How it works · 18 November 2024
Why evaporative coolers need open windows
The cooler is an intake. Windows are the exhaust. Close them and you have built a humidifier with a loud fan and no way for the moisture to leave.
The physics
How it works
Wet-bulb temperature, open windows, and why a cooler is not a reverse-cycle air conditioner in a different box.
How it works · 5 November 2024
Direct versus indirect evaporative cooling
Direct systems wet the air you live in. Indirect and two-stage machines keep moisture out of the supply stream and chase a lower limit, at a price most Australian houses still will not pay.
How it works · 22 October 2024
Evaporative coolers versus reverse-cycle air conditioning
One machine opens the house and adds moisture. The other seals it and wrings moisture out. Climate, smoke, water and winter decide which one you actually want.
How it works · 8 October 2024
How evaporative cooling works in an Australian house
A ducted evaporative cooler is a wet-pad weather machine: outdoor air, latent heat, a rooftop fan, and an open house that has to let the moisture leave.
Questions this desk keeps hearing
- Is evaporative cooling the same as air conditioning?
- No. An evaporative cooler humidifies incoming air and needs the house to exhaust that air. A refrigerated or reverse-cycle system dehumidifies a sealed room.
- Why do the windows have to stay open?
- The cooler is adding moisture. If that air has nowhere to leave, humidity rises, cooling stalls and rooms feel clammy.
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