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This thread, my friends - via Elizabeth's experiences - is EXACTLY why I always will now forever fall on the "refrigerated air" side of the seemingly quarterly "swamp cooler v. AC" thread in either the ABQ or NM forums!!!
My wife still gives me heck over my struggles annually with my d***ed swamp cooler in ABQ. Every year, seemingly on just the first 99 degree (no cloud in the sky / 120 degrees on the rocks on my flat roof) of June, something would go on my swamp cooler.
And me, being:
a) a Midwestern fellow with no background familiarity with a swamp cooler,
b) a mechanically non-knowledgable fellow who is pretty much the opposite of "good with my hands" or "puttering"...and...
c) the one income of a four person household (my wife and I chose for her to stay home with our little ones) and thus not exactly bubbling with money for overpriced repair folks,
would annually have to trudge up there and wrestle for 6, 8, 12 hours...maybe 2 or 3 days...with repeated obsenity-laden treks to the local parts / hardware store(s)...all the while burning in heat on my roof while my poor kids sweltered inside our broiling home.
NOT GOOD TIMES! I will take the extra cost of a fairly maintenance free AC now any day.
I really like the swamp coolers, now that I've figured out how to adjust the airflow in the room based on the humidity. But I think I might still get a small window A/C unit when they go on clearance later in the summer. It will come in handy next April, when I need some cool nighttime air and the landlord hasn't switched over the swamp cooler (and will help with the allergies then too). The best of both worlds. Ahhhhhh.
> Okay, well I have no idea what Aspen pads are, ....
Whippersnapper.
It was once what all swamp cooler pads were once made of - shredded meat from the Aspen tree.
I rememember the smell of the first fired-up swamper in the spring and I liked it very much.
> ... wood/straw pads. ... horrible, the least efficient, and they will clog ...
It sounds like you are talking about the Aspen pads. They *do* smell nice.
> Now mortimer, please translate all of my pads ... official names ...
> ... the green stuff ... blue pads. ...
Oh, you mean the "green stuff" and the "blue pads?" That's what I call them.
My Master Cool has some pads that are like leather and about 8" thick. The air flow is through tubes in the "leather" so I assume that there is less restriction and more opportunity for water to evaporate over that long path through the pad. However, there is only one side with a pad.
Again, I must insist that while I'm really good (IMO) at operating a swamp cooler. I'm a neophytus when it comes to the parts and bits internally.
Swampcoolers are REALLY SIMPLE, people! Stare at the innards for about five minutes and the only guy you'll ever pay to deal with it is the guy who hauls it off when it eventually rusts out every couple of decades. I have a 22 year old swamp cooler that requires $10 bucks a year in parts (pads, sometimes tubing) about $35 bucks every 10 years for pump and motor replacement (easier to do than attaching a DVD player to a TV), and a time investment of about 5-10 minutes to set up in the spring and 5 minutes to close it up for winter.
And I'm not some mechanic type guy. I was a Latin major fer chrissakes!
Oh, and the green stuff is better (and cheaper) than the blue pads though the blue pads will probably last a couple of seasons.
Well, I just couldn't resist re-opening this thread, after finding the link in the new & improved "Hi Folks" thread.
I've heard that Aspen pads work o.k. and smell great, but wear out quickly. Definitely no more than 1 season. Compare this to the 3-5 yr. lifespan of the UltraCool pads we used. Longer life, but much more expensive [$200]. They probably won't last 5 though, IMO. These are 8" thick pads, kind of like the one's Mortimer mentioned. The huge downside of our UltraCool pad is it's only made by ONE manufacturer, and they treat it with some kind of a chemical, that needs to be rinsed out thoroughly before installation. Many swamp techs don't do this, so for 1-2 yrs you're stuck with a strong, chemical smell, esp. when you first start up the swamp in May. I can't say how many hours I spent rinsing that pad out for the first summer.
Mystery Noise #2: Started hearing a constant rattle/humming noise in the house whenever the swamp was on. Kind of like a kazoo but an octave or two higher. It turned out it was a loose piece of aluminum tape over the hole where the damper is inserted during the winter. Problem solved, easy & quick solution. Swamp troubleshooting is pretty easy, provided you can get up on the roof o.k.
Here's something I've always wondered about with swamps: Given Albuq's high water arsenic rates, are you double-dosing yourself with arsenic by both drinking the water, AND inhaling water vapor via the swamp? My guess was yes, and inhaled substances get into the blood stream pronto. I had thought of installing a heavy metal water filter in the water feed line to the swamp, but never got around to it.
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A few add'l thoughts on swamps
