Swamp Cooler

It was another hot day on Tuesday. Temperature in Morgan Hill was predicted to be 100 to 102, but shot up to 109 in the afternoon. Our readers probably are tired of reading about how Betty's rabbits are being carried in and out of her family room by now.

Betty received a few e-mails asking about the swamp cooler and why it is being used on her barn. Here is her reply:

The evaporative cooler or a swamp cooler is a device that draws outside air through a wet pad. Water is the cooling agent. If the entering air is dry enough, the results can be quite comfortable. The area to be cooled does not need to be closed off and the air is always fresh. The swamp cooler works best in dry areas, it does not work well in the places that have high humidity in the summer.

Swamp cooler could go from very small units to industrial size units. In CA, the larger units are routinely used in the fairgrounds because the buildings in the fairgrounds need to be kept open for the public. It requires less power to operate. The utility companies in CA such as PG&E are offering rebates for those homeowners who install a central unit in their homes.

I prefer swamp cooler to air conditioner mainly because of the "fresh air" feature. I consider ventilation as one of the most important element to set up a rabbit barn that promotes healthy rabbits. We now own three 4,000 cfm swamp coolers, each covers up to 1100 square feet.

In the top picture, the swamp cooler is placed behind a small maple tree in a covered area. This swamp cooler is installed on a window of our family room. It reduces the temperature in our family room by 15-20 degrees, and by about 5-10 degrees in other areas than the family room. The shady spot is perfect to install a swamp cooler.

In the second picture, a swamp cooler is placed on a cart just outside our garage. This is a temporary set up for the rabbits in the garage when our barn is being remodeled. The lesson of placing a swamp cooler at this location is that the full sun reduces its efficiency. The temperature in the garage is reduced by about 10 degrees instead of the normal 15-20 degrees.

Another swamp cooler is being taken out of its box. The third pictures shows the front where the air comes out. The fourth photo shows the inside of the swamp cooler which has a motor and a water pump. The fifth picture shows the "wet pad" which is called the "Aspen pad". The pads need to be replaced every couple of years to maintain the level of efficiency. This third swamp cooler is to be installed in our barn under remodeling. With the heat, we cannot take the temporary cooler in the garage to the barn for installation while the rabbits are still inside the garage, so we bought another one a few days ago.