Swamp Coolers

[suckolux]

We had one in the early 60s, through the ducts of the house, every room, it was big. About drove ocd me nuts, draining and washing out the pan all the time, very sensitive nose. Corroded the contacts on the tv tuner often too. When we went central a/c the ductwork came in very handy

 

[super-sweeper]

While not Swamp Conditioning units,

I have a biscuit load of old magazines I need to get scanning, with ads for Fedders and Chrysler air-temp ads, plus Chrysler,Ford, Lincoln,GE, Frigidaire, and DESOTO ads.


 


Would any of you like me to scan in those AC ads?

 

[arh1953]

Dear Super-sweeper

Yes please, we would all love it, when you're able!

 

[bee-vac]

We're back in business

Put the motor on today, and it works like a charm.

 

[bee-vac]

Another early one

This one it two toned

 

[bee-vac]

Motor mounting

Interesting where this manufacture chose to mount the motor. Check out the drip guard.

 

[bee-vac]

Came across this..

I like the color, not sure if it's original. Brown "faux wood" face says late 60's early 70's maybe? Not entirely sure. Would have to see the inside.

 

[bee-vac]

Another view.

Seems to be missing the knob on the left. Wonder if this is a two speed...

 

[bee-vac]

Vintage photo

Taken in 1963

 

[bee-vac]

New project

I ended up getting this one I found on Craig's list. It's going to be tricky finding a close match of the bright green this was originally painted.

 

[bee-vac]

Pic #2

Don't let it's rough exterior fool you, this will restor nicely.

 

[bee-vac]

Progress

Almost there...

 

[bee-vac]

I'm going with..

A two tone.

 

[bee-vac]

Another view

Another view

 

[Gr8DaneDad]

Nice restoration job. I would be lost without evaporative cooling here in the wastelands of the Northern Nevada Desert

 

[bee-vac]

Face

To keep up with the 1960's feel, I went with a cheerful copper tone.

 

[MikePdx]

Swamp Cooler

Nice old cooler. I love swamp coolers.

Two years ago, right before a hot spell, my living room window a/c decided to go *POP* and the control panel went dark. I was strapped for cash at the time, and didn't want to spend the hot spell in my bedroom.

I picked up some landscaping burlap at the Home Depot, folded it for several thicknesses, and made a window shade to go on the outside of the living room window. I had an old patio umbrella misting system laying around, so I clipped it to the shade on the opening part of the window. Turned on the water just enough to keep it wet, and put an old box fan on the inside sucking air through the wet burlap. It did stink the first couple of times, then the burlap aired and now it's working beautifully. It keeps my house in the low to mid 70s (upper 70s) on 100+ days, and I am in my third season. Took me an hour and about $20 to make.

Here's a pic from the inside (pardon the dirty fan).

 

[super-sweeper]

Hey Bee-Vac,

I just uploaded a Vintage FEDDERS air-conditioning ad in my vintage advertising super-scanning thread! Only 1 ad of MANY!

 

[DesertTortoise]

Go to this website and find out what the state of the art in evaporative coolers is now.

http://www.essickair.com/products/coolers/manufacturer/mastercool/aua5112/

Instead of thin aspen pads, these use either 8 inch or 12 inch thick cellulose media. They aren't pads, but blocks made up of layers of corrugated hard cellulose that the water and air circulate through. The one depicted is like the one on my home. It sits on the ground and is updraft into the houses ductwork. Each room has a register. It has a single inlet on the side and 12 inch thick media behind the inlet screen. It uses a big squirrel cage fan like other evaporative coolers but it's very quiet if you pay attention to servicing it carefully at the beginning of the season

It has a purge pump that automatically drains the water every 8 hours of use to reduce calcium build up and clean out the crud (I drain it into a drain system in my back yard). Today it was 106 degrees F outside and 70 degrees F in my house. My electric bill is under $60 a month with the thing running 24/7 even when I'm not home so my sweet little doggily-woggilies have a cool refuge during the day. As mentioned earlier the only drawback is that the couple of weeks we have really humid weather they don't cool very well and inside your house is about 99.99% humidity.

We have to drain them completely in the winter where I live in the high desert because it hard freezes and water left in the cooler damages things. We drain them and button them up tight for the winter.

 

[LionKCommander]

It's sad to see the evaporative cooler disappear here in El Paso I will never get rid of my Adobe air mastercool and my champion four sided A/C there much cheeper to run and much more reliable. My ultimate favorite cooler I have is my 45 cfm stainless steel Adobe air four sided cooler but it needs a new blower.

 

[Gr8DaneDad]

One of my neighbors was complaining today about his electric bill being over $400 and he only keeps the house at 80.... I nearly choked, my house never gets warmer than 75 and is usually between 68-70 and my biggest bill in the summer is around $70 and it's only that high because it includes the well and pumping enough water to keep the trees and garden going. Love my evaporative coolers.


 

 

[DesertTortoise]

The cooler had the inside of the house down to 66 degrees this morning. It will be triple digits by this afternoon but when I get home the house will be 70-71 degrees inside. It automatically adjusts blower speed depending on how far indoor temp is from the temp set on the thermostat. About every five or six weeks I have to go outside, shut it down, and snug up the screw holding the pulley on the fan shaft. It will sometimes work loose and start to talk to me. Other than the couple of weeks of high humidity they are pretty easy to live with and a darn sight cheaper than AC.

 

[marks_here]

It is after 12:30pm here & it's still 69 out this morning it was 55

 

[vintagekitchen]

oh I wish I wish..

You guys are so lucky. You dont know how many times I have wished that swamp coolers were a viable option here in kentucky. But everything I have read says they only work in low to mid range humidity. The constant high humidity here is worse than the heat itself, lol.

A 70 dollar electric bill sounds amazing. 2 months straight mine has been just over 160 dollars to cool a 900 square foot home using air conditioners. I can dream though....

 

[DesertTortoise]

We get a few weeks a year when a high pressure system over Utah and low pressure system off the coast combine to suck moisture up from the Gulf of California and it makes it humid and miserable in the desert. Big afternoon thunderstorms and the cooler doesn't cool very much. Then you suffer, or you go someplace that's air conditioned and hang out. The rest of the year it's great.

 

[bee-vac]

It's finally installed

It's up, and working great!

 

[bee-vac]

Face

I still need to find matching knobs though.

 

[bee-vac]

Portable cooler

Hot temperatures are here once again. Picked up a portable cooler from the 50's.

 

[LionKCommander]

That is a good lookin portable cooler. I wish I had good luck finding great vintage swamp coolers. It's hard finding a 15 year old AdobeAir cooler in fair shape.

 

[bee-vac]

ESSICK!

Here we go again, and just lookie what I found, it's an ESSICK!