Swamp Cooler

[redneckdan]

I'm lookin fer ways to beat the heat. I already have a large squrrel cage fan pullin air through my apartment. WOuld it be beneficial to rig up a kind of swamp cooler system to cool the incoming air?

[StarMetal]

redneck,

For a swamp cooler to work good you have to live in a pretty arid area...low humidity. They work great in those type of atmosphere. Becareful that mold and fungus doesn't build up in the whole system.

Joe

[redneckdan]

probably won't work here in the Upper Peninisula. It gets humid up here.

[ktw]

probably won't work here in the Upper Peninisula. It gets humid up here.

Wait 'er out. Won't last long. At least not by dixie standards.

When you just can't take it anymore, head out to The Lake. Not a lot of days of the year when you can swim out there, take advantage of them.

-ktw

[Gunload Master]

I went and bought an $89.00 air conditioner at Home Depot. I think it's a 5,400 BTU or something like that... It keeps my one bedroom really cool at night. When the temperature goes 100+ degrees it keeps it fairly cool. I usually only use it at night so I can actually sleep (and the power bill dont sky rocket).

[BruceB]

We're fortunate enough to live in a low-humidity area, and one big roof-mounted swamp cooler keeps our 24x72 hacienda pretty comfy even in 100-degree heat.

I do run a small one-room a/c unit when I sleep with the bedroom door closed, since that door cuts off the cool airflow. (Shift work, you know.)

My "shop" (fancy name for a 10x12 shed) is insulated, and I run another small a/c unit in there ALL the time in the summer. It is thermostatically controlled, so when the nights cool down it just blows cool outside air, but during the day it keeps the place nice and cool....and the lube stays on my boolits!

Musta been a lot of highly-aromatic people back during the opening of the West, with no a/c and not much in the way of water for bathing, either. 'Course, that was the reason behind the growth of the French perfume industry...it was to cover up all that B.O. Even today there are plenty of folks who believe that the French are still that way!

Y'hear that the French authorities found banned substances in Lance Armstrong's hotel room last year? Yep.....soap, toothpaste, and deodorant.

[omgb]

We used a swamp cooler here in our area of SoCal from 1990-2004. During periods of humid weather it was awful. During dry weather it was great. The only down side was that it sucked in a lot of dirt and dust. And, if you didn't put special cakes in the trough and if you didn't change the pads once a season, the stink could be awful too, sort of like river slime. Actually, it smelled a lot like the L.A. River; 45 miles of concrete lined run-off and storm channel running, no meandering, right through the heart of the San Fernando Valley and downtown.

Running AC uses almost 2 to 3xs the electricity. Our 1964 ranch home has ZERO insulation in the walls and the wimpiest 2" in the ceilings. Even with the new double pain windows this place leaks heat like a ****.

[waksupi]

Dan, i have a Redneck swamp cooler here at the time. Fan pointed at a big tupper of water. Can't say as how it is helping much. I think I will Nair my entire body. Don't need the extra fur right now. The Wooly Mammouth, is miserable. Good thing she is out on summer range.

[ruger4570]

I lived in Tucson for half my life and swamp coolers were a fact of life. They worked great til the monsoons and then they were unbearable. As posted, they are really only effective when the humidity is low. Tucson would be at 3 % a lot and swampers worked well. And also as posted, mold and mildew are something to be concerned about, it is controlable though. Cheap AC might be your best bet

[Lee]

Jeez, I've heard 'em called lotsa things, but "Woolly Mammouth"?????????
Ohh that's cruel....good but cruel.............Lee

[PatMarlin]

I've got a small one here and the temp outside in shade on the porch is 118. It keeps 75-78 in the house. But we are at 3100 feet in far north California, and it's fairly dry.

I bought it down in Sacramento for a family room, and it never worked. To humid. It's amazing what it does in this house though, and uses 12 amps so it's pretty easy on the solar system.

One thing though in these mountains it ALWAYS cools down at night, and is nice in the mornings..

[ktw]

I've got a small one here and the temp outside in shade on the porch is 118. It keeps 75-78 in the house.

Dan and I live downwind from one of the largest freshwater swamp coolers on the planet. We get less than 10 days a year over 90, even in a really hot summer.

Needing an air conditioner up here is like needing a snowshovel in Miami.

-ktw

[PatMarlin]

Never been back there, but one of these days I want to see those lakes...

