I live in Colorado, and my swamp/evaporative cooler was poorly placed in the basement of the house. Rather than using a combination of fans and open/closed windows to get the cool air upstairs, I'm thinking of ducting the cool air into the heating ducts, which are accessible and close to where the swamp cooler air comes in.
Anyone have experience that would encourage or disuade me from this? Suggestions or tips much appreciated!
In Arizona, people sometimes had a problem with mold growing in the ductwork because of the moisture introduced. So separate ductwork for the evaparative cooler was preferred. You'll still have to open windows to vent the air unless you put upducts in the ceiling to vent it into the attic. What would happen if you installed a whole house attic fan in the ceiling of a hallway and used that to pull the cooler air from the basement evap cooler upward?
Where does the cooler get it's input? I am in CO too. The cooler located on the roof and ducted down. A cooler has to be at the highest location in the house sucking in dry outside air. Then it has to exit though windows at the far side of the cooled area.
Mine comes into the center of the house (ranch) and then I open windows at both ends of the house. If it were two story I would have it come in upstairs and then open windows in the areas I wanted cooled the most.
A good cooler needs a lot of air. The heating ducts are too small to get that kind of air flow.
So at a minimum you need to relocate the cooler to a window so it pulls in outside air.
How does that help? Wouldn't mold grow in the new ductwork eventually if not sooner, if it would grow in the old ductwork?
The heating ducts are probably sized too small to handle the air from the cooler. You would get a lot of noise from the registers because the air velocity would be very high. Also, you'd probably want some dampers and interlocks to prevent the cooler and furnace from operating at the same time because the cooler could force CO into the living space.
Bite the bullet and put that cooler on the roof where it belongs. If you want to get fancy, add properly sized duct work in the attic to distribute the cool air. Put in some Updux cans and you won't have to bother with opening windows when the evap cooler is running.
A swamp cooler, inside the house? Now I've heard it all. Here in NM they are all located outdoors either on the roof or sitting on a pad next to the house. They share the furnace ductwork. I suppose the furnace ductwork was designed for the dual purpose but I'd try to get that thing outdoors if possible. As well, my furnace blows a heck of a lot more than my swamp cooler so I would suspect if your situation is similar, the ductwork would be fine. You will need to put "cookie sheets" in place to close off the furnace from the swamp and vice versa in the winter. Good Luck, cc
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