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An evaporative cooler operate best in a dry climate. On humid days in the summer, an evaporative cooler will blow soggy air into the house. If the humidity stays high for several days, the moist pads that make the evaporative cooler work can begin to smell, and the musty odor can be blown into the house.  An evaporative cooler is a box-shaped appliance with one or more porous surfaces that enable air to pass through. A fan inside the unit pulls outside air through the sides and into the house. To produce cool air, each porous side is fitted with a pad of water-absorbing material. Water is stored in a pan at the bottom of the Evaporative Cooler and a small pump lifts the water to the top of each side. 

To effectively cool your home, each Evaporative Cooler pad needs to remain damp, but not soaked. Dampness creates the most evaporation and, therefore, the most cooling. The amount of water the pump moves may need to be adjusted from time to time to properly dampen the pads.

Climate control inside a home with an evaporative cooler depends on proper air balance. To limit humidity, you need to make sure that the same volume of air flows out of your home as is pumped in. 

You can attain balanced air flow by installing ducts in each room or opening windows when the evaporative cooler is in use. A window should be open just enough to allow air pressure inside a room to slowly and quietly close the door to that room. If the door closes forcefully, there is too little exhaust and the window should be opened wider. However, the window is open too far if the door doesn't move at all.

To choose the right size Evaporative Cooler for your home, you need to determine how many cubic feet of air per minute (CFM) the Evaporative Cooler can pump. If you can't locate the CFM number on your Evaporative Cooler or in the owner's manual, the following formula will help you calculate it: 

	Multiply the square footage of your home by the average height of the ceiling (in feet).
	Divide by two (air changes per minute).Example: 1625 sq. ft. x 8 ft. (ceiling height) = 6,500 CFM/2

Have your evaporative cooler serviced twice a year, prior to the cooling season and midway through summer. Regular maintenance will help extend the life and efficiency of the evaporative cooler.

Before starting up the evaporative cooler, perform these simple maintenance steps:

1. Remove old Evaporative Cooler pads. Check the condition of the Evaporative Cooler pads. The cleaner the cooler pads, the more efficient the Evaporative Cooler. If they have a heavy accumulation of mineral deposits, replace them.

2. Thoroughly clean pad frames. Use a wire brush to scrape away scale. Paint all surfaces with a cooler protectant.

3. Drain and flush the reservoir. Scrape away scale and paint with protectant.

4. Clean the water distribution system, including the pump screen, pump impeller and water distribution tubes. Replace any cracked tubing. Lubricate the pump impeller with SAW 20 motor oil.

5. Inspect electrical wiring and switches for poor connections or worn insulation. Inspect the belt for cracks and wear. Replace or repair worn parts.

6. Adjust the Evaporative Cooler motor bolts for proper belt tension. Set the belt tension so that moderate hand pressure will depress the belt about one inch at the center.

7. Turn on the water supply and make sure water is wetting the entire Evaporative Cooler pad. Too little water will cause dry spots and reduce the cooler's efficiency.

8. Some Evaporative Coolers have a "bleed-off valve" to drain the recirculating water to prevent excessive mineral buildup. Make sure the valve is adjusted properly to drain no more water than is necessary. Check your manufacturer’s recommendations for best results.

9. Check the water level in the reservoir. Adjust the float valve to maintain about three inches of water.

10. Replace the Evaporative Cooler pads and reinstall the frames.

11. For those of you with the old “cookie sheet” in your furnace/duct that needs to be removed or replaced in order to switch from heat to evaporative/swamp cooling, there is an easier way! With barometric dampers installed, you no longer have to worry about the “cookie sheet”, AND you could run your Evaporative Cooler in the afternoon and switch to using your heat in the evening. You no longer have to give up the use of your furnace when you start using your cooler! Call Temco to order YOUR barometric dampers TODAY! Call (520)622-2909. 

For those of you who do not see the above tasks as a great way to spend a Saturday, simply call Temco Air Environmental (520)622-2909 and we will be happy to perform your Evaporative Cooler maintenance for you.

Evaporative cooler thermostats automatically turn off the Evaporative Cooler when the air reaches a desired temperature, making operation much more efficient than without a thermostat. An evaporative cooler without a thermostat has a separate switch for the fan and pump. If your evaporative cooler lacks a thermostat, allow your pump to run a few minutes before turning on the fan. This saturates the evaporative cooler pads.  

