Just fired up the swamp cooler

[Matt Timion]

Whoever said that swamp coolers arn't as good as air conditioners is crazy. I watched the thermostat drop from 83 to 66 within 15 minutes.

Oh, and swamp coolers use like 1/5 of the electricity of air conditioners.

Does anyone else use a swap cooler in their house?

[philmcneal]

Please educate me on what a swamp cooler does? What are the pros and cons of it besides the pro being efficent ;)? Although the term "swamp" gives me the impression that it is smelly lol.

[Matt Timion]

taken from http://www.rawtimes.com/swamp.html

Swamp coolers are an efficient and effective machine for cooling. As a direct placement for air conditioning in dry climates like Utah and Nevada, it is an example of how man can work with nature. Being so much less expensive than air conditioning, it almost seems that we are getting something for nothing. This short essay explains part of the fascination with the evaporative cooler phenomenon.

The way a swamp cooler operates is very simple. There is a low horsepower motor which pumps the water from the floor of the cooler to the top of the cooler, where it proceeds to fall down the sides, along porous filter pads. A second motor drives a fan which pulls air from the outside, through the cooler, and then pushes it into the hot room. The significant cooling action is the water evaporating as the air passes through it. (Incidentally, the water level is kept constant with the help of a floating sphere functioning similar to the one in the toilet bowl.) The hot air enters the cooler, where two small motors power nothing more than a fan and a pump, in order to send cool air into the hot room.

[philmcneal]

that is awesome!!! Where can I get one and how much did yours cost? Is it hard to install into your home?? Summer's coming and this sounds interesting, what are the requirements for your home? Sounds like such an easy concept yet AC is still the more popular choice. How big is the area your trying to cool down? Just a small room or the whole house?

[Matt Timion]

that is awesome!!! Where can I get one and how much did yours cost? Is it hard to install into your home?? Summer's coming and this sounds interesting, what are the requirements for your home? Sounds like such an easy concept yet AC is still the more popular choice. How big is the area your trying to cool down? Just a small room or the whole house?

I think they may only be good for ultra dry climates, but I'm unsure. Just do a search for "evaporative coolers" and see if anyone sells them in your area.

I'll take some pictures this weekend to show you my setup.

EVERYONE here has them, so it came with the house. I have no idea how much they cost.

[philmcneal]

dang super dry hm ok let me know when you get pics! I"ll judge from there on if I'm willing to invest in one or not ;) if it looks complicated then i'll only hear it from you hehe.

Does it sound loud? How's the noise?

[Matt Timion]

dang super dry hm ok let me know when you get pics! I"ll judge from there on if I'm willing to invest in one or not ;) if it looks complicated then i'll only hear it from you hehe.

Does it sound loud? How's the noise?

Noise is fine. It's mounted on the roof and blows air down into the center of the upstairs into a hallway. it's no louder than an air conditioner.

Some people have window mounted swap coolers too, so the roof option is just more permanent.

[DaX]

Yeah, I doubt anyone here in the South (yeah, come on) would want to pump MORE humidity into their homes. :)

[thisisntjared]

Yeah, I doubt anyone here in the South (yeah, come on) would want to pump MORE humidity into their homes. :)yea, same thing here on the jersey shore. but if you can eliminate air conditioners in some part of the country then thats awesome!

[civicminded]

Swap coolers do an amazing job when the humidity is low.

Unfortunately, they aren't useful here very often (Deep South).

Has anyone seen a temperature drop vs. ambient relative humidity on these things?

I found a good link detailing a lot about modern evaporative coolers HERE (http://www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/building_america/pdfs/db/38096.pdf)

[frog169]

my uncle has one there Awsome. Soooo powerful made his house hot to cool in like 10minutes. we are here in California. :-)

[Diemaster]

thx but untill swap coolers get down to 35 degrees on a 103 day, i'll keep my a/c lol thats what helgas a/c did b4 the compressor exploded.

would be intresting to try it in the car. inplace of the evaporator. and use the blower motor for air and the winshield washer pump / tank for water. aww man u got a nother project for me. :rolleyes: after japan :)

[Matt Timion]

thx but untill swap coolers get down to 35 degrees on a 103 day, i'll keep my a/c lol thats what helgas a/c did b4 the compressor exploded.

would be intresting to try it in the car. inplace of the evaporator. and use the blower motor for air and the winshield washer pump / tank for water. aww man u got a nother project for me. :rolleyes: after japan :)

In the 70s they made swamp coolers for cars, mainly VW buses and bugs.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/dic/pix/swampcooler2.jpg

[QDM]

Humidity is low here in the Central Oregon desert and swamp coolers work great. My house is off-grid solar powered so in order to save energy I modified the swamp cooler by installing a motor and controller out of a treadmill. The original induction motor had 3 speeds and was very inefficient but the treadmill motor is a variable speed perminent magnet 2 hp. and very efficient. It runs off my battery bank through a large inverter at 110 volts.

Q