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Old 04-27-2012, 09:12 PM
 
11,550 posts, read 52,969,385 times
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In 40 years of living in the Front Range area ... Boulder, Denver (Park Hill, Capitol Hill), Littleton, Erie ... I've never had A/C and never felt like I needed it.

We have had swamp coolers in many of the houses we owned, and they were always effective at cooling the house down to a point where we had to run them at their least powerful settings or they would cool the house down to uncomfortably cold temperatures during the daytime and many nights we have run the blower on low without even having the water flow on the evap pads. Temperatures were readily achievable down into the low 70's.

As noted, you do need to have airflow through the house with these units. I've had rooftop units as well as permanently installed side-draft units with louvers discharging into a south side of the house added on sunroom. In that sunroom house, we had to open the sliding glass patio doors into the house and have a couple of bedroom windows at the far end of the single-story house opened a couple of inches to promote the airflow ... but the whole house got cooled that way. We could leave the unit off during the day when we didn't need it, and it could cool the house on mid 90F days down to mid 70'sF in a matter of 10-30 minutes.

The only limitation to these units is when it's a hot humid day in Colorado, and the cooling isn't as effective. But these are fairly infrequent days, and it's not worth the cost of whole house A/C installation to me for those few times.

Now that we're living in WY at 6,000' elevation, we still use a couple of smaller portable evap coolers and they are more than adequate for all but a few days per year. If we had larger roof mount units like we had in Colorado, we'd have more cooling capacity than we'd ever need. Having the additional moisture in the house helps with the houseplants, too.
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Old 04-27-2012, 09:28 PM
 
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I never had any cooling when I lived in SE Wyoming, excepting some ceiling fans. There were about 5 days a summer that were uncomfortably warm. Admittedly, the house was well-insulated.


On Colorado's Front Range, few homes had any cooling until about 20-30 years ago. The proliferation of mechanical air conditioning on the Front Range really didn't start until the mid 1980's. It started because of the proliferation of out-of-state knucklehead builders, who had never even seen evaporative coolers, simply building cookie-cutter houses with the mechanical A/C that they were used to installing in humid climates, combined with a large number of home buyers--also from out-of-state--who either didn't know about evaporative cooling or didn't know how to use it properly for it to be effective. Of course, until recently, the utility companies were more than willing to "pimp" mechanical A/C because they sold a lot more electricity that way. They are not so hot about that, anymore, as summertime power demand now is higher than winter demand, and they have to build capacity to meet the peaks.
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Old 04-28-2012, 08:51 AM
 
Location: Wherabouts Unknown!
7,841 posts, read 18,943,393 times
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jazzlover wrote:
The proliferation of mechanical air conditioning on the Front Range really didn't start until the mid 1980's. It started because of the proliferation of out-of-state knucklehead builders, who had never even seen evaporative coolers, simply building cookie-cutter houses with the mechanical A/C that they were used to installing in humid climates, combined with a large number of home buyers--also from out-of-state--who either didn't know about evaporative cooling or didn't know how to use it properly for it to be effective.
In your mind ( and mine too ), this is a negative, but for these so-called out of state knuckleheads AC was an upgrade to the status quo. There's two sides to every coin.
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Old 04-28-2012, 08:57 AM
 
Location: Out in the Badlands
10,420 posts, read 10,781,362 times
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Swampers work well in the desert southwest except for the monsoon season...about one month...then they or OK but will not work as well. Also the newer single side air inlet types work better than the older traditional 3 or 4 sided types.
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Old 04-28-2012, 09:34 AM
 
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For those of us looking at rental units in Denver, we don't have a choice as to what type of cooling is offered. If we are accustom to central air conditioning as we live in the south, what is a portable swamp cooler going to feel like; not interested in sleeping in dampness!

A few apartments mention there is a swamp cooler in one room; is that going to cool the entire apartment to a comfortable level? Do you really need to keep a window opened while the swamp cooler runs? That is a concern as some of these units are first floor units facing busy streets.

I am just trying to get a feel for what a swamp cooler will really do for me as I will not be able to test it before moving in.
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Old 04-28-2012, 12:26 PM
 
Location: Pueblo - Colorado's Second City
12,259 posts, read 24,378,209 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jazzlover View Post
I never had any cooling when I lived in SE Wyoming, excepting some ceiling fans. There were about 5 days a summer that were uncomfortably warm. Admittedly, the house was well-insulated.


