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First, 90% of the time if an evaporative cooled house in the New Mexico/Colorado area gets too humid, it is because the house is not sufficiently vented (i.e., windows open) to allow the air to be exhausted from the house. With evaporative cooling, only when the outside humidity starts pushing 30% does the cooling efficiency drop so drastically as to make cooling to sub-80° temperatures on a 95° day impossible if the cooler and ventilation working correctly. Even during the Southwest Monsoon, relative humidities are seldom high enough to seriously comprome cooling during the heat of the day more than a few times.
Second, while it may not matter to some right now, utility costs for mechanical A/C are going to chew up people's budgets as energy costs soar. An example: A friend of mine who lives very close to me has mechanical air conditioning in his house which is similar size, type of construction, insulation, etc. to my house; I have evaporative cooling in mine. His typical summer electric bill is near $200, mine is about $30.
By the way, my late father used to design large scale evaporative cooling systems for warehouses, livestock operations, etc. With proper design, in hot desert environents, he could regularly get air cooling of 30-35° from inlet temperature to outlet temperature. So, 95° outside air could be cooled to near 60° by efficient evaporative cooling.
The biggest problem with evaporative cooling is that many people, especially those used to the conventions of mechanical air conditioning, simply don't know how to operate an evaporative cooling system correctly.
Our coolers are roof mounted, but feed into the duct work, not directly into the house,
so removing them and closing up the ducts would be pretty simple by removing the
coolers then blanking off their openings. Ain't nobody but birds gonna see the patchwork..
Unless it's a pitched composition shingle roof as opposed to a Santa Fe flat style....
........I think it's good that you got refrigerated air or you would really be on here whining all the time about the heat.
You're probably right.
I didn't think anything could be hotter than Texas except Death Valley, Las Vegas, NV and Phoenix....and it just so happens that I tracked temperatures during both a colder-than-average winter AND a cooler-than-average summer here before I moved.
But I won't be whining next year, because I don't plan to be here in June if things go as I wish!
During high humidity days the evaporative cooler can still provide at least a sensation of cooling the air if the water pump is shut off. This is the age-old principal employed when there were no swamp coolers in the deep south of the country and people relied instead on attic fans. Attic fans require open windows so that the fan can draw air IN through the window and blow it out through the attic space. It's also the reason that a beach front house on the Gulf Coast can seem cool on the hottest days if there is an onshore sea breeze blowing.
Probably as monsoon season sets in, output will rise to 75-78 degrees.
That means that the average room temperature will be over 80 degrees
and unacceptable for those unwilling to compromise.
It is doubly unacceptable because of the extra humidity that a swamp adds, so it's even more uncomfortable than it would otherwise be.
I figured I made the right choice for myself in choosing refrigerated from the outset.
That was one of the dealbreakers when we were house shopping here. The house had to have refrigerated air or I didn't even want to see it. Thank God we went with it. I don't know what my wife would do if we had gotten a house with swamp coolers and it got overly hot in the house now that shes pregnant.
That was one of the dealbreakers when we were house shopping here. The house had to have refrigerated air or I didn't even want to see it. Thank God we went with it. I don't know what my wife would do if we had gotten a house with swamp coolers and it got overly hot in the house now that shes pregnant.
So she'll have a nice, cool pregnancy.....
I did look at a few that didn't have refrigerated air, but with the idea of conversion in mind.
Most new construction is going refrigerated anyway, so it worked out well.
It got to 102 today, so I'm REALLY glad I have it.
When my husband was packing I told him there was absolutely no need for air conditioners in New Mexico. Our swamp works ok so far and on the really hot days I get to go to work in the air conditioning smililng about the lower electric bill.
First, 90% of the time if an evaporative cooled house in the New Mexico/Colorado area gets too humid, it is because the house is not sufficiently vented (i.e., windows open) to allow the air to be exhausted from the house. With evaporative cooling, only when the outside humidity starts pushing 30% does the cooling efficiency drop so drastically as to make cooling to sub-80° temperatures on a 95° day impossible if the cooler and ventilation working correctly. Even during the Southwest Monsoon, relative humidities are seldom high enough to seriously comprome cooling during the heat of the day more than a few times.
Second, while it may not matter to some right now, utility costs for mechanical A/C are going to chew up people's budgets as energy costs soar. An example: A friend of mine who lives very close to me has mechanical air conditioning in his house which is similar size, type of construction, insulation, etc. to my house; I have evaporative cooling in mine. His typical summer electric bill is near $200, mine is about $30.
By the way, my late father used to design large scale evaporative cooling systems for warehouses, livestock operations, etc. With proper design, in hot desert environents, he could regularly get air cooling of 30-35° from inlet temperature to outlet temperature. So, 95° outside air could be cooled to near 60° by efficient evaporative cooling.
The biggest problem with evaporative cooling is that many people, especially those used to the conventions of mechanical air conditioning, simply don't know how to operate an evaporative cooling system correctly.
wow, $30.00. Ours certainly was a lot more than that when we lived in NM. It wasn't as high our refridgerator air, but more than $30.00. It was more like $75.00. Our air here runs about $150 or so during the hottest months but we have an all electric house, no gas of any kind.
Nita
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Takes after her grandpa in that regard.
