually are banned from bleed off. It’s against the law and has a hefty fine. I know the manufacture suggests bleed off to prevent mineral deposits, but I have never done it in 20 years. Like I said I change my pads along with a water change twice a seasion and that’s it.

[jimj]

No, I don't bleed anything off. Like I said I change my pads along with a water change twice a seasion and that’s it.

To funny, you change your water twice a year?

[JohnnyB60]

My AC unit is about 20 years old and it probably gets used maybe 1 to 2 weeks a year, so it’s like new. I think it was last year or maybe the year before, but we had rain clouds hanging around for about a month. It wasn’t actually raining except for a very little up in the mountains, but the humidity was high enough to make the cooler useless, so I ran the AC almost the whole time. My electric bill was close to $600 total for everything that month. It’s now running about $150, but I got 3 women and a baby living here so my washer & dryer is running all the time along with at least 2 TVs, 3 computers, and I don’t even want to know what else.

I don’t know exactly what I would save by upgrading the AC seer rating, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to be over $450 a month. I would have to build me a whole new house with double the R rating to save that amount of money.

I may sit down and figure it out someday, but I also know that the blown-in insulation in the attic is not the same “R” value as it was 20 years ago.

[Green Mountain]

Home Depot had a little swamp cooler that a person was supposed to put in thier window.

They would be completely useless IMO for anyone around here with our 70-90% RH summers. But still people were buying them thinking that they were going to get a jump on the world. "how come they don't work?????"

[JohnnyB60]

Home Depot had a little swamp cooler that a person was supposed to put in thier window.

They would be completely useless IMO for anyone around here with our 70-90% RH summers. But still people were buying them thinking that they were going to get a jump on the world. "how come they don't work?????"

That reminds me of my mother-in-law.

I installed a swamp cooler in her house and set everything up for her with thermostat so she wouldn’t have to fool with it. I heard her telling my wife that it was not working very well, so I went over to check it out. I could not believe it, she had every door and window closed. It was like being in tropical rain forest and I believe it would have started raining inside at anytime. I quickly opened all doors and windows to get all the humidity out. It finally cooled down and she said that she was afraid to keep the windows open when she was alone. So I went straight to Home Depot and bought a whole house fan. Problem solved.