On Colorado's Front Range, few homes had any cooling until about 20-30 years ago. The proliferation of mechanical air conditioning on the Front Range really didn't start until the mid 1980's. It started because of the proliferation of out-of-state knucklehead builders, who had never even seen evaporative coolers, simply building cookie-cutter houses with the mechanical A/C that they were used to installing in humid climates, combined with a large number of home buyers--also from out-of-state--who either didn't know about evaporative cooling or didn't know how to use it properly for it to be effective. Of course, until recently, the utility companies were more than willing to "pimp" mechanical A/C because they sold a lot more electricity that way. They are not so hot about that, anymore, as summertime power demand now is higher than winter demand, and they have to build capacity to meet the peaks.
Your timetable is right but the reason is not as it has nothing to do with out of state builders. It has everything to do with the technology of mechanical central air units as they have not only become more efficient but cheaper. When my grandparents had their house built in 1959 it was still relativity new technology for houses so they decided to go with the swamp cooler while their neighbors decided to go with the mechanical central air. As time went on and the technology become more affordable and efficient more and more people switched to mechanical central air, especially in new construction. The bottom line technology improves with time and mechanical central air units are no different. Today the question of which one to use in our area really is a personal preference one. Does someone want the crisp cold air a mechanical central air gives or a damp cool air a swamp unit has. Personally I like the cold crisp air of a mechanical central air but I respect the choice if people like the other.

As far as energy use. Yes we use more energy then people did in 1960 just as they used more energy in 1960 then people did in 1910. However the mechanical central air unites sold today are way more efficient and cost less then they did in 1960.
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Old 04-28-2012, 12:45 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,316 posts, read 120,300,450 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pokey318 View Post
For those of us looking at rental units in Denver, we don't have a choice as to what type of cooling is offered. If we are accustom to central air conditioning as we live in the south, what is a portable swamp cooler going to feel like; not interested in sleeping in dampness!

A few apartments mention there is a swamp cooler in one room; is that going to cool the entire apartment to a comfortable level? Do you really need to keep a window opened while the swamp cooler runs? That is a concern as some of these units are first floor units facing busy streets.

I am just trying to get a feel for what a swamp cooler will really do for me as I will not be able to test it before moving in.
1. It depends. It depends on how big the unit is, and where it's mounted, as has been discussed. The problem with most apartments is that the windows usually face one direction only. If the SC is mounted on the south side, it will sit in the sun all day. If on the west, it will face sun when the sun is at its highest intensity. Etc. It also depends on how big the apt. is and how big the unit is.

2. I'm not 100% in agreement with this. We had a swamp cooler in a triplex in Sloan's Lake, and we never kept any windows open. I had never heard you had to unitl we had lived there a couple years, and DH, the physicist never saw any reason to do so. I think the place was drafty enough to bring in outside air w/o opening the windows.
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Old 04-28-2012, 02:12 PM
 
Location: Pueblo - Colorado's Second City
12,259 posts, read 24,378,209 times
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If you have a swamp cooler it helps to keep the windows cracked. The reason is a swamp cooler brings the air in the house from outside so having windows cracked creates a positive air flow and helps circulate the cool air in your house. A mechanical central air takes the air from in the house removes the heat then returns the cold air so you do not want to have any windows open.
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Old 04-28-2012, 08:29 PM
 
27 posts, read 85,899 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jazzlover View Post
The proliferation of mechanical air conditioning on the Front Range really didn't start until the mid 1980's. It started because of the proliferation of out-of-state knucklehead builders, who had never even seen evaporative coolers, simply building cookie-cutter houses with the mechanical A/C that they were used to installing in humid climates, combined with a large number of home buyers--also from out-of-state--who either didn't know about evaporative cooling or didn't know how to use it properly for it to be effective.
Don't forget, if you live in an HOA controlled subdivision, to ensure you can even have a swamp cooler. My HOA specifically forbids them.
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Old 04-29-2012, 10:37 AM
 
2,174 posts, read 4,268,953 times
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The building I'm in has a hybrid system - swamp cooler + heat pump.

In our unit is a heat pump for heat and A/C. As I understand it, there is a natural gas boiler in the mechanical room. In cold months, the boiler brings the closed loop water supply up to 50-60 degrees. In warm months, the cooling towers bring that closed loop water down to 50-60 degrees. Each unit's heat pump extracts or sinks energy into that closed loop system.
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