Evaporative Air Con (not happy!)

[Wally]

Interesting how people who live in sub tropical climates swear by swampies. The fact is that they work on an adiabatic principle that is reliant on the wet bulb depression of the air. In places like Brisbane where the wet bulb hovers around the high twenties you wont get much relief but microbiol growth throughout the house will be enhanced.

[blownvn]

Yeah we live a bit south of Wagga and our unit needed a new pump recently (seven years old) and didn't that make a huge improvement.
With the old pump we could barely cool the house even with the fan cranked right up, nowadays we have the fan barely turning over and the house is like a fridge.
I'm actually really impressed with the evaporative. We had refridgerated in Sydney and it used to cost a fortune, the evaporative is heaps cheaper and we stay nice and cool.
Brenx made a good point about airflow, it helps to guide it. We open the front and back doors and a window at the end of the hallway and the house stays nice and cool. Everyone has swampies around the area. When we first moved down here we were amazed by all these boxes on the roofs.

Thumbs up for evaporative.

[dallasv8]

in a humid environment ,the evaporative systems are a waste of time.evaporative systems are for places like Mt Isa which are just a dry heat most of the time.changing the wood wool in them every year is a must to if you want them to run cool.

in a humid environment,get a split system or sumthing.

[xtreem2001]

Just finished reading this post and found some of the responses very interesting. I have been a refrigeration mechanic for way to long and have worked on everything from evaps to large chiller units.

The one comment that concerns me is in regard to legionaires disease. I dont want to alarm everyone BUT it is possible for legionaire to grow in evap coolers. In fact tests done on tap water have revealed levels of legionaire to be present. The green algae that forms around the edge of the water tank is the best place for this bug to grow. It is only when the bug becomes airborne that it can present real problems.

Most states in Australia now recommend the use of dosing capsules in ALL evap coolers and most reputable service companies will add one when they service domestic evap air conditioners. The "cowboys" in the trade will tell you that household disinfectant will do the job but that is simply not true.

For those of you "DIY" service guys the chemical used is bromide. This is the same tablets used in spa pools. A couple of tablets is usually enough to last the summer or simply replace when they have dissolved.

It has also been suggested that if and when "user pays" type accounts come into effect for water useage those with evap coolers installed may find it cheaper to change to refrigerated systems.

[Bluefreak]

I have refridgerated in my place and it interests me to read about them costing a fortune to run. I reckon I've added around $30-$40 to my summer quarter bill and I run the sucker 24 hours on those really hot stints.

And those who say "it's only a handful of days each year when an evap isn't much chop", it's only really THOSE days that you REALLY want decent aircon...

Watching my supervisors evap (new and checked by the installer for water useage after this test, given the all clear) dump nearly 190L of water over our last hot spell whereas my fridgy pulled 70L of water out of the air to put on the garden, I'll stick to cold on demand as opposed to cold depending on climate.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by xtreem2001

It has also been suggested that if and when "user pays" type accounts come into effect for water useage those with evap coolers installed may find it cheaper to change to refrigerated systems.

IF and WHEN??
What state are you in. We've been paying for water here for about 8 years! and the bill will not rise much (if at all) as the drainage pipe (is that what it's called?) only lets out about 1 drip per second.... onto the plants in our veranda.