How to Put Ice in My Swamp Cooler
In dry areas, evaporative coolers -- colloquially known as "swamp" coolers -- offer a low-budget alternative to electric air-conditioning units. Evaporative coolers blow air across a wet screen, emitting moist air that absorbs some of the ambient heat in the drier air, helping to reduce the air temperature. The lower the temperature of the water blown into the air, the more heat it can absorb, making the evaporative cooler work more effectively, so some users add ice to the water reservoir to maximize their swamp cooler's effects. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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1
Turn your swamp cooler's main power off.
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2
Locate the access to your swamp cooler's water reservoir. If it's a small, single-room unit your reservoir is likely filled by hand with a pitcher, while larger in-window units are usually plumbed with their own water supply line. If your cooler has its own supply line, you may not be able to directly access its reservoir to add ice.
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Open the access point to the swamp cooler's reservoir. In-home units open with an easy-to-remove cap, while window-mounted coolers may require the removal of screws to gain access to the reservoir.
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4
Dump ice cubes manufactured in your freezer into the reservoir. Although they are likely to melt quickly in the summer heat, don't exclusively fill the cooler's reservoir with ice. You still need liquid in the reservoir to be wicked up by the screen and blown into your house.
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5
Close the reservoir and turn the unit's power back on.
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Tips & Warnings
The ice you add to your cooler melts quickly, so you may need to add additional ice cubes to the reservoir several times a day.
Do not use ice packs or frozen bottles of water to cool the reservoir. The ice should melt into the reservoir's water, dropping its temperature more effectively than merely cooling it with ice packs.
References
- Photo Credit Ice cubes image by Andrius Grigaliunas from Fotolia.com
