Date:         Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:08:26 -0400
Reply-To:     Mike <mbucchino@CHARTER.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Mike <mbucchino@CHARTER.NET>
Subject:      Re: coolers from swampy.net
Comments: To: Jake de Villiers <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
              reply-type=original

  I lived in Phoenix, AZ for 12 years.  There's times of the year when the
humidity is so high, that a swamp cooler won't work.  They operate on the
priciple of adding cool moisture to the dry air (humidifying), giving you
the feeling of evaporative cooling.
  Imagine spraying a fine mist of water on your hot skin.  It works; up to a
point.  If the outside humidity is higher than about 30%, it's practically
useless against the heat.
  My home had a swamp cooler 'piggybacked' onto the roof-mounted central AC
duct.
  When using the swamp cooler, you had to leave windows open to allow air to
flow out.  I had ceiling 'up-ducts' installed to allow us to keep the
windows closed (and locked!) to prevent break-ins.
  AC, OTOH, needs the windows closed to recirculate the same interior air
over and over again to be able to properly cool it down and de-humidify it.
  These evaporative coolers would have little or no use here in New England,
where hot dry days are few and far between.  Even Phoenix has more hot humid
days now, due to all the expansion (lawns, pools, golf courses, etc.).
  Bisbee, AZ is out the boonies; far from the big city and out of the
valley, up in the higher desert terrain.  It's definitely drier there, than
in the 'valley of the sun'.

HTH,

Mike B.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jake de Villiers" <crescentbeachguitar@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 12:44 PM
Subject: Re: coolers from swampy.net


> My father had a swamp cooler on the roof of his house in Bisbee, Arizona
> and
> it worked very well.
>
> When its 115 degrees out, it only needs a 10 - 15 percent reduction to
> feel
> more comfortable.  And you can still go outside without being flattened by
> the heat.....
>
> On Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 9:30 AM, Florian Speier <groups.florian@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I am about to buy a cooler from swampy.net, specifically the mw1 or t154.
>> While I know that this is not real ac, which I plan to add next winter or
>> so, I wonder how good they are in the american west. Anyone have any
>> experience?
>>
>> Florian
>>
>
>
>
> --
> Jake
> 1984 Vanagon GL
> 1986 Westy Weekender "Dixie"
> Crescent Beach, BC
> www.crescentbeachguitar.com
> http://subyjake.googlepages.com/mydixiedarlin%27