Swamp Coolers in and Near Phoenix (how much, house, water heater)

[eok]

If you use a swamp cooler to cool your place to 80F, how humid will it be, on a typical Phoenix summer day? Has anyone measured it?

Also, how much does a reliable (low maintenance) swamp cooler cost, and how much work is it?

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by eok

If you use a swamp cooler to cool your place to 80F, how humid will it be, on a typical Phoenix summer day? Has anyone measured it?

Also, how much does a reliable (low maintenance) swamp cooler cost, and how much work is it?

you need to define "reliable" and "low maintenance" before you can decide. At a minimum, with any swamp cooler in Phoenix, you need to visit it and give it some "love" at least twice a year - our water is nasty & hard on pads & when you're not using the swamp, you want to clean it, shut down the water supply & cover it. In the spring, you need to take the cover off, turn on the water & most likely change some pads, as well as check over the unit overall. I'd budget a couple hours a couple times a year - that said, many would not call that "low maintenance", and if you skip the maintenance part, you'll take a big hit in the "reliable" part. The awesome thing about swamps is, if you don't mind the maintenance, you can save some serious cash on air conditioning.

If you want to hire everything done, and you don't have an existing swamp, a rooftop unit could cost a couple thousand bucks to get installed. Through-the-wall units can cost less, but to get a swamp to perform, there might be additional work required - things like "up-dux" to allow air into the house without opening windows. Long term, unless you're an avid diy-er, it's probably cheaper to get a high-efficiency heat-pump, perhaps add a heat-pump water heater ($40/mo savings over a typical 50 gallon electric!) & add a few inches of blown-in cellulose insulation / tape & seal existing ductwork (so you're not losing 15% of your conditioned air through leakage), etc.

[adriver]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler

[wit-nit]

One problem with swamp coolers here is when you need it the most you can't use it, because of the high dew point/humidity, during the 2-3 month monsoon season. I've seen moisture on the wall vents and even rusty items from the high humidity.
When the dew point is over 50 you start to feel uncomfortable.
IMO. Air conditioners are more comfortable and easier to maintain. Cost to run may be slightly higher but the comfort is way worth it.

[maverick974]

My first year in my house I had A/C only and while that works well, it is costly. My second year here my neighbor was removing his swamp cooler and asked if I wanted it. Free sounds good to me and it was only a few years old so I installed it and the first time I used it, I couldn't believe how well it worked and how efficient it was. I was sold but as said up thread, it doesn't work well all the time. Once the dew point gets above about 55 degrees, a swampy is useless.
With that said, I won't own another house without a swamp cooler. The best scenario is to have both swampy and A/C. I'll use the swampy until late July or August when the humidity gets too high and then I'll use the A/C until mid September or so and it's the swampy the rest of the year.
You can find a very good swamp cooler for less than $700.00 that will pay for itself in just 2 or 3 seasons. Unfortunately you still need A/C though so if I had only one choice, it would be A/C.

[pbenjamin]

Originally Posted by maverick974

My first year in my house I had A/C only and while that works well, it is costly. My second year here my neighbor was removing his swamp cooler and asked if I wanted it. Free sounds good to me and it was only a few years old so I installed it and the first time I used it, I couldn't believe how well it worked and how efficient it was. I was sold but as said up thread, it doesn't work well all the time. Once the dew point gets above about 55 degrees, a swampy is useless.
With that said, I won't own another house without a swamp cooler. The best scenario is to have both swampy and A/C. I'll use the swampy until late July or August when the humidity gets too high and then I'll use the A/C until mid September or so and it's the swampy the rest of the year.
You can find a very good swamp cooler for less than $700.00 that will pay for itself in just 2 or 3 seasons. Unfortunately you still need A/C though so if I had only one choice, it would be A/C.

I would agree with all of that except it stops being useful in EARLY July by my reckoning.

As to maintenance, all we ever did was give it a good cleaning and change the pads in the spring and then turn the water supply off in the fall. Never covered it. The pumps don't last forever and need to be replaced but they are cheap and easy to swap out.

We had a two story house, installed upducts on the second level and had windows and doors cracked downstairs. When it worked, I liked the atmosphere in the house better than when we had to change to A/C and close everything up.

[DougStark]

Originally Posted by maverick974

My first year in my house I had A/C only and while that works well, it is costly. My second year here my neighbor was removing his swamp cooler and asked if I wanted it. Free sounds good to me and it was only a few years old so I installed it and the first time I used it, I couldn't believe how well it worked and how efficient it was. I was sold but as said up thread, it doesn't work well all the time. Once the dew point gets above about 55 degrees, a swampy is useless.
With that said, I won't own another house without a swamp cooler. The best scenario is to have both swampy and A/C. I'll use the swampy until late July or August when the humidity gets too high and then I'll use the A/C until mid September or so and it's the swampy the rest of the year.
You can find a very good swamp cooler for less than $700.00 that will pay for itself in just 2 or 3 seasons. Unfortunately you still need A/C though so if I had only one choice, it would be A/C.

Agree. I use mine April-June when the dew point is bone dry. Added bonus: the added humidity and being able to keep the windows open. They're way underused here, imo.