Swamp Cooler?

Question

Found a used swamp cooler in the classifieds. Are these things better then Ac units? http://classifieds.castanet.net/showproduct.php/product/285703/cat/127

Answer 1

Here's a good discussion on Wickipedia.com:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative...

There's some irrelevant stuff at the top, but when you get to that, just scroll down and there is good info.

Swamp coolers are best used in areas with low humidity, such as desert regions of the Southwestern USA. They can add humidity to the conditioned space, but not if they use heat exchanger technology. They definitely will not reduce the humidity in the conditioned space, so you may want to supplement them with a refrigerated air conditioner which will reduce humidity if that is a problem for you.

Some people use swamp coolers as an inexpensive way to lower the temperature, then supplement it with a refrigerated air conditioner. The swamp coolers use only about 25% of the electricity of a refrigerated air conditioner, so the savings can be significant.

The unit pictured in the classified ad appears to be a room unit rather than a whole house unit. You could cool the room to an acceptable level for little electricity and then remove humidity from the house with a refrigerated air conditioning unit. The overall savings in electricity used could be more than enough to pay for this swamp unit within a short period of time.

The unit pictured may need to have a hole cut into the wall if you are unable to mount it into an existing window.

Good luck!

Answer 2

the answer is---definitely NOT---you won't like it