Remember how a breeze feels on your skin as you come out of a swimming pool or when you’re perspiring on a hot day? What you’re feeling is evaporative cooling.
How do evaporative coolers work? An evaporative cooler draws hot dry outside air through wet pads, and as water evaporates from the pads, the air temperature drops and cool air is blown into the house.
Because evaporative coolers operate best in dry climates with low humidity, they are most often found in the Southwest United States. Evaporative coolers are available in several styles and sizes sidedraft, downdraft, window mount and single inlet. Regardless of the style, the cooling principle is the same.
Advantages of evaporative cooler relative to central air conditioning.
- One of your biggest things is it’s about half the cost or less to install relative to central air conditioning.
- Another thing is it costs about 75% less in electricity to run one of these.
- And the third thing is humidifier the air and a lot of people like that when they live in a dry climate.
- The other one is that being a really simple system it doesn’t have refrigerant and it doesn’t have these complex engineering type parts. It’s really a pain and a wet blanket to make the air feel as though it’s better.
- It is a really simple system and you’re only running a fan, it’s much cheaper to run. So where you would run effectively multiple appliances to achieve cooling in refrigerated reverse cycle cooling, you’re just running a fan.
- So you’re looking at a difference of about 20 cents an hour to run as opposed to about a $1.20 and it depends on where you live and how much you pay and such type of things.
- The savings on electricity and on the running costs are enormous with evaporative cooling.
- It’s better and more humid so you don’t get dry itchy eyes. You don’t get itchy skin. It’s a really nice way and really nice method of cooling. And it really feels natural and it feels comfortable to live in.
Also Check:Best Fully Self-Evaporating Portable Air Conditioners
Disadvantages of Evaporative cooling
- Not very effective.
If you are living into an area that there is humidity, you will not be able to using evaporative cooler. They have a little pad in the back. The water trickles on that pad from this little tray by a water pump. The air flows through a pad and it cools the air. You should not use an evaporative cooler in the human area because this will not be able to cool off a room.
- Requires regular maintenance.
You have to come up on the roof twice a year and do maintenance once in the fall to shut it down and once in the spring to get it started again.
- It uses water.
This can use up to 15 gallons of water per day. Since it’s bringing air in from the outdoors, inside it can bring some allergens in. It’s not a whole home solution. If you have a really big house, this cool air does not get distributed through the entire home.
- Not allowed in some states.
And finally, some homeowners associations just don’t allow evaporative coolers in their residential areas for instances in the Denver metro area because it’s a big box on the roof for aesthetic reasons.
Evaporative Coolers Verses Air Conditioners
| EVAPORATIVE COOLERS | AIR CONDITIONERS |
|---|---|
| An evaporative cooler constantly draws in fresh air | An air conditioner doesn't blow fresh air |
| energy savings because a cooler uses much less electricity. | Consumes a lot of electricity and power |
| Cheaper | Expensive |
| Evaporative coolers work in selected spaces | Versatile and can work anywhere |
| Less noisier | AC is lot louder |
| Uses evaporation | Decompress heat |
| No set up required | Set up needed |
Conclusion:
Evaporative cooling is a really simple system taking warm dry air and delivering it through your house. What that allows you to do is the way modern families live and like having the doors open, the windows open, you can blast area off air through the house and it opens the home up as opposed to the bunker down mentality that you have to have when you’ve got reverse cycle air conditioning where the blinds are down, the windows are closed, the doors are closed and the door open .It’s all about keeping it open and letting the letting the air flow through the home
Best Fully Self-Evaporating Portable Air Conditioners
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