Evaporative cooling can be used to cool air in buildings and other areas without the need for a refrigerant-based cooling system. Evaporative coolers are also called swamp coolers. They work by moving air over or through water-soaked, evaporative cooling media pads. The pads evaporate water from the air and cool it. The cool air is then blown into the room while heated air exits through open windows and vents.
Evaporative Cooling: Benefits
Swamp cooler vs evaporative cooler is not there in fact, evaporative coolers, as well as swamp coolers, are typically less expensive than regular refrigeration-based ACs to install and operate. While central air conditioners are more expensive to install, their energy consumption is often one-quarter the cost.
Ventilation & Evaporative Cooling
Evaporative coolers bring in the air continuously that has been cooled and circulated by a fan. The warmer interior air is then allowed to escape through open windows or other ventilation. This is not the way air conditioning works. They circulate air inside a building and only work well if it is sealed.
Evaporative coolers will not be efficient in cooling a structure that does not have windows, doors, vents, or other openings to the outside. Even though these filters are less efficient, many evaporative coolers use swamp cooler filters to remove particles from the incoming air.
How To Get Water Supply
Evaporative coolers include a reservoir (or water tank) that circulates water onto the pads. The cooler keeps them hydrated while it is running, although portable swamp coolers have a tank that can be filled manually with a bucket and hose, multiple units can be linked to a continuous supply of water for automatic filling. Non-portable coolers, however, will require an ongoing supply.
Evaporative Cooler Sizing
In cubic feet per hour (CFM), the amount of air delivered by swamp coolers and evaporative coolers is measured. Energy Saver states that manufacturers typically recommend 20-40 air changes an hour, depending on the environment.
Here are two general guidelines that will help you to size your evaporative cooler.
- Multiply the square footage by the ceiling height, and divide by 2 to obtain the CFM rating needed for 30 air changes per hour.
- In a facility with 10-foot ceilings, 500 CFM of cooling power per square foot results in 30 air exchanges per hour.
Many manufacturers also provide model-specific information about the cooling capacity of their units.
There are many types of evaporative coolers: portable cooling, window cooling and whole-building cooling.
There Are Some Basic Evaporative Cool Designs
These coolers are also known as portable swamp coolers. They can be used outdoors, in manufacturing plants, or anywhere else that spot cooling is needed.
Window evaporative coolers are used extensively in homes and businesses.
This central evaporative cool is permanently installed and connected to ducting to distribute air through a building.
- Roofs can be fitted with central evaporative coolers that are down-discharge.
- For easy maintenance, central evaporative coolers with side-discharge can be placed on the sides of buildings as well as on roofs.
Two types of centrally evaporative cools can be classified:
- Evaporative coolers with multiple inlets have louvered on three to four sides. These inlets let air flow through them and are cooled through fibrous pads that are comparable to thin.
- Evaporative coolers with one intake pull air through one hole. The air then flows through a thicker honeycomb pad. The blower motors of single-inlet units are often larger, which allows for more airflow.
