What is a swamp cooler?

When I worked in HVAC in Cali and covered Nevada we replaced a bunch of them. They are only worthwhile where there is low humidity, and only cool about 20 - 30 degrees from the outside temperature. The humidity they put out will make you feel like your in a sauna if the humidity isn't low enough. In the wrong application they will make an area moldy real fast. Cheap, very simple and low cost to run. They are all over the desert areas. Swamp part comes from water and air and high humidity like in a swap, and can make you feel like your are living in a swap.

What I don't get is why on the west cost do they put them on the roof, but most other states they are on the ground. Never understood why so many HVAC and swap coolers are put on the roof. What a pain when you need to replace your roof you have to hire a HVAC tech to remove them and put them back.
 
Jon Samson said:
When I worked in HVAC in Cali and covered Nevada we replaced a bunch of them. They are only worthwhile where there is low humidity, and only cool about 20 - 30 degrees from the outside temperature. The humidity they put out will make you feel like your in a sauna if the humidity isn't low enough. In the wrong application they will make an area moldy real fast. Cheap, very simple and low cost to run. They are all over the desert areas. Swamp part comes from water and air and high humidity like in a swap, and can make you feel like your are living in a swap.

What I don't get is why on the west cost do they put them on the roof, but most other states they are on the ground. Never understood why so many HVAC and swap coolers are put on the roof. What a pain when you need to replace your roof you have to hire a HVAC tech to remove them and put them back.
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123 degrees to 81 is a 42 degree difference. The pictures above were taken seconds apart.

They have to be tuned right to work at that efficiency. Fan has to be running slow enough to match the water flow. Many times I see guys running the fan at top speed and that is too fast for the water and pads to keep saturated. Too slow and you don't get enough air flow.

Then the right media has to be in place. Aspen pads will cool a full 15 degrees better than synthetic pads. I have tested them all.

The media has to be evenly distributed with no gaps and ALL the drip slots have to run evenly

Lastly, the exhaust area has to match with the airflow. I have 28 square feet of exhaust at the opposite end of the shop. That is just about perfect for the fan speed. If I shut half of that off the temp goes up about 8 degrees. If I open the garage door more than a foot the temp goes up all the way to an increase of 19 degrees if I leave it open all the way.

The humidity level in my shop is 16% tonight after it has run all day. Hardly a swamp. Although using one in an office will make your printer misfeed and get paper jams because of the increased humidity.

That is why they are such a valuable commodity in the desert.

It will not work worth a darn during our monsoon season though when it rains in July. Fortunately the rain makes the ambient temperature tolerable anyway.

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The only explanation I have ever heard about the roof issue is because of the theory of hot air rising.

It doesn't make any sense to me either. Our AC units are on the ground, but that is rare here

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