I don't mind the heat to much, but in the Sacramento valley of California, which where I am a former resident it NEVER cools down in the evenings during these hot spells and top it off with air polluted so thick you could cut it with a knife cause it has no place to go, it's hideous. Damn I'm glad I got the heel out..

[MTWeatherman]

You need dry air for efficient use of a "swamp cooler"...I wouldn't consider one unless the relative humidity normally runs below 30% during the heat of the day and preferably closer to 15%. That primarily restricts their use to the arid west and I doubt they would help much in Michigan.

When the humidity is low, they do a good job. Here in central Montana , we've been running between 95 and 100 for the past week, but humidity has been running near 15 % during the afternoons. I use a window type swamp cooler and it holds the inside temperature at or below 78 even as the temperature approaches that 100 degree mark. However, since the principal of evaporative cooling will add moisture to the air, the inside humidity is raised to near 50% during use even though a window remains open to vent the humidified air to the outside.

Use one in a humid climate and it will only give a few degrees of cooling and make the inside of your house even more humid.

The amount of cooling provided by a swamp cooler is related to the outside air temperature and the humidity. The following link provides an overview of the evaporative cooler, how they work, and a graph showing that relationship. It should provide the answer you're looking for.

http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/...aporative.html

[redneckdan]

Never been back there, but one of these days I want to see those lakes...

come on over. I'd be happy to put ya up for a few days. Place is kinda small but workable. I'd like to someday head your way and chase some golden trout.

[Buckshot]

....................We have a swamp cooler too. Upkeep on the steel framed ones can be problematic so when we moved to town 5 years ago I bought a 'Tradewinds' unit which is all FRP, stainless steel and brass. The technology is very 'caveman' and I suspect the Tradwinds may be hi-tech only because of the non-corrosive materials.

For the most part it does a fine job, except as others have mentioned, when it's humid. Since our house was built in 1954, there isn't a sign of insulation in the walls and is only blown in cellulose in the attic. It's just the 2 of us here and our electric bills will run between $38 and $50 a month. Another prime benefit of the evaporative cooler.

The previous owner had had a small unit through the wall in the bedroom put in in 1970. I figure about then as there was a couple newspapers stuffed down in the wall when I replaced it. Yup, the wife suggested July 3rd that we get one to replace it. I work nights so have to sleep days and sometimes for a week or several days the humidity would render the swamp cooler ineffective.

Since the bedroom is on the west facing side it would get tough to sleep. I sure don't remember it being this bad for this long, as the heat and humidity we're getting now has been a mess.

Lowes had some A/C's on sale (6300 btu) for $179 and as an Energy Star high efficiency unit they took off the Edison $50 rebate at the cash register, so it was a pretty good deal. Since electricity here in California is so high it only runs when I'm sleeping, but it cools off well at night anyway.

I'm 53 and have lived here my whole life and this is our first A/C unit

.................Buckshot

[wills]

redneck,

For a swamp cooler to work good you have to live in a pretty arid area...low humidity. They work great in those type of atmosphere. Becareful that mold and fungus doesn't build up in the whole system.

Joe

Ida Thunk anybody whut postes unner the alias Redneck wudda knowed this already.

[mparks]

Wait 'er out. Won't last long. At least not by dixie standards.

When you just can't take it anymore, head out to The Lake. Not a lot of days of the year when you can swim out there, take advantage of them.

-ktw

I would think a dip in Lake Superiour would cool you off until August is over.

[flhroy]

Dan, your swap cooler worked better than the one I grew up with. You're at what could be called the cross roads of the Great Lakes: Superior, Michigan, and Huron. Nice in summer I bet But I know what kind of snow load you guys get in the winter. I guess nothing in this world is free. I grew up walking distance from the east shore of Lake Michigan and we lost the lake effect in probably less then a mile. The prevailing winds are from west to east, away from Wisconsin. That blew all of that lake effect snow over to Michigan. HA! Still I spent a lot of time down at the lake front drowning worms and drinking beer on those hot humid days. Other then my family the thing that I miss the most is Lake Michigan. There isn't too many places where a guy can stand a on the rip-rap two blocks from the down town area and catch Chinoc and Coho salmon, Lake and Brown trout, Lake (JUMBO) Perch which i think is one of the best tasting speces of fish, and the occasional Northern Pike. Caught the Northern one spring in a dip net while smelting and boy did he make a mess out of that net. Damn think I'm going to take some time off and go visit family.

SEE YA

ROY