An “Evaporative Cooler” or “Swamp” cooler is not an “Air Conditioner”. Evaporative coolers work on the principle of large volumes of air passing through a “PAD” saturated with water. This causes a great amount of evaporation. This evaporation cools the air as it passes through the pads, thus the name: Evaporative Cooler or sometimes called a “Swamp Cooler”. This kind of cooling is very efficient and, at a fraction of the energy cost of Refrigeration cooling, is very economical and effective in dry climates, but it does not do as well in humid or damp climates.

In humid or damp climates you need “Refrigeration” cooling, or usually called Air Conditioning. Air Conditioners condition the air by recycling it through heat exchange tubes, filled with coolant, that pull the heat and moisture out of the air, much like your refrigerator. In some climates like Phoenix, AZ some homes use both. At certain times of the year they use refrigeration due to the relatively high humidity and evaporative coolers during times of dry periods, thus savings much money on their electric bills.

There are many factors that can affect the effectiveness of your evaporative cooler. The main thing is something that you have no control over, that is, as mentioned earlier – humidity. Evaporative coolers, through the evaporation process add moisture (humidity) to the air in your building. Air can only hold so much moisture. If it is humid outside, the air going through your evaporative cooler pads will be limited on how much more moisture it can hold; thus reducing it’s ability to cool your building. If it is very dry outside, your cooler can make it downright cold in the building. While humidity is something we can do nothing about, in the pages of Easy Cooler Care we will cover the things that you can do to keep your evaporative cooler running properly. We will also cover some things you can do to increase your evaporative cooler’s efficiency and effectiveness.

Compared to air conditioners, evaporative coolers are much less expensive to purchase are far less costly to operate and, as we are here to learn about servicing your evaporative cooler yourself, they are very easy and inexpensive to service and repair. This isn’t rocket science!! There are no special technical training courses or licenses required, like in refrigeration, just the simple steps that I will outline in the pages of Easy Cooler Care. Don’t be intimidated by the size of the Easy Cooler Care book, most of it is comprised of photos. It is very simple to service and repair evaporative coolers. That is why I titled the book EASY Cooler Care. I have included as many photos as I can, plus lots of helpful “Tips & Notes” and of course, the “Enhancements” section, that will help you improve the performance of your evaporative cooler and get the most cooling out of it.