Swamp Coolers

imgoin4it gave a great summary of life with a swamp cooler. Points to add.

1. Swamp coolers work best taking outside air, cooling it by way of evaporation, and dumping the moist cool air into a room.
2. To work best, provide copious amounts of water to get the maximum evaporation possible.
3. To work bester still, open windows in the warmest areas away from the cooler to draw the cool air throughout the area. There must be windows or vents open so that all the air being pushed in has a place to go.

imgoin4it wrote:
I have had swamp coolers for about 45 years. Installed one in Denver, Colorado years ago.had them Amarillo, Texas, and southern NM. They work great on dry, low humidity, days. If much humidity at all they just add moisture to the air and leave a damp hot place. The water evaporates and leaves the minerals contained therein behind. If you are someplace with very hard water you will have to clean lots of scale off pads and every other place water touched. This maintenance can get to be extensive. Don’t think soft water will cut down on scale because the residual salt in the softened water will corrode every metal it touches. For them to cool you will need about 3 square feet opening for air to exhaust for every thousand CFM.that means windows open for you to get a chance to cool. I’ve converted two homes from swamp cooler to refrigerated acnd and never want another swamp cooler as my only source of cooling.

a good summary, but regarding water softeners. A properly functioning water softener does NOT repeat NOT add any salt to the water!!!!!! they DO add Sodium (Na) to the water and while they remove the minerals that cause soap not to work as expected, (calcium and magnesium) they do no remove all minerals. so in areas with very hard water the resultant water still has minerals that will as you mention will spot surfaces.

I have had swamp coolers for about 45 years. Installed one in Denver, Colorado years ago.had them Amarillo, Texas, and southern NM. They work great on dry, low humidity, days. If much humidity at all they just add moisture to the air and leave a damp hot place. The water evaporates and leaves the minerals contained therein behind. If you are someplace with very hard water you will have to clean lots of scale off pads and every other place water touched. This maintenance can get to be extensive. Don’t think soft water will cut down on scale because the residual salt in the softened water will corrode every metal it touches. For them to cool you will need about 3 square feet opening for air to exhaust for every thousand CFM.that means windows open for you to get a chance to cool. I’ve converted two homes from swamp cooler to refrigerated acnd and never want another swamp cooler as my only source of cooling.

They will never cool like real AC.