I just moved to Denver and I’m renting a house. The house is cooled with an evaporative cooler (a.k.a. swamp cooler). I’m not very familiar with this type of cooling, but here’s what I was told by the landlord: The cooled air comes in at one end of the house (near the bedrooms), and we leave a window cracked in the bedroom and at the other end of the house, the idea being that the cooled air will flow from the source through the house.
So far the system has been working ok. It keeps the bedrooms pretty cool (too much so in the middle of the night), while the other end of the house gets a bit too warm. However, it’s been pretty mild weather here, and I’m worried that I’ll be miserable when the scorchers arive, especially in the family room which is far removed from the source of the cool air.
Is there anything I can do to supplement the evaporative cooler? I’m looking into portable cooling units, but it’s clear that using a standard air conditioner with the swamp cooler is a big no-no since they work on opposite principles (the AC cools by removing water from the air, the evaporative cooler works by adding it). I should note that I have side-opening windows (damnit!), which limits my options.
Are you from somewhere with high humidity? Last year when the temps were in the 90’s it didn’t seem so bad. Even the hottest part of the summer was not too uncomfortable. Nothing like a summer in the midwest.
With an evap cooler, you use the windows to regulate the amount of cooling. Want the living room cooler, close all other windows almost all of the way or completely shut (similar to using floor vents) and open the living room the most.
Use a second fan if necessary.
Our cooler is on the second story so we close the windows upstairs and open the ones downstairs. The house cools off fairly quickly. Faster than a central air system, imo. Also much cheaper.
Before we go to bed, we open the bedroom windows so the air flows to the closest window and cools off the bedroom.
Right now, I only run the evap when I get home from work, when it’s really hot or on the weekends, I can set it on low and let it run during the day.
Also, in Colorado, the nights are almost always cool, even in the hottest part of summer.
Yes, we just moved from NC so I’m recovering from summer-related PTSD. But I grew up in Denver and I remember having at least a week or two each summer where the house stayed pretty hot even at night. We had a window AC that really improved our life on those days. I’m worried that when those days arrive this summer I’ll be stuck with a hot house. However, your tips on how to target the evaporative cooling will come in handy, thanks much for that. I have a feeling that things won’t be so bad, and a couple of fans might just do the trick.
I have an evap cooler, and the only time it doesn’t work very well is when it’s humid, like during the monsoon, such as now. When it gets so hot I can’t stand it in here anymore, this is what I do: lie down on my bed in just my panties, with a fan blowing on me and a cold wet washcloth applied to various body parts at random. I might have to go do that right now, or soon.
If it doesn’t get too humid there, you should have no problem being cool. When it’s dry here, my house stays cold, even when it’s 100 outside.
I don’t think leaving the windows “cracked” is going to work very well. Evap coolers want to move a LOT of air to work. For every 1,000 CFM, you need 2 Sq. Ft. of unrestricted access to the outside. My whole-house cooler was a 5,100 CFM unit, so you would need 10 Sq. Ft. of opening - like the size of half a doorway.
Heh. Ask any Tucson summer veteran- if you’re forced to do my strip-down-fan-washcloth thing, the last thing you’re feeling is sexy. But I’ll give you this one.
There are 2 types of evaporative coolers (direct and indirect). The indirect has a heat exchanger so humidity isn’t added. If that’s what you have then crank up the air conditioner.
