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Mike, I hear you on the screaming, and I know it's expensive to convert--but I'd pay it. The over-the-phone estimates I got ranged from 10-18K, depending on what needed to be done. I was just looking for a ballpark, so I could decide whether or not I wanted to make an offer on a house that had a swamp.
FWIW two non-formal estimates we've gotten from a/c maintenance companies we've
had out here have run in the 8-12K range. That's two months in Europe...
I'm more comfortable in the heat than my wife is and as long as there is good air movement
I'm usually OK in the 80-85 range during the day. But at night, I want to be cool..
There was a thread in the El Paso forum recently about converting to refrigerated from evaporative and I mentioned that my sister converted a 2-story house several years ago - about 3,500 sq ft - and "admitted" to it having cost them $10,000. Knowing her, she went with the lowest bidder! They opted for the roof units.
On the house I looked at (and was seriously considering), you would also have had to go with a roof mount unless you left the swamp in place.
I don't know how big the hole is, but if you removed it, you're still looking at roof repair.
Besides the fact that swamps don't cool all that much (for me), the maintenance, inconvenience (servicing, covering for the winter, etc.) and hard water deposits on the roof are just the pits.
The swamp cooler always costs the same, but when it's 100 degrees
it's going to be 80's in the house. It's 80's with moving air, but for
many many people, that's unacceptable. I'd probably have a dual
system if I lived in Las Cruces, but being a cheap b@stard, I'll put up
with a few hours of not-cool-enough for a number of days in ABQ.
Yes. 80 indoors is too hot at ANY time of the year, let alone when it's over 100 outside.
In Alamogordo and LC, that would be all of the summer, plus part of the spring and early fall.
My swamper has no problem keeping my house at 75 or lower (if I wanted it that low) when it is 100+ outside, as it has been the last couple of weeks. My preference is to keep it around 77-78, however, if I wanted to 'freeze' I could definitely do that.
Well, if it's on a thermostat, why not? Ours is on a thermostat so we set the desired
temp just like with refrigerated air, and, in theory, it goes off and on as it needs to.
That's how I run mine - I leave it set at around 77 and it turns on and off as needed. I do manage the air flow by opening and closing the windows in the rooms I want coolest and this works really well for me because I hate having the house completely closed up, summer or winter.
On the house I looked at (and was seriously considering), you would also have had to go with a roof mount unless you left the swamp in place.
I don't know how big the hole is, but if you removed it, you're still looking at roof repair.
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..
I keep my thermostat at 75, and with big ceiling fans going, it's tolerable. My electric bill was higher this month, but I like sleeping.....
I do not need to be here in the summer.
Heh, yes it has reacned 100F already this year! Thankfully, the evenings are beautiful and sleep is easy. The problem is _not_ sleeping during the day! My home office is a bit warm and I usually have to take a siesta, or sneak more a/c.
My point was that at 95, a swamp cooler is perfectly adequate.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cathy4017
Corrales gets to 100??
Daytime highs in Corrales frequently are 6-8 degrees higher than
the airport and then at night are 6-8 degrees lower. In the
foothills, the difference can easly be 10+ degrees each way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike Horrell
But at night, I want to be cool...
There's nothing wrong with using a swamper all day, but at
night, sleeping in a room with a window a/c unit in there.
Such a unit will last for years and not cost much to operate.
Quote:
Originally Posted by TigerLily24
My swamper has no problem keeping my house
at 75 or lower ... when it is 100+ outside ...
Even at 105 degrees outside, the swamper output air will be below 70.
The problem is that you have to be home and running the cooler from
the early morning when the house is cool. If you come home to a
warm house and it is 105 degrees, it would take a huge capacity
swamper to bring the temps back down to the 70's.
Yesterday, I was home all day and had only one of my two units running
on low since Saturday afternoon. The house was in the low 70's
all day long with temps in the mid 90's at their peak.
In Phoenix, my refrigerated air could bring the house down from 90 deg
inside to the low 70's in less than 1/2 hour. My swamp coolers - both
on high at first than both running on low for hours could not do that.
I know someone who lives in Rio Rancho who is going to convert to
refrigerated air because of the loud dog symphony that goes on at all
hours around his house. The swamper is just fine, the barking is not.
The problem is that you have to be home and running the cooler from
the early morning when the house is cool. If you come home to a
warm house and it is 105 degrees, it would take a huge capacity
swamper to bring the temps back down to the 70's.
Yesterday, I was home all day and had only one of my two units running
on low since Saturday afternoon. The house was in the low 70's
all day long with temps in the mid 90's at their peak.
In Phoenix, my refrigerated air could bring the house down from 90 deg
inside to the low 70's in less than 1/2 hour. My swamp coolers - both
on high at first than both running on low for hours could not do that.
I know someone who lives in Rio Rancho who is going to convert to
refrigerated air because of the loud dog symphony that goes on at all
hours around his house. The swamper is just fine, the barking is not.
My cooler is 'on' all day, though, of course only cooling when it gets above the temp set on the thermostat. Even if I'm going to be out all day, I would never leave my dogs to swelter in a hot house.
As of this writing, it is 74 degrees in the house (88 outside), so the cooler isn't cooling yet. I expect that it will start cycling on pretty soon though.
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