Evaporative Coolers

You’re familiar with the conventional air conditioner found in most residential and commercial buildings: a split system that circulates refrigerant to absorb heat from inside and exhaust it to the outside. These are effective ways to provide indoor relief in hot weather—but they are not the only type of central cooling systems available. Your home might benefit from an alternative system, an evaporative cooler (also called a swamp cooler).

Baxter Comfort Solutions is an experienced professional HVAC company that works with evaporative coolers along with conventional ACs. If you’re looking for swamp cooler installation in Baxter, IA or the surrounding areas in the “golden circle,” we’re the people to call first. We provide complete service for cooling systems, from new installations to routine maintenance.

What Makes a Swamp Cooler Different from a Standard AC?

A swamp cooler doesn’t use chemical refrigerant for cooling, nor does not move heat out of a building the way that the familiar air conditioner does. It instead uses the effect of water on air to lower the air’s temperature. When you stand near a lake or other large body of water and feel a cool breeze blowing off its surface, you’re experiencing the power of evaporative cooling: the lower temperature of the water draws heat out of the air.

The way this works in an evaporative cooling system is that fans draw outside air into the system, which is usually mounted on the roof of a house. The fan moves the air over pads that are kept wet through the action of pumps. The water lowers the temperature of the air, which then continues into the ventilation system and the rest of the house.

What Advantages Does an Evaporative Cooler Offer?

This is the most important question. After all, you don’t want to change from a standard AC to a swamp cooler unless there are good reasons. There are two major advantages to consider:

• Lower energy use: An evaporative cooler uses much less power than a standard air conditioner. The only electrical power it needs is for the fan and the water pumps, where an air conditioner requires large amounts of power to run the compressor. If a home is suited to an evaporative cooler, it can save large amounts on energy use over the summer.
• Humidity control: Swamp coolers add moisture into the air through the water as they work. This is beneficial for houses that experience dry conditions in summer.

Keep in mind that evaporative coolers won’t work for all homes. They’re less effective in humid conditions (ironically, they aren’t at all useful in swamps) and can struggle with extreme temperatures.

Will an Evaporative Cooler Work for My Home?

That’s a good question, and we can’t provide an answer for your specific home unless we know more about it. Your home might not be ideally suited to the way a swamp cooler runs. Or it might be perfectly suited to a swamp cooler’s advantages. The way to find out is to contact us and set up an appointment. No matter what, we’ll find a cooling solution for your house that will satisfy you.

Baxter Comfort Solutions provides a full range of services—including repairs, maintenance, and replacements—for evaporative coolers and other air conditioning systems. We want to make you a customer for life in the Baxter, IA area!