"mm" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 31 Jul 2007 09:35:46 -0600, "James \"Cubby\" Culbertson"
wrote:


"Dave" wrote in message
groups.com...
Hello;

I realize this has nothing to do with repair, but the other alt.home.*
groups seem to either be near-dead and/or also inappropriate ...

Anyone have an experience with an evaporative air cooler, that they
can relate? An example would be the CoolAir 4000 air cooler:

http://www.coolair4000.com/

I'm looking for an alternative to an air conditioning unit to lower
the temperature of a 260 sq.ft. room by about 10 degrees.

Thanks in advance.


Where do you live and what's your climate? If you have humidity, evap's
don't work. They are effective in dry climes (20% or less relative
humidity). I can't comment on the cooler you linked.

Itt is worth noting that afaict, the ad for that one says nothing
about its effectiveness depending on where one lives. It says nothing
about where the ones are located that they used to get the average 12
to 20 degree drop in temperature. They might be all in New Mexico,
Nevada, and Death Valley. They sure don't work in Maryland. The URL
looks dishonest to me.

We've used evaps for
years here in NM but our typical summers are quite dry (until the Monsoon
season and then the coolers are pretty worthless).
Cheers,

I live in Las Vegas, Nevada, and can give you some first hand information.
Before refrigeration, all we had was swamp coolers. It was better than
being outside in the heat, and at night, temperatures were good for
sleeping. That said, they have lots of limitations. When it's really hot,
they will cool things down, but not like refrigeration. When it's humid,
they hardly feel like they work at all. They put so much humidity in the
air that after a time, the house smells like one in South Louisiana. Damp
and musty.

We still use swampers for a few months a year. Mostly in the spring and
fall when we only want to drop the temps a little. Nothing works very well
in 115 degree heat. Even a 20 degree drop leaves you at 95 inside. And
swampers do not work well at all in humid weather, as we are having now in
Vegas during our monsoon season. 40-60% humidity ranges.

Swampers help. But, I think that they do the best for the people who sell
them, and claim that they will do all sorts of things they won't. And since
the principle they work on is temperature difference created by water
evaporation, some of the claims made in humid areas are laughable. Even if
you get one, and it works, it won't work all the time.

Steve.