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Arthur Conan Doyle

wrote:

This is the best answer..
A small bleed valve that takes say 10% of the circulating water and dumps it out on the lawn.
This keeps the level of minerals from building up to no more than 10x the incomming water.

It has the same effect as the auto dump but is less expensive and more reliable and does in effect the same thing.

There is no "best" answer, only tradeoffs. Bleed valves use a lot of water - far
more than than dump pumps. If water supply isn't a concern, then a bleed valve
might be the right choice.

That said, unless you are having problems getting a swamp cooler to run a
complete season, mineral buildup on the pads isn't really a problem that
requires either solution. Mineral buildup in the pan can be dealt with during
routine end of season maintenance with a mild acid solution.