I remember living in a concrete open squad bay style barracks during the 80’s that was in the Mojave Desert. There was no air conditioning in the barracks, but they had as I recall something called ‘swamp coolers’ affixed to the ceiling. My recollection was they were not terribly good at cooling and seemed to reduce interior temperatures only a few degrees. It was still uncomfortably hot in the squad bay.
I mention this because Mrs. Cardigan is talking about getting an window mounted air conditioner for our son’s bedroom. I grumbled a bit at the prices of the units she was looking at, but then she comes back telling me she’s found another ‘solution’. Get him a portable swamp cooler. The unit IS inexpensive and is only 40 some dollars, but we live in Michigan and I don’t think a swamp cooler is going to work at all - it’s pretty humid here throughout much of the summers.
Anyone have a swamp cooler in their home? Any idea if one would be at all effective in Michigan? My instincts say no way, but will post the question in case others have had different experiences.
First, swamp coolers only work well at all in arid environments. They’d be hopeless in Michigan.
Second, those small, cheap, portable ones you see advertised don’t work very well even in arid environments. They’re slightly better than an ordinary fan if you have them pointed directly at your face, but for a whole room, they’re hopeless.
Swamp coolers cool the air through evaporation. But that can only happen if the air is relatively dry. If the air already has too much water in it, then the water in the swamp cooler won’t evaporate and it won’t cool the air. If anything, it will make the air a bit more humid. Making the hot Michigan air more humid is definitely not something you want. To cool the room, you’ll need to use a traditional AC.
The physics of heating, cooling, and (de-)humidification are relentless. It’s been decades if not centuries since there’s been any more science to exploit. Any breakthroughs now are solely in marketing.
The OP’s only real solution is a window A/C unit sized for the actual cubic footage of the room and desired temperature change, plus a generous (WAG 50%) margin. All else is falling for a semi-scam.