[Bulwara Road]

Originally Posted by Everdeen

We have such low humidity, you may want to use a swamp cooler. I use mine except on the most hottest days of the year - like last week. We are back to using our swamp cooler again, though. HOA's don't usually allow them to be in public view.

Are swamp coolers expensive to install, and can you run both a swamp cooernand a regular AC unit?

[observer53]

Originally Posted by Bulwara Road

Are swamp coolers expensive to install, and can you run both a swamp cooernand a regular AC unit?

You don't run both at the same time, but one or the other-- A/C when the dew point approaches or exceeds 50 degrees, swamp cooler during the drier days. "Piggy back" systems with both installed were popular many years ago here in the desert, not so much now.

Given the age of your home, I still suspect that what you have there is a heat pump, with the air handler in the attic.

One thing you can do when you move here is go on the managed payment plan with the electric company, when it's available to you.. they calculate what your projected usage will be over a year, and you pay a twelfth of that each month. There may be minor adjustments to your payment over the year. Saves the summer sticker shock!!

I'm sure someone will chime in about swamp cooler installation issues.

[Everdeen]

Originally Posted by Bulwara Road

Are swamp coolers expensive to install, and can you run both a swamp cooernand a regular AC unit?

Ours is a window unit that my husband custom installed into the wall. It is not running through our air duct system. If you are handy, you can easily do it yourself. It will pay itself the first summer unless you have to have the air cooled to 72 degrees all of the time. I can manage fine at 78 degrees and Scoop has acclimated himself to 84 degrees.

[Everdeen]

Originally Posted by observer53

One thing you can do when you move here is go on the managed payment plan with the electric company, when it's available to you.. they calculate what your projected usage will be over a year, and you pay a twelfth of that each month. There may be minor adjustments to your payment over the year. Saves the summer sticker shock!!

A lot of people choose and like this plan, but, personally, I want to feel the full brunt of my electric bill. If it is painful in the summer, I am much more motivated to make take cost savings measures.

[Bulwara Road]

Originally Posted by observer53

You don't run both at the same time, but one or the other-- A/C when the dew point approaches or exceeds 50 degrees, swamp cooler during the drier days. "Piggy back" systems with both installed were popular many years ago here in the desert, not so much now.

Given the age of your home, I still suspect that what you have there is a heat pump, with the air handler in the attic.

One thing you can do when you move here is go on the managed payment plan with the electric company, when it's available to you.. they calculate what your projected usage will be over a year, and you pay a twelfth of that each month. There may be minor adjustments to your payment over the year. Saves the summer sticker shock!!

I'm sure someone will chime in about swamp cooler installation issues.

Thanks for the advice. I will definitely go on a managed payment plan with the electrical company, as I would prefer to pay something like a regular, even amount each month rather than $50 one month and $500 the next!

I am really excited about moving to LV - we will decide in a couple of months whether we will make the move in March/April next year or whether we will defer our move for a couple more years.

Another thing we are thinking about is getting a pool installed - does anyone here know how long it generally takes to get a pool installed?

[tiger08]

Originally Posted by Bulwara Road

Are swamp coolers expensive to install, and can you run both a swamp cooernand a regular AC unit?

The best window cooler out there, just happens to be imported from Australia. Home depot and lowes both sell the Bonaire Durango cooler and for the handy person, although it is a window cooler, it can be installed in the wall.

We have an american company call Essick air and they are making a knockoff version of this cooler and calling it the Mastercool Mirage. Be careful with it, I just installed one on my neighbors garage and I installed one in our game room a couple weeks back to replace an old metal cooler. Thses coolers are not near as good as the Bonaire version and after a phone call to Essick yesterday, I was left hanging. I will probably be removing both coolers and replacing them with the Bonaire units.

[tiger08]

They are not expensive, 490 something bucks at Home depot.

[Everdeen]

Originally Posted by tiger08

The best window cooler out there, just happens to be imported from Australia. Home depot and lowes both sell the Bonaire Durango cooler and for the handy person, although it is a window cooler, it can be installed in the wall.

This is what we have and it really does work quite well. It is rated for 1600 sq. ft and our house is 1350 and I suspect that is key when getting a swamp cooler. It is also always in the shade. There are some issues though. It's loud on the highest speed and there is no directional control. It also does not recirculate the water like most swamp coolers, so it uses quite a bit. We just drain it into our pool, so it's water we would have used anyway. My husband said it could be rigged up to recycle the water by someone who knew what they were doing. Some people use the run off to water their gardens or whatnot.

My electric bill at the end of June was $103, which is down from May.

[observer53]

Originally Posted by Everdeen

A lot of people choose and like this plan, but, personally, I want to feel the full brunt of my electric bill. If it is painful in the summer, I am much more motivated to make take cost savings measures.

Fair point, but I'm pretty careful with usage as it is, and very conservative with summer and winter thermostat settings, so I just appreciate the budgeting aspect.

[tiger08]

Originally Posted by Everdeen

This is what we have and it really does work quite well. It is rated for 1600 sq. ft and our house is 1350 and I suspect that is key when getting a swamp cooler. It is also always in the shade. There are some issues though. It's loud on the highest speed and there is no directional control. It also does not recirculate the water like most swamp coolers, so it uses quite a bit. We just drain it into our pool, so it's water we would have used anyway. My husband said it could be rigged up to recycle the water by someone who knew what they were doing. Some people use the run off to water their gardens or whatnot.

My electric bill at the end of June was $103, which is down from May.

Actually what you have on that cooler is a factory bleed off line to help eleminate scale buildup on the pads. Your husband can retrofit a timed dump pump system to the cooler and then it will only dump 3 to 4 gallons every 8 hours of cooler run time.
The one thing I liked about these two knockoff coolers I installed, is that they have a seperate 110 volt outlet inside the cooler for such a system and the dump timer is built into the cooler itself, all we had to do was just install a regular seperate pump and the cooler handles the rest.