Who knows how regularly I might post, but when I do it might be on subjects like physics, programming, the ethics of technological system, and other things where I believe I have something worth saying.
What the heck is a swamp cooler?
Also known as an "evaporative cooler" or "desert cooler", it's a low tech form of air conditioning. A large volume of air is forced through a wet filter and is cooled by the evaporation of the water in the filter.If—like me—you grew up in a humid climate, that probably sounds like a really stupid idea: the small drop in temperature you can expect simply doesn't compensate for making it even more humid. But in low humidity situations (like the ones you find in deserts) the story is very different.
I went to grad school in a desert, and I needed a really cheap apartment, which meant a swamp cooler. I was surprised by how well it worked.
OK, so ... why don't you want one?
At the same time I was going to grad school in the desert, the wonderful lady who was to become my wife was attending a tech college about two hours away. She also had a cheap apartment with a swamp cooler. She was also impressed by how well they cooled under those conditions, but she was allergic to the myriad bits of desert the thing blew into the building.Other down-sides include the large volume of fan-noise, the requirement that the building be leaky (the entering air has to get out ... but that negatively affects heating performance come winter), and the tendency of the filter to either grow mold or disintegrate in situ.
So when I had a job interview in the town where she went to school and called her to tell her it had gone well and I thought I might get an offer, she had only one thing to say
"No swamp coolers."The boss had spoken.
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