How to cool your home with an Evaporative Swamp Cooler

If you live in a dry climate, or if your weather is dry for a part of the summer and humid otherwise, you may be able to save yourself a lot of money by installing and using an Evaporative Cooler. These devices used to be known as Swamp Coolers, not because they make your home into a swamp, but because they utilize the cooling properties of evaporating water.

Absorbent pads are "swamped" with water via a small pump that recirculates water over the pads. A powerful fan blows air through the pads and into duct work in your home. The air blowing through the ducts is cooler than the outside ambient air temperature. The cost of operating a modern evaporative cooler is about one quarter the cost of air conditioning.

To find out if you would benefit from switching to an evaporative cooler, research the temperature of air that will be delivered to your home. Handy charts will show what temperature air depending upon ambient air temperature and relative humidity. Google "evaporative cooler air temperature relative humidity chart" with quotes removed.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Evaporative cooler

1. 
   Modern OaSys Evaporative Cooler by Low Jumping Frog

   What size cooler do you need? To determine the size of evaporative cooler you need you'll first need to figure out the cubic feet in your home, or the area you wish to cool. Simply put, the volume of air in the cooling space should be completely replaced every 2 minutes. To determine the volume of air on your home multiply the area (how many square feet your house has) by the ceiling height. That number is the volume in cubic feet. Divide that number in half. The resulting figure is the CFM (cubic feet per minute) rating you should look for when shopping for a new evaporative cooler.
   
   1200 square foot home
   x 8' ceilings
   9600 cubic feet air volume
   
   9600 divided by 2 = 4800 CFM
   
   If you must make a choice between a cooler with a higher CFM or a lower CFM, in the case of a swamp cooler, choose the higher CFM. More air volume in this case is better.

2. Following the manufacturer's installation instructions and specifications you will install the cooler either on the ground next to your home (side or top draft), on an outside wall (side draft or direct vent) or on the roof (bottom vent), with duct work patching into your existing duct work. It's a good idea to take this into consideration when shopping for an evaporative cooler. A shadier or cooler location is preferable to a very sunny spot but in most cases the roof may be the only option.

3. The operation of a swamp cooler depends upon evaporation to cool the air. Therefore, it's important that the ambient (outside) air be relatively dry. It's also important that as much volume of moist air that is being blown into your home, is also given a way to get out. Your new cooler will give directions for you to determine where and how much to open windows for this process. Generally, open a window in the room furthest from the swamp cooler if you have direct venting (just one place where the air blows in) or in each room that has a vent. With the cooler on, put a small piece of paper against the screen in the open window. It should be held gently against the screen by the air flow. If it falls off, the window is too open. If it is sucked against the screen tightly, the window may need to be opened a little more. Play around with this and you'll find you can control the air flow in your home.
   
   A friend of mine installed a side draft, direct vent swamp cooler of the older variety in her pantry at one end of her house. The cooler sits on a concrete pad on the ground so that she can get to it easily and change the pads or otherwise service it. Because of this the vent on the inside of the wall is low and actually gives a refreshing breeze. She paid $25 for the cooler at a yard sale and after replacing the pads, it worked like new. When it runs, she opens the windows in each bedroom at the other end of the house and that provides enough to circulate the air all through this 2400 square foot house.

4. How much will you pay for an evaporative cooler? Expect to pay about $200 for the older, box style up to hundreds or even a thousand dollar for the more modern, high tech style. I don't recommend freestanding swamp coolers. They don't seem to have enough fan power to move the air as much as needed, nor do their water reservoirs have enough volume.

Tips & Warnings

• Shop swap meets and yard sales for older swamp coolers. Water pumps and fan motors can be easily replaced by a do-it-yourselfer for little money.
• Replace pads as needed.
• Turn the water or pump off and run the fan only when the air is cooler or more humid.
• Some people have concerns about mold. Properly used, an evaporative cooler will not contribute to household mold growth. It is vitally important that you control the air flow with open windows to release the moist air.
• Change pads as needed. Don't wait until they are mineralized.

[ttbirdie]

on 5/30/2009 Excellent article on how to cool your home with a swamp cooler, 5*

[kristara]

on 5/27/2009 Great money saving tip! I have never heard of a swamp cooler. I learn something every day.