 

An evaporative cooler and central air conditioners both serve the same important purpose: keeping us cool. But these two cooler systems operate very differently. Understanding the difference can help you get the most out of your system and minimize wasted energy.

 

An evaporative cooler cools air by filtering it through water, thus lowering its temperature. Evaporative/swamp coolers produce humid air because the air absorbs water during the cooling process. These coolers work best when a small amount of outside air circulates into the home while the cooler is on.

 

Central air conditioners, on the other hand, work by taking humidity out of the home. These coolers produce cold, dry air and work best in an airtight home.

 

Things To Keep In Mind With An Evaporative Cooler

Regardless of what type of evaporative cooler you have, make sure it is operating properly. Systems that leak water, make unusual noise, or that don't produce cold air are probably not energy-efficient and can increase your energy bill.

If you have both an evaporative/swamp cooler and central air unit, do not run them at the same time. Running your evaporative cooler in the morning and switching over to central air conditioning in the later/hotter part of the day is NOT saving your money or energy. Doing so would cause the two coolers to work against each other (your evaporative/swamp cooler spends all morning dumping humidity into your home and your air conditioner must remove the humidity to work effectively). You are simply making your air conditioner work that much harder, at the hottest part of the day.

If you have central air, there is no need to crack a window or open a door to make the system more effective. In fact, this will make the system work harder and cost you more money.

 

 

The Pros and Cons of an Evaporative Cooler

 

The major advantage of an evaporative cooler is that its operating costs are typically lower than those of a central air conditioner. However, during Tucson ’s monsoon season (between July and August) humidity often rises and, when combined with high temperatures, limits the evaporative cooler effectiveness. For that reason, most Tucson homeowners do not rely exclusively on evaporative/swamp cooling.

Advantages of an Evaporative Cooler

	An evaporative cooler use as much as 75 percent less electricity as air conditioning does.
	An evaporative cooler costs about half as much as an air conditioner that will cool the same sized area.
	An evaporative cooler operate on 120-volt electricity, which means they don't need special high-amperage circuits like many air conditioners do.
	The moist pads from an evaporative/swamp cooler are fairly efficient air filters, trapping some dust and pollen.
	A small evaporative cooler can be often placed in windows, much like a window air conditioner. Evaporative cooling requires simple installation from a reputable heating and cooling company.
	An evaporative cooler can cool outside air and blow it into your residential or commercial business re-circulating stale inside air.
	The evaporative cooler pads can be made of wood shavings - aspen trees is a popular choice.

Disadvantages of an Evaporative Cooler

	An evaporative cooler reduces control over temperature in house
	The air from an evaporative cooler is not cleaned as well as with an air conditioner
	An evaporative cooler need to have open windows or vents to outside
	Damp air can cause doors and wood furniture drawers to swell
	An evaporative cooler requires more maintenance than an air conditioner

When you need to cool your residential home or commercial business, an evaporative cooler is the low-cost alternative to expensive air conditioning systems.  Unlike air conditioning that re-circulate dry, stale air over and over, our evaporative coolers circulate clean, fresh air using as little as 1/4 of the electricity required for air conditioning.  That's up to 75% saving with evaporative cooling.

 

An evaporative cooler produces cooling by combining a natural process - water evaporation - with an air-moving system. Outside air is pulled through moist evaporative/swamp pads where it is cooled by evaporation and circulated through your residential or commercial business by a large blower. When this happens, the temperature of the outside air can be lowered as much as 30 degrees.

An evaporative cooler add moisture to the air and are sometimes knows as "swamp coolers."  An evaporative cooler works best when the outside air  is dry. As humidity increases,  the ability for an evaporative cooler to cool the air decreases.

 

An evaporative cooler is not designed to work in humid conditions. Air conditioning, on the other hand, is popular because it can cool humid air.  Air conditioners use more electricity than an evaporative cooler does, and are more expensive to install and maintain.

 

An evaporative cooler is essentially large fans with water-moistened pads in front of it. The evaporative cooling fan draws warm outside air through the evaporative cooler's pads before it reaches your home or business.

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The pads for an evaporative cooler can be made of wood shavings - aspen trees is a popular choice.

 

Small distribution lines supply water to the top of the pads for an evaporative cooler. Water soaks the pads and, thanks to gravity, trickles through them to collect in a sump at the bottom of the cooler. A small re-circulating water pump sends the collected water back to the top of the pads.