Evaporative cooler vs. single room air conditioner

[LouisEly]

Evaporative coolers

 

Does anyone know anything about or have any experience with evaporative coolers? They cost half of what a portable single-room air conditioner costs. It says it is up to 75% more energy efficient than an air conditioner; the real concern though is 1) how fast/effective is it, and 2) how quiet is it? A single-room air conditioner I can just blast for 30 minutes before I go to bed; if the evaporative cooler works just as well it will save me $200 but if it does not get the room as cold or takes a lot longer it might not be worth it unless it is quiet enough to run while I sleep. I'm just looking for a small unit for my bedroom (13'x13'). Thanks!

[pitchleague]

"Swamp" coolers, as they are affectionately called in Arizona, are great in the desert. But if you get humidity, they are completely worthless. They just circulate the humid air around. My wife had one before we got married. I'll try to get her to post about it.

 

Oh, and don't run it at night or you'll freeze your toes off (my wife did that in her old place before we were together. Well, her toes didn't freeze off, of course.)

[logan82]

I read up up them a little bit and most of the information seems to indicate that unless the humidity is under 30% they are not going to cool much.

[hammytime]

For most of the year, in Arizona, evap coolers are great. They cool quickly and quietly, and they can make your room/house (I lived in a mobile home) extremely cold (I found that out the hard way, having left it on overnight shortly after I moved to Arizona). The only time it didn't work was during our monsoon season, when humidity climbed above 20% daily. In the late afternoon/early evening during monsoon season, I was more comfortable outside in the shade than I was in my house. If you're looking at getting an evap cooler anywhere but the dry climate of the desert, I would not recommend it.

[LouisEly]

Thanks!

[cwolf2012]

What if you put a dehumidifier in the room right next to it? Or two?

 

I'm not saying that it would be efficient enough or worth it to do it, I'm just curious if it would work.

[LouisEly]

By the time you add the cost of both (plus the space both will take up), you're better off getting the air conditioner.

 

On a related note, does anyone know if humidity affects air purifiers? I have a Sharper Image air purifier I got three years ago and it runs on static trapping the particles as the air flow moves through it, however it seem to work great (meaning quiet) in the winter however in the humid times it seems to buzz and make a lot more noise. I don't know if that is due to humidity, in which case it makes no sense to get a different one, or if it is due to the machine breaking down over time (in which it makes sense to replace).