AC vs. Evaporative Water Coolers: How to Save Money

If you own an evaporative water cooler in Phoenix, AZ, you might be wondering how this type of cooling system works and why it tends to save people money when compared to traditional air conditioning systems. Here’s what you need to know.

How it works

Many homes in the United States have either a central air conditioning system or an evaporative cooling unit. The type of cooling system that’ll work best for your space depends on certain factors, including air temperature, water temperature, airflow and humidity, as well as the amount of already existing moisture in the air.

Let’s say it’s an 80-degree day. If the air is dry, the breeze may be chillier than normal, but that same breeze will offer little to no relief in humid conditions. Your body produces moisture through perspiration, so on a dry day your body can cool itself through evaporation. On humid days, the air has less room to evaporate all the extra water. As such, it stays on the surface of your skin, which makes you feel damp and clammy instead of cool.

The great thing about evaporative cooling is that it can work almost anywhere. That said, this type of cooling system is most efficient in drier climates. Here’s a fun fact: evaporative cooling was a popular option for homes in the Early American Southwest, except they would soak sheer drapes in cool water and hang them in front of open windows. The warm, dry desert wind would blow in, filter through the moist drapes and reduce the air temperature inside the house. However, hot and humid conditions created a challenge. Cooling methods over the following years proved costly in terms of parts, power use and energy bills, until the modern-day evaporative cooler came onto the scene.

Save money and electricity

Some homes have both an air conditioning unit and an evaporative cooling system. The logic here is that people can use the AC in some weather conditions and switch to the evaporative cooler when the air is too dry. Remain comfortable while using less energy and saving money on your bills!

The simplicity of an evaporative cooler

Different units run at varying efficiencies. While systems may differ in some ways, they all include the following components:

• Media: The media pad is made of a material designed to be saturated with water. Air must be able to enter, pass through and be cooled through evaporation.
• Fan or blower: The unit needs a part that can move the air, typically a fan or centrifugal blower powered by an electric motor. It moves the air through the media pad, and from there the cool air gets dispersed into your living space.
• Reservoir for water: Evaporative coolers need a way to distribute water to the pad. The most popular systems have a reservoir and use a small pump to recirculate the water in the reservoir over the media.

Call Premier Industries Inc. today for information about installing an evaporative water cooler in Phoenix, AZ!

Categorised in: Evaporative Water Coolers

This post was written by Mike Nicolini