I’ve written about how well evaporative coolers (aka swamp coolers) work where I live, and how to get the most out of them. But getting our swamp cooler installed correctly onto our new house two years ago was a comedy of errors because fewer HVAC (heating, ventilation, air condition) installers are experienced in their installation. It seems that most HVAC dealers and installers are strongly pushing more costly, and less energy efficient, methods for cooling in our dry southwest region, such as heat pumps and central air. There are specialized dealers for swampers around here, who also are very knowledgeable in installations. But when the general contractor has accepted a good HVAC bid from someone who is installing both the furnace and your cooler, you get what you get. We got someone with a crew who had probably never installed a swamp cooler before. I knew more about it than they did. So here’s what happened.
The first thing we noticed on one of our summer trips to visit the construction site was the crappy place that they cut the ceiling vent in the great room. Unfortunately, once it was cut, it was too late - it would have involved too much time and expense to patch and relocate. It is only a few feet east of our island cook top, so it blows right onto the stove when we are cooking – we usually end up having to turn it off while preparing meals. The vent should have been placed at least 4-6 feet further south on the roof; that location would have actually been more centrally placed so air can more readily ventilate into the guest and master bedroom wings of our home. But, we had to live with it, so we do.
The second thing, which I noticed while walking the dogs on our dirt road, was that the actual unit looked “off” level. Swamp coolers have to be level or they leak, and they don’t retain enough water in the trough to wet the aspen pads, which means poor cooling. Since the solar installers were working on the roof, I asked that they use their level on the swamper and tell me how far off it was – it was VERY off! We told the contractor, who called the HVAC installer, who sent a few of his crew to fix it (this was a 90 mile one way trip). They came and supposedly fixed it. The next day I could see that it was still not level. So, the HVAC installer himself (owner of the company) came out to look at it. He was so embarrassed – he had made a vent extension that was specially cut to fit the slight backward slant of our mostly flat roof. His installers had put that vent on backwards. He flipped it around, and said it is now fixed. Well, it still wasn’t level, so they came out again, and “fixed” it again – and it still wasn’t level the next day. Meanwhile, I asked the owner “have you ever installed a swamp cooler before?” He dodged my question somewhat, but it was pretty clear in his reluctance to give me a straight answer that his crew hadn’t, and that he also had little to no experience. So out they came again, the owner and one of his best installers. They “fixed” it, and then watched it for a half hour. Over that half hour, the unit slowly moved out of level! The problem – they hadn’t bolted it down (DUH!!!!). The roof membrane that was slightly overlapped into the top of the vent would compress for a while, then slowly push up on the unit, making it unlevel. Once the unit was bolted down, there were no further problems. It also won’t blow off our roof in the wild winds we get here. So, four 180 mile round trips, hours of wasted labor paid (out of our pocket), because they didn’t know how to install the cooler. If we ever have to install another swamper, we will make sure the installer knows what they are doing.
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