Friday, November 18, 2011

Advantages and Disadvantages of Using an Evaporative Cooler

There are many ways to cool a room or home by using different cooling techniques or machines. The most common ways of cooling is evaporative cooling and air conditioning.

Air conditioning usually makes use of a refrigerant, compressed by a motor to transfer the inside heat to the outside of the home. While evaporative cooling uses a fan which blows air through a moist pad or a mesh to transfer inside heat from the air to the water using mesh by a process of evaporation. Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of using an evaporative cooler:

Advantages:
Less Expensive: The evaporative cooler is less expensive to install as well as operate than an air conditioning. The cost for installation and cost of operating is half that of an air conditioning.

Energy Consumption: It saves your electricity bills as it works in a more normal way of cooling which does not use refrigerants and also hazardous gases that damage the atmosphere and the ozone layer unlike an air conditioner. In this, the power consumption is limited only to the fans and the water pumps.

Ease of Maintenance: The fans and the water pumps are the only two mechanical parts that are used in most basic evaporative coolers, both of which can be repaired at low cost and often can be repaired by an home owner.

Ventilation: The process of direct evaporation is involved in pulling the bad air into the cooler through the damp evaporative pads. So, proper maintenance of mesh or pads acts as an effective air filter which is capable of removing variety of contaminants in air that causes pollution.

Disadvantages:
Discomfort: These evaporative cooler works differently for different situations. These systems are generally not advisable for humid areas as they will make the air even more uncomfortable by adding to the humidity. It does not use an homogenous level of cooling throughout the room.

Supply of water: Evaporative coolers require constant supply of water for the pads to make them wet. Also this water supply may not give more cooling mostly in hot summers. Replacement of pads is necessary for keeping it cool and the cooler itself needs to be drained, as well as cleaned periodically for preventing bad odors that are blown into the room.

The above mentioned advantages and disadvantages have to be considered while purchasing an evaporative cooler.

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