wrote in message
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I also suspect that swamp cooler cfms are inflated, as fans used to be.
Like an air conditioner you want to have one rated above what you need. I
run mine at the lowest speed most of the time. Only if the humidity rises
do I find it necessary to use high speeds.

Moving lots of air wastes water and electricity.
Why do you say that? They use relatively little water - only that which is
evaporated and a bit more if some is bled off.

A Las Vegas homeowner might do better with Sam's portable 797895 Arctic
Breeze
cooler mounted inside a house near an open low window and
an exhaust fan in a higher window with a one-way plastic film damper.
You can't recycle the air in the house. You have to get rid of the moist
air as it will not cool.

house temp reaches 80 F and turn on the exhaust fan when the RH reaches
60% to keep the house air at the upper right corner (80 F and w = 0.012)
of the ASHRAE 55-2004 comfort zone.
Your house would be like a steam bath. The maximum cooling is when the
humidity is very low. Once it gets to 30% cooling becomes marginal.


Keeping that house 80 F while evaporating P lb/h of water into C cfm of
outdoor air means 1000P = (91.1-80)(128+C). P = 60C(0.075)(0.012-0.0066)
= 0.0243C makes C = 108 cfm and P = 2.62 lb/h, ie 7.6 gallons per day.
If the house has significant thermal mass (eg a floorslab), we can save
more water and energy by only running the cooler at night.

Why do we need 5000 cfm???

I think you need to live in the South West deserts for a summer and try
cooling with a swamp cooler. You soon find out why most houses have
refrigeration if they can afford it.