Cooling devices have been in the market for long. It is hard to imagine a house or office without a cooling unit installed, especially in hot or humid areas. Often we land on comparative analysis to finalize which one we should bring home. Let us help you by drawing a one on one comparison based on common features of both.
Features Comparison
Swamp cooler vs. air conditioner comparisons happen all the time. People wonder that if they have been using or seeing other people using air conditioners for ages, then what the great reasons for switching to swamp coolers are. Let us draw a wise feature comparison to prove how swamp coolers win over air conditioners.
1. Cooling Mechanism
Some consumers are not aware of the hazardous active ingredient that is used to alter the temperature of air while they are on the market to buy one. AC uses refrigerant cooling gases, which do not produce any odor as compared to cooking gas. Hence, they may lead to a potential hazard and health issues if leakage happens.
How swamp coolers work though is they use simple water and evaporative process to cool down the air. There is no health or safety issue involved; all you have to do is to ensure the cleaning of moisture pads and the availability of clean water.
2. Electricity Consumption
Cooling devices are not a luxury item; rather, they have become a necessity due to the ever-changing climate. Yet, it does not fall within everyone’s budget. Not only is the base price of fixed ACs higher, but in addition, the overall product cost becomes heavy on pocket due to high electricity consumption. Point to ponder is that high electricity consumption is not just an issue for the individual who is bearing the bills; also, the environment is at greater risk due to this.
On the other side, swamp coolers do not have any heavy machinery involved in the structure, so they are pretty energy efficient as well as low on budget.
3. Weather and Environmental Factors
The climate of the surroundings of your residential area plays a vital role in the selection of the cooling unit. For dry areas, air conditioners are not a good choice as they tend to dry out the air and may cause skin-related issues such as dryness, etc.
Therefore, if you live in a dry climate and have AC installed, you might need to have a humidifier to void the dryness effect of the air conditioner. Another issue with the conditioners is that if you do not clean or replace filters timely, you must be breathing in impure air. Consequently, continuous exposure to impure air may also lead to health issues.
However, swamp coolers are a great source of purified fresh air as they can operate quite well with open windows and bring fresh air from outside. On top of that, the moisture pads and water evaporation process helps to keep the ideal humidity level of your place.
4. Maintenance Schedule
There are multi-level and quite frequent cleaning and maintenance schedules for air conditioners. You are required to clean the filters once or twice a month, which in case of fixed ACs, is quite a hassle.
Whereas the swamp coolers neither have any complex cooling material involved nor the cleaning is any technical. You can simply get the moisture pads and filters removed from the cooler and clean them with water and soap. Additionally, you need to ensure clean water supply to the water tank and change water frequently to get the fresh air.
5. Noisy Operation
Air conditioners produce noise that increases with the passage of the time. These noises can be loud, distractive, and cause disturbance to those who have short attention span issues. At night, you might not be able to sleep properly due to the audible sounds coming out of your air conditioner.
In swamp coolers, the motor that keeps the fan running produces a minimal sound. Initially, the sound may be audible, and you may feel distracted due to it. However, in a brief span of time, this humming can get merged with several other things operating around the house, and you will hardly feel it running; hence a peaceful sleep is guaranteed.
6. Price Differential
The exceptional price difference between both cooling devices brings everything in favor of swamp coolers. Not only the base cost of a unit but also over the lifetime of the product, the additional expenses of maintenance to keep the cooling unit running at an optimal performance level. Everything stays within your control when you opt for a swamp cooler over an air conditioner.
While you can purchase the swamp cooler as high as 300$, the counterpart cost starts from here. On top of that, you also need to bear the installation cost and any structural changes cost if your house was not designed to welcome a fixed AC. Contrary, you can buy a swamp cooler starting at 100$, bring it home, place it near a window and you are good to enjoy fresh, healthy air.
Summary
Swamp coolers are, no doubt, a great investment one can plan to make and expect the outcome benefiting for years to come. They are budget-friendly, human friendly, good for health, and do not require any complex installation or alternation to the home outlook. This summer, try out a personal air conditioner.