Thursday, July 12, 2012

A Bad Time for Swamp Coolers

or Why a Rainstorm Is As Good As a Workout

A swamp cooler is a fine thing, if the water line doesn't split, and the belt doesn't break, and the pump doesn't give out, and the float doesn't sink, and the weather isn't too hot, and the humidity's really low.  We usually manage the last one out here pretty well, and when the stars are properly aligned and all the other things work out and the swamp cooler's chugging along, well, it's a fine thing.

If we're going to be technical (and you know me, I'm all about technical), we should really call it an evaporative cooler, that little box that sits on top of a great many houses in dry states.  (Dry as in climate, not Prohibition.)

"Swamp Cooler on a Hot Tin Roof"

In it is a pump, a fan, a water reservoir, and a set of pads.  The pump sends water over the pads, the fan blows air across them and into the ductwork, and as the moisture evaporates it cools the air.  The swamp cooler uses more water than none but not so much as to be entirely wrongheaded, and takes a lot less electricity than refrigerated air.  Especially when it doesn't work because the belt's broken, or the pump's given out, or...you get the picture.

A local bluegrass band called the Duke City* Swampcoolers has a CD titled Drained and Unplugged, which is a little play on words because at the end of summer and before the first frost, swamp coolers have to be...drained and unplugged.  The CD has a cut called "Swampcooler Breakdown," which is another little play on words because not only is a breakdown an uptempo instrumental number in bluegrass, but also swamp coolers tend to...break down.  When the Swampcoolers travel to non-western states, people ask them if a swamp cooler is some kind of a mixed drink.  You see just what an endless source of good humor the swamp cooler can be.  At least, on the love days of the love-hate relationship.

All to say, what with monsoon season being upon us and all, the air is pretty humid these days.

Humidity!

In fact, it's humid enough (sometimes 50%! or even more!) that the swamp cooler isn't working very well.  Which is fine, really.  I find that I don't particularly want it this time of year.  The weather is still hot but not miserable.  By afternoon clouds have moved in and hidden the sun, and the wind has picked up.  It's nice to open windows and let the breeze and the drone of cicadas in, and sometimes the smell of rain.

Of course, monsoon season in New Mexico doesn't mean "all day rain" or anything.  It's the desert version of the monsoon, and not anything to be all that impressed by (unless you live in the desert).
 
Not rainy.

It mostly means clouds and thunder in the afternoon, with isolated showers every few days.  Those showers make you work hard.  With all the windows open, the start of a rainstorm means a mad dash inside the house to close the ones on the rainy side, then a sprint up the stairs to close the ones there, and then a lot of mopping up of water on windowsills.  A few minutes later the rain stops, so you quickly run through the whole house, upstairs and down, opening windows again.  Another shower breezes through:  another mad dash to close the downstairs windows, another sprint upstairs to do the same, another mopping upstairs and down.  Just as you get everything set, the rain changes direction mid-storm.  Mad dashing, stair sprinting, window closing, window opening, mopping.  It's all very good for you, in a breathless sort of way.  A pity that I'm more of a dawdler than a dasher at heart, but there you are.  Like all good things, rain takes effort.  I'm certainly not complaining.  And for all that our rainstorms are hit or miss and stop and start and a lot of work for not much in the way of measurable rewards—

They're still more reliable than a swamp cooler.

________________
* The city of Albuquerque was named for the Spanish Duke of Alburquerque**, and one of its nicknames is Duke City.
** The city of Albuquerque used to be spelled Alburquerque, just like the Duke, but an "r" was removed so that the spelling would be easier, or so says urban legend.  Because the r's are definitely the tricky part.***
*** Other theories about the r float around from time to time.  One involves prunes.

23 comments:

  1. I love your stories! Such fun to read and reflect. I can just "see" you running up and down opening and closing windows:)

    Blessings.

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    1. Thanks, Elaine. Last night I made half a dozen trips up and down in about 20 minutes, because the rain just couldn't make up its mind!

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  2. I had a swamp cooler way back when I was quite young, and it did not necessarily give a cooling effect since we have such high humidity here. The other (cheap) way of air conditioning without the expense of air conditioning I've used is the attic fan. Oh, how wonderful it was when the sun went down, and the air cooled off, and the attic fan was turned on to push out the hot air and let in the cooler air. Ah, relief! Of course, I also know about just keeping the windows up, and having to run around and mop when the rains come through. Air conditioning is just not as exciting somehow!

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    1. Holley, air conditioning is not exciting at all! Comfortable, mind you, and when it's over 95 that counts for a lot... But where's the adventure?? Of course, if the rain clouds just looked convincing we'd close the windows in advance... They never really do, do they, until it's too late. I've always heard great things about attic fans. My house has a flat roof, so no attic, but without the peak it doesn't trap hot air in the same way, either. I can't imagine a swamp cooler doing much but making things swampier in your part of Texas. I've heard they're most efficient when humidity is under 20%.

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  3. Very witty, "swamp cooler on a hot tin roof." I think New Mexico is the only place where they call air conditioning refrigerated air. I haven't had to turn my swamp cooler on the last few days because of the cooler weather, but I have a lot of ceiling fans to compensate. I've had to make the mad dash to shut windows, too.

