# re. Chemistry and physics of the metal parts of evaporative coolers

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-chemistry-and-physics-of-the-metal-parts-of-evaporative-coolers/730737>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 11, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-chemistry-and-physics-of-the-metal-parts-of-evaporative-coolers/730737 "2015-09-11T23:13:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-chemistry-and-physics-of-the-metal-parts-of-evaporative-coolers/730737/1 "2015-09-11T23:13:09Z")

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We’ve a lot of salts in our water in the Nevada desert. The evaporation leaves salt deposits around the edges metal parts and beneath the deposits the metal corrodes away. I wonder if one could ground the whole thing or clamp a metal anode or cathode to it and reduce the corrosion.

re. Chemistry and physics of the metal parts of evaporative coolers

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**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-chemistry-and-physics-of-the-metal-parts-of-evaporative-coolers/730737/2 "2015-09-11T23:26:30Z")

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Yes. They sell those little kits at Home Depot and such. They work, kinda, but not too well. It consists of an anode that attaches above water with a screw/eye/wire arraignment and a little plastic tub that the anode sits in under water. The gunk is supposed to collect in the little tub. I have found the poor quality of our water is simply overwhelming for this rinky-dink solution.

If you can afford the waste of water, they have the bleed-off kits that help reduce build-up of crap. I don’t use one, however.

I also am in the Nevada desert with very poor water quality and a real nasty swamp cooler. Its starting to look like a tufa from Mono Lake.

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**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-chemistry-and-physics-of-the-metal-parts-of-evaporative-coolers/730737/3 "2015-09-11T23:39:30Z")

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Highly recommend eddy current based descaling systems. For example this one [Amazon.com](http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003Z96GR4?vs=1)

Or something like this : [http://m.homedepot.com/p/MAX-COOL-1-4-in-Evaporative-Cooler-In-Line-Scale-Eliminator-51795/202053475](http://m.homedepot.com/p/MAX-COOL-1-4-in-Evaporative-Cooler-In-Line-Scale-Eliminator-51795/202053475)

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**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/re-chemistry-and-physics-of-the-metal-parts-of-evaporative-coolers/730737/4 "2015-09-12T14:00:54Z")

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Get a stainless steel one, if you can find one. They last forever.