Small tip to my northern neighbors. Swamp coolers. Essentially a fan blowing across a medium of water. Crazy low power consumption compared to AC. The only caveat is humidity. It works by essentially exchangeing water for thermal energy. So if its already humid it won’t work. But if the humidity is below %40, you can cool a room by up to 6 or 7 C
TIL: Most of Canada is humid, had no clue. Thought countries near the arctics didn’t have to worry about that.
I think it would probably help if, when you turn it off at night once temperatures cool down, to turn off the water pump a while before the fan, so the medium has a chance to fully dry and stay that way overnight. It should be hard for mold to grow that way.
What do you mean by ‘clean up’? Is that estimate based on anything? I don’t think anyone is cleaning swamp coolers more than twice a year when connecting/disconnecting the water lines seasonally, I know I don’t, not sure what that would mean with respect to the mediums since they have running water moving over them while in use anyway and it’s either an accordioned cardboard thing or a mat of what looks like straw so it’s not like you can scrub it without it coming apart. Never noticed mold. It isn’t actually a damp enclosed space, they dry out very fast since evaporation is what they are designed for and they are open to the outside air.
True true. I always look fo the ones that use the cardboard medium. Those are cheap and easy to replace. I have no idea how often to replace them, I’ve never used one for more than 2 days.
Might be different in places like the praries, but where I am, the humidity can add another 5°C-10°C on those sweltering hot days.
And its not necessarily being by a big body of water that is a factor in humidex values. In fact, being by a big body of water tends to have a moderating effect on the weather.
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Small tip to my northern neighbors. Swamp coolers. Essentially a fan blowing across a medium of water. Crazy low power consumption compared to AC. The only caveat is humidity. It works by essentially exchangeing water for thermal energy. So if its already humid it won’t work. But if the humidity is below %40, you can cool a room by up to 6 or 7 C
TIL: Most of Canada is humid, had no clue. Thought countries near the arctics didn’t have to worry about that.
There’s some concern about cleaning the sponge/absorbance medium as that’s a fantastic area for mold growth.
Not a barrier but something for consideration
I think it would probably help if, when you turn it off at night once temperatures cool down, to turn off the water pump a while before the fan, so the medium has a chance to fully dry and stay that way overnight. It should be hard for mold to grow that way.
It’ll be harder for sure but mold like cool damp places to grow so anytime you have such an environment you’ll be fighting that battle.
Definitely a good counter measure to help limit it but I’d estimate you’ll likely add a day or two before you need to clean up.
What do you mean by ‘clean up’? Is that estimate based on anything? I don’t think anyone is cleaning swamp coolers more than twice a year when connecting/disconnecting the water lines seasonally, I know I don’t, not sure what that would mean with respect to the mediums since they have running water moving over them while in use anyway and it’s either an accordioned cardboard thing or a mat of what looks like straw so it’s not like you can scrub it without it coming apart. Never noticed mold. It isn’t actually a damp enclosed space, they dry out very fast since evaporation is what they are designed for and they are open to the outside air.
True true. I always look fo the ones that use the cardboard medium. Those are cheap and easy to replace. I have no idea how often to replace them, I’ve never used one for more than 2 days.
This might not be the best idea, as a lot of the extreme heat is due to humidity (at least in a lot of the country).
Damn really? I didn’t know that. I guess it does make sense with all the water front.
Might be different in places like the praries, but where I am, the humidity can add another 5°C-10°C on those sweltering hot days.
And its not necessarily being by a big body of water that is a factor in humidex values. In fact, being by a big body of water tends to have a moderating effect on the weather.
Damn. Learning multiple things today
Winnipeg here, we get serious humidity index increases… and nasty wind chills. Last summer was as hot and humid as I can remember.
Fall is nice. :)
Unfortunately much of Canada is too humid for swamp coolers to work.