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    1. I wondered about the refrigerated air thing, GirlSprout. I actually thought that maybe while I was away in Vermont where A/C isn't used as much, the names for things changed. Glad to know it's just local dialect. I'd never have thought when I was 20 I could get really excited about ceiling fans, but aren't they great? It's hard to imagine sleeping through a summer night without one. The mad window dash could become an official sport. Or maybe a dance.

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  4. We had a swamp coller in AZ...it always confused me...I don't think it helped much when temps hit 115...now we have 90s humidity and no rain...zip..nada...we need a bit of a monsoon here

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    1. Donna, I've heard that swamp coolers can only lower the air temp by 20°, so at 115 I suppose "they're better than nothing" is the best that can be said about them. Keep thinking how happy your Hatch green chiles are going to be... hope you get some rain soon, though. I read today that something like 26 states are having "natural disaster" level drought this summer.

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  5. Sounds like you need a bungalow! I have a hilarious vision of you scurrying up and down stairs with a stack of soggy towels and cloths.

    Swamp coolers are not a common sight in Seattle - can't imagine why?! Rain is a common sight, however, and we're used to having horizontal rain at times which also sends us on the hunt for old towels. At least that sort of rain waters the plants under the eaves.

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    1. Karen, I don't know whose bright idea it was to buy a two-story townhouse. (Ahem.) Adding humidity to the air to cool it down doesn't sound like something you all need to do in Seattle, no... Horizontal rain is its own adventure, but maybe more for connoisseurs.

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  6. You must be as fit as fit can be, Stacy. Never heard of a swamp cooler before - but then, I guess, why would I? In Sri Lanka a few years ago, Jim and I would sit in a bar (The Ice Bear, in case you wondered) in the early evening, before dinner and sip gin and tonics. For half an hour or so, regular as clockwork, the monsoon clouds would gather and rain would fall so very heavily, that we'd forget to sip our drinks. An incredible sight and seemingly fake; it was so OTT. Especially after the intense sun and heat (and humidity) of the day. So when you write of monsoons, I tend to think of Sri Lanka and Thailand. I suppose though, comparatively, NM rainfall must have a similar 'stop-what-you're-doing-and-watch' effect. Except for all that running up and down stairs. Dave

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    1. Dave, these rainstorms should have me in great swimsuit shape by the time sweater season rolls around again. (Why can't monsoon season come in April??) I kind of wish we could come up with a different name for our rainy season, because it seems so ludicrous to call it by the same thing as the real monsoon. Same wind patterns, completely different experience! I would love to see what you saw in Sri Lanka (from indoors)--it really sounds awe-inspiring. NM rainfall is incredibly exciting, but not awe-inspiring. More blink-and-you'll-miss-it.

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  7. I love techinal stuff! (almost more than gardening).
    Thanks for explaining the inner workings of a swamp cooler, I've never heard of such a contraption ...
    but what I really need for my garden is a swamp maintenace kit.

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    1. b-a-g, I'm so glad the technical introduction to swamp cooler-dom pleased! The amazing thing about them is how simple they are. A two-sentence description pretty well covers it. A swamp maintenance kit, on the other hand, sounds like the kind of thing that should come with a small alligator and some lily pads.

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  8. Your dash seems familiar. I am running outside to grab the tomatoes I am sun drying on the deck because the sudden rain has begun to fall. I am looking forward to an easier time of it for all of us.

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    1. Michelle, the dash begins to seem universal. Hope the tomatoes were none the worse for wear!

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  9. Stacy, I had never heard of swamp coolers before, so you have made a contribution to my education. I'm also amazed that, before the heat and humidity got here last week, Maine had lower relative humidity (37%) than the New Mexico desert! -Jean

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    1. Jean, I wondered whether you might have come across swamp coolers in CA--I've never known whether they were much in use there. My nephew in San Diego certainly doesn't mention them, but he's pretty smug about the whole California thing and might not acknowledge any imperfection (like excessive heat) in the weather at all. The whole idea with the monsoon is that normal wind patterns reverse. Once the wind starts coming up from the Gulf, we stop feeling like desert!

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  10. Hi Stacy, that's pretty funny. It's the first time I've heard of "swamp coolers", the name doesn't inspire confidence and reliability. Water-activated window hinges sound exactly like the thing you need.

    Sunil

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    1. Hi Sunil, no, the name swamp cooler wouldn't ever make one think of improvements in any way at all. Your idea of water-activated window hinges is brilliant! Judging from the number of comments above, of people in all kinds of climates with the same dashing-and-mopping problem, there is a huge market waiting for deliverance...

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  11. In most states that top photo depicting a swamp cooler on a tin roof is a building code violation, the draw of air produced by the unit will draw in the fumes from the nearby exhaust vent. however about 70-80% of all swamp cooler installations have some sort of building code violation. :)

    just thought I would share a random fact :)

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    1. Oh, that's interesting, Kenneth--and par for the course around here, I'm afraid! Thanks for visiting and sharing that random fact. Feel free to toss more of 'em around, if you like!

      I am a little grumpy at swamp coolers today, because the fan on mine just went out...

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  12. In most states that top photo depicting a swamp cooler on a tin roof is a building code violation, the draw of air produced by the unit will draw in the fumes from the nearby exhaust vent. however about 70-80% of all swamp cooler installations have some sort of building code violation. :)

    just thought I would share a random fact :)

    ReplyDelete