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July was a heck of a rainy month in the SE
#11
I dunno much about swamp coolers but I lived in NM and had one. It sure didn’t work well when there was a little humidity outside.

I would think we would all have them here in the east if they worked in this climate.
monkeyfoot
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#12
Okay, here is a picture of how a typical air conditioner works:

   

The outside air is recirculated to the outside, and the inside air is recirculated to the inside, after going through what they're calling an evaporator.  Basically the evaporator is cooler than the inside air, so any moisture in the inside air condenses onto the evaporator and then drains outside. (The evaporator is like a small radiator)

An indirect swamp cooler uses this same configuration, (it's where an air conditioner's configuration came from to begin with) except that instead of using a compressor and freon, it uses evaporation to cool the water in a reservoir, which is then pumped through the evaporator to cool it, so that when the indoor air is recirulated through it, the result is the same as a compressor driven unit.  Instead of the indoor moisture merely being drained outside, instead it goes into the water reservoir to be recycled.

Only a small portion of the water going through the cooler pad is actually evaporated, the remainder of it, now super chilled, goes back into the water reservoir, where it is then pumped through the evaporator to chill it.

Hopefully my description makes sense...
[-] The following 1 user says Thank You to Handy_Dan for this post:
  • TWIH (08-04-2018)
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#13
(08-03-2018, 09:26 PM)Cammalu Wrote: I dunno much about swamp coolers but I lived in NM and had one. It sure didn’t work well when there was a little humidity outside.

I would think we would all have then here in the east if they worked in this climate.

That would have been a direct type one, that is actually designed to add moisture to the air rather than to remove it.  This can be beneficial in dry areas, but they don't work as well in humid areas. 

A good swamp cooler of either type needs outside air coming into it for it to perform it's best.  The direct type also requires ventilation on the opposite end of the house for it to work it's best, and not add appreciable moisture to the interior.  While the direct type doesn't work as well in humid area's, with proper ventilation and outside air fed into the unit, they will still deliver a noticeable improvement over just a fan and ventilation.

When in hot and humid Florida, a friend had a portable, direct type, swamp cooler, in a closed up apartment, sitting on his coffee table, and complaining it didn't work.  His apartment was like walking into a sauna.  I moved it into an open window, opened his front door, and his other bedroom window, and within a short time it felt like a dry air conditioned apartment.  He couldn't believe the difference that simple modification in usage made.

Swamp coolers always work, some better than others in different areas, but the biggest problem with swamp coolers is usually user error, and in the case of RV's, their water usage.  But when power is in short supply, and water is available, swamp coolers can't be beat.
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#14
So why is this not general knowledge by now?  Ive never heard of “indirect air” and I’d think that if it really was so efficient we’d hear more about it and see more of them in common usage.

Of course the “International Refridgerated Air Consortium” could actively be undermining “progressive minded reduce energy consumption and never use a plastic straw” type folks...  Huh
"Life is short, smile while you still have teeth."
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#15
I actually thought they were more common knowledge... Maybe it's just the older crowd that uses them or remembers them. Many years ago they were available in most stores, and in many models from whole house, to window type, portable, and automobile type. Everybody and their brother used them, and quite successfully.

With time comes change, fashions change every year so everybody has to buy new clothes, likewise they started pushing air conditioners, to get people to spend their money on the latest and greatest. Now, mini swamp coolers like the "Arctic Air" and their clones are making a comeback as desktop personal space coolers. What was old is suddenly new technology again... In the end it's all hype and marketing to part you with your money. Meanwhile, 50+ year old swamp coolers are still chugging away keeping people cool.

I guess the word about indirect swamp coolers needs to get spread. They work, I've been using them for years, and they're pretty cheap to build. I've also heard rumblings about low power peltier powered air conditioning becoming a thing. Regardless of the methods used, being a slave to the weather is totally unacceptable to me. Indoors or out, people have known how to beat the weather since before electricity or modern air conditioners. Who knows why such knowledge or technologies gets lost along the way, but I do know that sometimes it seems history is the best teacher, especially for living off the grid or with limited resources.
[-] The following 1 user says Thank You to Handy_Dan for this post:
  • TWIH (08-06-2018)
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