Evaporative Water Coolers - guidance on placing swamp cooler
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rviger
05-20-09, 01:03 PM
Howdy,
I've got an ancient furnace that I'm about to replace. There is a central A/C along with it.
I'm thinking it would be cheaper to leave the old A/C in there and let it die of old age-- and replace the cooling with a swamp cooler (works great here in Colorado).
My question is where to put the thing. The house is a tri-level with the middle one at street level and has by far the greatest volume with a cathedral ceiling that runs the length of the house. The upper level is broken into bedrooms/bath with flat ceilings.
Would a low wall spot on the middle level or the roof work the best? I realize that it's normally just a matter of which windows you open to create flow, but thought I should ask since this house has so many levels, twists and turns.
Thanks for any info!
I've got an ancient furnace that I'm about to replace. There is a central A/C along with it.
I'm thinking it would be cheaper to leave the old A/C in there and let it die of old age-- and replace the cooling with a swamp cooler (works great here in Colorado).
My question is where to put the thing. The house is a tri-level with the middle one at street level and has by far the greatest volume with a cathedral ceiling that runs the length of the house. The upper level is broken into bedrooms/bath with flat ceilings.
Would a low wall spot on the middle level or the roof work the best? I realize that it's normally just a matter of which windows you open to create flow, but thought I should ask since this house has so many levels, twists and turns.
Thanks for any info!
lefty
05-20-09, 04:17 PM
First off, you need to size the cooler to the house. Evap coolers are sized by their CFM, and ideally you should have at least 1/2 CFM of cooler for every cubic foot that the house is. (It's a ROUGH number -- it doesn't have to be perfect.)
My house is about 25' X 50', with 8' ceilings. That's 10,000 cubic feet. My house would do OK with an evap. cooler that was 4500 to 5000 CFM. (I used to have a 6500 CFM on the roof.)
Like you said, placement isn't all that important -- you direct air flow by opening windows. Twists and turn won't matter -- the air will follow the path of least resistance.
My house is about 25' X 50', with 8' ceilings. That's 10,000 cubic feet. My house would do OK with an evap. cooler that was 4500 to 5000 CFM. (I used to have a 6500 CFM on the roof.)
Like you said, placement isn't all that important -- you direct air flow by opening windows. Twists and turn won't matter -- the air will follow the path of least resistance.
sammy37
05-20-09, 09:23 PM
The nice thing about an evap cooler is that oversizing wont hurt a thing. Yes, you can open windows everywhere but I prefer to have the bedrooms with their own ducts. With that said, if it were my house, I would put a smaller cooler on the highest part of the roof for the bedrooms and if the bedrooms are typical size, a 10" duct for each room works nice and is fairly quiet during operation.
I would then add a larger cooler for the middle section of the house with one main duct out of the unit and open windows throughout the middle level and downstairs.
I would then add a larger cooler for the middle section of the house with one main duct out of the unit and open windows throughout the middle level and downstairs.