Swamp Coolers

[Sphexi]

Basically I live in a small to mid sized apartment, up on Vancouver Island so it doesn't get really warm too much, but the past week has been pretty bad. Only windows I have are sliding side-to-side, so I'd have to get a vertical (i.e. expensive) air conditioner, while I've seen swamp coolers (evaporative) for fairly cheap.

Do they work well, not really make a difference, or only work in certain environments?

 

[Rill22]

My folks have one out in Colorado. They tell me it's awesome.

 

[Heisenberg]

They really only work well in places with very low humidity.

 

[BobDaMenkey]

They work well as long as it doesn't get TOO hot (much over 100*F) and as long it's it's pretty dry (under 30% humidity or so). If you meet these conditions I'd say jump on one, otherwise don't bother. We have an Evap and a normal Central air system in the house and we haven't bee n able to use the evap for a while because it's just been too friggen hot. Gotta love AZ weather.

Also, you could get a window unit and seal the rest of the window off with 2'' thick sytrofoam. That's what we've done in my computer room. Ya it's a little ghetto but saves money real well. (I crunch for DC projects and have 5 or more computers runnin at all times, my room just can't keep cool like the rest of the house)

 

[Sphexi]

Originally posted by: BobDaMenkey
They work well as long as it doesn't get TOO hot (much over 100*F) and as long it's it's pretty dry (under 30% humidity or so). If you meet these conditions I'd say jump on one, otherwise don't bother. We have an Evap and a normal Central air system in the house and we haven't bee n able to use the evap for a while because it's just been too friggen hot. Gotta love AZ weather.

Also, you could get a window unit and seal the rest of the window off with 2'' thick sytrofoam. That's what we've done in my computer room. Ya it's a little ghetto but saves money real well. (I crunch for DC projects and have 5 or more computers runnin at all times, my room just can't keep cool like the rest of the house)

Problem isn't the rest of the window, it's the size overall. It only opens to like 16 inches max width, so I have to either find a tiny low-powered unit, or a vertical one that'll fit, which are always really expensive ($400+), and I don't need it that badly. It's been in the mid to high 80s here, anywhere from 20% to 35% humidity. Since most of these units seem to take both water and ice, I'd think it'd help a little, since our apartment isn't that big and has really good airflow.