Swamp cooler or Refrig. air? (credit, relocating, showing)

[yemtig]

Wanted an honest opinion since will be relocating and never lived in a house that had refrig. air while attending UNM... Which one is better? The old tried and true swamp cooler or refrigerated air? I know from experience that many locals told me that the swamp cooler is much more efficient and cheaper since the air is so dry out in ABQ and that refrigerated air wasn't made for this type of climate... The electricity bills would probably bear this out showing that refrigerated air would be much more inefficient and expensive... Just wanting opinions to help guide my choice.....

[Huckleberry3911948]

swamp cooler

[spindoc]

swamp coolers are for huts, ref.air is for houses

[mortimer]

yemtig polled:

> Swamp cooler or Refrig. air?

You needed to use the search function first and then revived a thread rather than just start something that has already been hashed over pretty good:

This is from the Phoenix forum, but still relevent such that you can learn something:
Swamp Cooler or Air Conditioner?

This is from New Mexico:
Swamp coolers vs. refrigerated air

[catman]

Swamp cooler would be my vote. They work pretty well even here in Ft Worth, and NM is a lot less humid so they would work even better. The price of electricity being what it is, a refrigerated unit is much more expensive ot operate, as well as being less 'green'. I guess I don't mind living in a "hut".

[KimK]

Evaporative Coolers use a lot of water. So, you may save on one utility but use another equally or more.

Here is my gripe with Evaporative coolers: if you have nice wood furniture, it will ruin it. The changing in humidity with the seasons plays havoc on good wood. Not to mention, your doors swelling up.

I now have ac and would not go back to the coolers.

[mortimer]

KimK reported:

> Evaporative Coolers use a lot of water. So, you may save on one utility but use another equally or more.

The comparison in cost of utilities is probably in the neighborhood of $5 worth of water in a month vs. $100 worth of electricity. If I made an error in that calculation, it was that I overestimated the cost of water.

If you feel guilty about using water for the swamp cooler then use xeriscaping. Last summer we didn't have any month that used more than 3,000 gallons - most of that for my wife's excessive use of the washing machine and kitchen sink use.

> Here is my gripe with Evaporative coolers: if you have nice wood
> furniture, it will ruin it. The changing in humidity with the seasons
> plays havoc on good wood. Not to mention, your doors swelling up.

That sounds a lot to me like improper use of the system. Your windows are supposed to be open in a couple of places or cracked in many places. In New Mexico, there is no way the humidity levels will get that high.

Many people leave their swamps running when they leave their house, but that's a mistake and causes moisture build-up.

One of the beauties of running with a swamp is that you can come in to a hot house, turn the system on and have a comfortable place in five minutes or so. Not running it 24x7 is one of the reasons it is so much less expensive to operate. Our max electric bill was < $43 in August, 2007.

Most of the complaints of swamp systems is from people who don't know how to *use* it correctly.

[trappedinNM]

My old house used a central swap cooler system. I had it hooked to a thermostat, and installed two pressure-sensitive vents in the ceiling to vent the air. We kept it at about 78F, and the house was usually comfortable. My new house was built with A/C. Overall, our water usage is way down, and our electric bill is up slightly. The big difference is comfort. I miss the swamp cooler; I grew up not worrying about if the window was open. NM weather is fickle. Unlike, Phx, it cools down here at night, especially during the monsoon season. In our current home, we run the A/C during the day, and run the attic vent fan in the evening and open the windows. Also, if you adjust the ceiling vents properly, you can keep the humidty under control. With the A/C, we have to run a humidifier at times because the air is just too dry.

If I had to do it again, I would keep the A/C and install one large MasterCool unit and run each one as needed. I'd just direct vent into the highest point of the ceiling and control as needed.

[KimK]

We lived in the valley by the Rio Grande so it would get far more humid there then where I lived currently up in the desert. There were a few days every summer during the Monsoons that the evaporative coolers would just not perform well. We have kids, dogs, cats, etc. so there is always a door or window or something open. We also just like real air, hot or cold, so we don't live in airless boxes. The damage occurred to my antique pieces and our piano had to have a special unit affixed to it to keep it an even temp all the time. We would be eating dinner and parts of my buffet would just pop off and fall to the floor. But, my buffet is over a hundred years old so maybe its just age and the glue just gave. I know when I get to be over a hundred, some of my parts are going to pop off too.

You have to tune a piano that is in an house with an evaporative cooler about four times per year without the special unit. You may not have a piano so its a non-issue.

Also, we used a lot of water for our two units but part of that is because our house was not small. Our bill far exceeded $40.00 or so dollars per month.

As I said, electricity is not so cheap either but the water thing was something I thought might be a factor depending on where one lives.

[Tim Rankin]

New Mexico is one area where swamp coolers can work very well.

Ours costs virtually nothing to run. We xeriscaped our yard(s), and the resulting water credit bill that the city gave us has paid for our water bill since we moved in.

Things I like about an evap/swamp cooler:

1) Cheaper
2) Adds some humidity to the air - nice in a dry state.
3) Constantly brings fresh air into the home, vs. recycled "stale" air.
4) You can run the blower without the pump in the evening, to bring in cooler, nighttime air. In the summer, we often don't have to turn the pump on until 11am because of the residual cool air.

Sometimes people will say they're not good for allergy sufferers, but my wife has allergies and she has no problems with the swamp cooler.

If you keep it serviced and use some common sense, it'll work great.

Something a lot of people don't do [but should] is paint the outside ductwork white, to reflect vs. absorb the heat from the sun. This will help it cool the house more effectively.

New Mexicans are really lucky to be in a state where swamp coolers work great and make sense - use them!