[winknod]

I've been reading up on them (aka evaporative coolers), seems like a perfect low cost way to cool in Las Vegas.

Anyone use one? Thoughts?

I'm planning on buying a portable unit for up to 750 ft2 to try out.

My CAC is dead. If it works well I might replace it with a whole house swamp system. Cheaper to buy than CAC (2/3 the cost per unit) and cheaper to run...

[KD Hawaii]

Your house might be getting mold....That's UNhealthy

[winknod]

In order for a swamp cooler to work properly you are supposed to leave windows open (2ft2 per 500 cfm). This should prohibit the mold.

For me this is another selling point. I like to let fresh air circulate in a house.

[mojavedxer]

The portable units I own was just too noisy. I keep them for an emergency if the AC ever goes out.

[dynimagelv]

I have one for the garage.....doesnt work fer #$%^
it needs to draw warm dry air. As it fills up the grages the air is now moist and the cooling goes down ....

[butterflybird]

I used a swamp cooler in a home I used to own in Ca and it worked great, although because it was an older unit it was noisy. Maybe newer ones are quieter. Also, never had the windows open at any time and there was no mold in my home. It was used in a large family room area and actually cooled quite a large area and yes, my a/c bills I'm sure were lower than the usual central refrig a/c units of neighbors. I was home all day and it sure helped to keep the bills lower. Keep the pads clean and cover the unit properly during the winter.

Unless you had a huge amount of moisture building up in a room for some reason, I wouldn't think mold would be an issue. People have used these things for years and unfortunately evap coolers stopped being popular, I guess the electric company didn't like 'em lol....not enough $$ flowing their way....also some people in the old days let them get unsightly, rusty, sticking out of windows so I suppose evap coolers got sort of a "ghetto" reputation, which is unfortunate because in a dry clime like LV they would work great. Not sure if an HOA would let you put one in a window that could be seen from the street, depending on their rules. But that's a whole other subject lol...

[aggrofish]

I use them in my warehouse and the humidity gets to around 60%. I dont know if I'd want that in a home.

[winknod]

I saw a video of a guy who made is own. He wanted to cool the courtyard garden of his AZ home so he tie wrapped a small misting hose to a box fan. The temp dropped from 113 to 98!

A nice thing about the portable units is that you can use them outside for a BBQ...

I think the higher humidity will be a good thing because I have a lot of wood furniture and I tend to get dehydrated quickly. It's also better for your skin.

I'm going to put off replacing my broken CAC until fall/winter so I will have plenty of time to research the whole house systems. It's really shocking how much less the units cost compared to equivalent CAC, not to mention the energy savings! Might be okay to go with whole house swamp unit and supplement with a window AC in the bedroom. (I don't need my house to be 72 deg!)

Huge selling point for me is that they work better with a window or door open, with CAC it's like blowing $s outside every time you open a door!

[Jukesgrrl]

Many discussions of swamp coolers can be found on the Arizona forums.

They work well in a desert climate, but have been replaced by AC in popularity for two reasons. They require more maintenance (and some of that maintenance includes a person going up on the roof) and no matter how well they work, they can never cool off a building to the degree (no pun intended) that AC can.

Even if you can lower the temperature in your home from 105 to 90 ... that's still too hot in my book. If that's OK with you and you're willing to do the maintenance, you'll certainly save money with a evaporative cooling.

[teach1234]

Keeps my shop cool for cheap--not sure I'd use it at the house, if I ever get a 200$ electric bill I might reconsider.